Johnson County

Johnson County, Illinois sits at a median home price of $193,160 with home values down 3.1% year-over-year, placing it in a softening price environment rather than an appreciating one. The data does not supply a median rent figure, which means no gross rent multiplier, cap rate, or cash-on-cash return can be calculated here, and the investment estimate fields confirm that gap with zeroes across the board. What the scoring does tell you is unambiguous: a cash flow score of 0 and an appreciation score of 35 out of 100 put this county firmly in no-man's-land, neither generating the yield a cash flow buyer needs nor delivering the price momentum an appreciation buyer wants. The affordability index of 89 keeps entry costs accessible relative to the broader market, and at $193,160 the purchase price is low in absolute terms, but affordability alone does not generate a return.

That combination of scores tells you plainly who this market does not suit. A yield-focused cash flow buyer has no usable rent data to underwrite against, and the zero cap rate score suggests the market is not producing compelling numbers even where rents are measurable. An appreciation buyer is looking at negative 3.1% trailing price movement in a county ranked 501st out of 1,000 nationally and 79th out of 102 Illinois counties, sitting at the 36th national percentile. The one investor type who might find a rationale here is a value-add operator willing to buy at the low absolute price point and force equity through renovation in a thin, illiquid market, but that strategy demands local market knowledge and an exit path that the county's small population base of 13,313 people makes genuinely difficult to execute at scale.

The carry cost picture makes a marginal investment case worse. Illinois carries a state-average effective property tax rate of 2.27%, flagged here as very high, and at that rate the annual property tax bill on the median-priced asset comes to $4,385. Add $522 in estimated annual insurance and the combined monthly tax-and-insurance burden is $409 before you touch mortgage principal, interest, maintenance, vacancy, or property management. That $409 monthly figure deserves its own line on your underwrite because it represents a fixed drag that persists regardless of occupancy. The tax rate caveat matters here too: 2.27% is a state-average estimate from Tax Foundation 2024 data, and actual county or township rates in Johnson County may differ, potentially meaningfully in either direction. Verify the specific parcel-level rate before closing.

On the risk side, the population of 13,313 is the most important single number in this dataset. Small, rural counties carry concentration risk by definition: a single large employer closing, a hospital consolidating services, or a school district contracting can move vacancy and rents in ways that metropolitan markets absorb gradually. No economic anchors are provided for Johnson County, which means there is no named institutional employer, university, or military installation visible in the data to anchor rental demand. That absence is itself informative. Thin rental demand in a declining-price environment with no identifiable economic driver is a meaningful underwriting risk, not a reason to walk away automatically, but a reason to spend serious time on the ground before committing capital.

Compared to the neighboring counties in this dataset, Johnson's overall score of 55 sits in the middle of a modest range. Greene County scores 65 at a median price of $106,001, meaning an investor looking for the lowest-cost entry point with a better overall score has a clear alternative that does not require giving up much on the ranking ladder. Calhoun County scores 61 at $184,783, also outscoring Johnson at a lower price. DuPage County scores 66 with a rent-to-price ratio of 0.059 and a median rent of $2,040, but at a $416,478 median it serves a completely different capital allocation and tenant base. Monroe County at $327,942 and a 0.047 rent-to-price ratio offers a usable yield metric that Johnson simply cannot match on available data. The case for choosing Johnson over any of these neighbors rests almost entirely on price, and price alone does not generate returns. An investor should choose Johnson over a neighbor only if they have specific local intelligence, a defined value-add deal, and a clear disposition strategy, because the county-level data as presented does not build that case on its own numbers.