Colusa County

Colusa County sits at a median home price of $379,582 with year-over-year appreciation of just 0.51%, which places it firmly on the flat side of California's price spectrum. The data does not include a median rent figure or cap rate for the county itself, which is a meaningful gap. Without a rent estimate, no gross yield, cap rate, or cash-on-cash return can be calculated, and the tool reflects that honestly by returning zeros across those fields. What can be said is that at a 6.85% assumed rate on a 20% down payment of $75,916, debt service alone will be the primary test of whether any individual deal pencils. The overall score of 52 out of 100, combined with a cash-flow sub-score of 0 and a national percentile of 28th, tells you this is not a market where the numbers fall easily in an investor's favor.

The investor this market most plausibly suits is someone oriented toward moderate appreciation rather than yield. The appreciation score of 55 is the highest sub-score in the dataset, suggesting the model sees some upside in pricing relative to peers, even if the trailing 12-month gain of 0.51% does not yet confirm it. The affordability index of 49 means prices are near the midpoint of what the model considers accessible, which in a California context is actually a relative positive. A value-add operator hunting distressed assets might find less competition here than in Sacramento or the Bay Area suburbs, but they would need to source their own rent comps before underwriting any deal, since the absence of county-level rent data in this dataset means you are working partially blind on the income side.

Colusa County has a population of 21,811, which makes it one of the smaller agricultural counties in the Sacramento Valley. The data does not include economic anchors or employer detail, so no specific employers or industries can be cited here. What the population figure does signal is thin liquidity: a small buyer pool means longer hold times to exit, and a narrow renter pool means vacancies can run longer than in metro markets. That dynamic is not reflected in a score, but it is a real operational consideration for any landlord managing from a distance.

On carrying costs, the tax and insurance picture is relatively benign by California standards. Using the state-average effective property tax rate of 0.73%, the estimated annual tax bill on a $379,582 purchase comes to $2,771, and insurance adds another $645 annually, bringing combined monthly tax and insurance to $285. The property tax flag is "normal," so this is not a market where taxes alone threaten your cash-flow math. That said, the 0.73% figure is a state-average estimate from Tax Foundation 2024 data, and actual Colusa County or township-level rates may differ, so confirm the assessor's current rate before finalizing any underwrite. Insurance at 0.17% annually is modest, though California's fire exposure in rural and agricultural areas warrants a quote specific to the property's location and construction before relying on any modeled figure.

The primary risks here follow directly from scale. A county of under 22,000 people with flat home price appreciation and no published rent benchmark is a market where concentration risk is acute. One large employer departure, one bad crop year, or one regulatory shift affecting agricultural water rights could ripple through local rental demand in a way that would be less visible in a larger market. There is no vacancy or crime data in the provided dataset to quantify these risks further, but the demographic and economic thinness of the market is itself a risk factor that the overall score of 52 and the 28th national percentile already partially encode.

Compared to the neighboring counties in the dataset, Colusa presents a mixed picture. Lake County at a median of $300,495 and a rent-to-price ratio of 7.00% is the clearest alternative for an investor who prioritizes gross yield over price appreciation, and it carries an overall score of 51, just one point below Colusa. Fresno County at 6.11% rent-to-price and a score of 52 offers a much larger population base and more liquidity, which matters for both tenant sourcing and exit. Kern County at 5.98% rent-to-price and $357,338 median is cheaper on a price basis and scores equally at 52. Sutter County at $428,256 and 5.95% rent-to-price is the most expensive of the neighbors with no scoring advantage. An investor should choose Colusa over these alternatives only if they have specific local knowledge, an identified property with confirmed rent data, or a value-add thesis that the county's limited transaction volume and lower institutional attention makes credible. Without that edge, Fresno or Lake County offer a more legible risk-return setup for a buyer who does not already have boots on the ground in Colusa.