Nassau County

Nassau County sits at a 3.45% cap rate on a $485,000 median purchase price against $2,144 in median monthly rent, producing a gross rent-to-price ratio of 0.0053, or roughly 53 cents per hundred dollars of value. At 6.85% financing with 20% down, the model spits out negative $1,148 per month in cash flow and a cash-on-cash return of -12.35%. Those numbers place Nassau firmly on the appreciation end of the spectrum, not the cash-flow end. The county's appreciation score of 57 is its highest category score, while cash flow scores exactly 50 and affordability comes in at 31 out of 100. Home prices are up 0.74% year over year, which is modest but positive. Nationally, Nassau ranks 634th out of 1,000 counties analyzed, landing in the 19th percentile overall and 35th out of 67 Florida counties. This is not a market where you buy the median asset and collect checks; you buy it because you believe the asset appreciates faster than carrying costs erode your equity.

The investor this market suits is someone with substantial equity capital who can absorb negative carry while betting on long-run price appreciation in a supply-constrained coastal Florida county. With a cash-on-cash of -12.35% at current financing costs, anyone relying on leverage to generate income should look elsewhere. A cash or near-cash buyer changes the calculus meaningfully: strip out the $2,542 monthly mortgage and the deal goes from deeply negative to a conversation about expenses, cap rate, and whether 3.45% justifies the illiquidity. A value-add operator could theoretically compress the cap rate gap by forcing rents above the $2,144 median, but at a $485,000 basis, even a 15% rent bump still produces a sub-5% gross yield. The affordability index of 31 is a meaningful signal: when local residents cannot afford to buy, a durable renter pool exists, but it also caps how aggressively you can push rents before you price out your tenant base.

Nassau County sits on Florida's Atlantic coast northeast of Jacksonville, adjacent to Georgia. A population of 91,538 keeps it in small-market territory, which amplifies concentration risk. No economic anchor data was provided for this county, so job-base analysis must come from your own due diligence before underwriting. What the demographic size does suggest is that the rental demand story here is likely tied to regional employment spillover from Jacksonville and proximity to coastal amenities rather than a diverse, self-contained local economy. That thesis deserves verification before committing capital.

The combined monthly tax and insurance burden on a median-priced asset runs $630, which is $4,316 in annual property taxes at the state-average effective rate of 0.89% and $3,249 in annual insurance. The tax rate at 0.89% is flagged as normal and does not represent a material headwind or tailwind relative to Florida peers, though the caveat matters: this is a state-average estimate from Tax Foundation 2024 data, and actual Nassau County or township-level rates may differ, so pull the current millage rate before closing your model. The insurance line at $3,249 annually, or $271 per month, reflects Florida's elevated coastal insurance environment and deserves its own sensitivity test. If you're buying within wind-zone exposure areas, your actual insurance cost could materially exceed this estimate. The $750 in estimated monthly expenses layered on top of the $630 tax and insurance figure brings total non-mortgage carrying costs to $1,380 per month, which is the real floor on what you need rent to cover before you even service the debt.

The core risk in Nassau is concentration combined with a thin market. At 91,538 residents, a single large employer contraction or a deterioration in the Jacksonville metro economy would be felt acutely. Coastal exposure creates insurance cost volatility, and if Florida's property insurance market continues to contract, the underwriting assumption of $271 monthly becomes a moving target. Regulatory risk is not flagged by the data, but Florida's landlord-friendly legal environment is generally a positive; nothing in the provided data suggests short-term rental restrictions or rent control, though you should verify local ordinances.

The neighbor comparison makes Nassau's positioning clear. Pasco County offers a 0.073 rent-to-price ratio at a $328,000 median, compared to Nassau's 0.053 at $485,000. Indian River County runs a 0.075 ratio at $359,000. Hillsborough sits at 0.065 on a $374,000 basis. Orange County comes in at 0.059 on $398,000. Every comparison county in this data set delivers a better gross yield at a lower basis than Nassau. Pasco and Indian River in particular offer cash-flow profiles that Nassau cannot match at current pricing. Nassau scores 48 overall, the same as Pasco and Indian River, meaning you are not being compensated with a higher quality score for the yield penalty you absorb. The case for choosing Nassau over these neighbors is purely an appreciation thesis: if you believe Nassau's coastal Florida location, proximity to Jacksonville, and supply constraints will produce above-average price gains over your hold period, and you can fund the negative carry, then Nassau is the pick. If you need yield, any of the comparison counties, particularly Pasco at a 0.073 ratio, deliver meaningfully more rent per dollar of acquisition cost.