Sumter County

Sumter County, Georgia comes in at a median home price of $138,970 with 6.89% year-over-year appreciation, which is a meaningful run given the county's already high affordability index score of 100 out of 100. The appreciation score of 92 out of 100 is the headline number here, and it tells you this market is delivering price growth well above what its entry point would normally suggest. The cap rate and cash-flow figures are not available in the current data set, so any cash-on-cash analysis will need to be built from your own rent comps and expense assumptions. What the data does confirm is that at $138,970, you are buying into one of the most affordable entry points in Georgia, ranked first in the state out of 159 counties and first nationally out of 1,000 counties in the overall ranking. That ranking reflects the combination of price, affordability, and appreciation trajectory, not a cash-flow guarantee.

The investor profile this market fits most cleanly is the appreciation buyer who wants to own below replacement cost in a market that is already moving. A 6.89% annual price gain on a $138,970 asset is roughly $9,575 in equity in year one before any principal paydown. With a 20% down payment of $27,794, that equity gain alone represents a 34% return on invested capital from appreciation, assuming the trend holds. That is a speculative figure, not a guaranteed one, but it contextualizes why the appreciation score reaches 92. The stability score of 50 and a cash-flow score that did not register in the model both signal that this is not the place to underwrite for day-one positive cash flow without careful rent verification. A value-add operator who can buy distressed assets at a discount to the already-low median and force equity through renovation may find the numbers pencil, but the cash-flow buyer relying on market-rate rents to cover debt service should stress-test assumptions carefully before committing.

The economic anchors and employer base for Sumter County are not included in the data provided, so no employer-specific claims are made here. What the population figure of 29,378 does indicate is a small, rural county. Small markets like this carry concentration risk by definition: a single large employer contracting, a hospital closing, or a college enrollment decline can move vacancy and rents in ways that larger metro markets absorb without blinking. That is not a fabricated risk, it is the structural reality of any sub-30,000-person county, and it belongs in your underwriting assumptions.

On carry costs, the combined monthly tax and insurance estimate is $148, using a state-average effective property tax rate of 0.92% against the $138,970 purchase price, plus an insurance estimate of 0.36%. That $148 monthly figure is modest and does not materially compress cash flow the way higher-tax markets do. The property tax flag is "normal," meaning no special flag in either direction. That said, the note attached to this data explicitly states it is a state-average effective rate sourced from Tax Foundation 2024 data, and actual county and township rates in Sumter will differ. Georgia's county-level millage rates vary enough that pulling the Sumter County tax assessor's current millage rate before finalizing any underwrite is not optional, it is required.

Comparing Sumter to its five neighboring counties sharpens the case for choosing it. The closest competitor on overall score is Decatur County at 77, which carries a median home price of $171,230, 23% above Sumter's entry point. Lanier County scores 73 with a median of $210,779 and a rent-to-price ratio of 0.098, which is a meaningful cash-flow signal, but you are paying $71,809 more per door at entry. Toombs at 72, Tattnall at 71, and Cook at 68 all price above Sumter while scoring below it. The pattern is clear: Sumter offers the lowest entry price and the highest overall score in this peer group by a margin that is not close. If you are optimizing for appreciation upside and maximum equity leverage on a fixed capital budget, Sumter lets you acquire more units or more square footage for the same dollars than any neighbor in this data set. The trade you are making is accepting a thin or unproven cash-flow profile and the concentration risk inherent in a rural county of fewer than 30,000 people. If near-term cash flow is the primary mandate, Lanier County's available rent-to-price ratio of 0.098 deserves a direct comparison run once you have Sumter rent comps in hand.