Richland County

Richland County sits at a median home price of $140,556 with year-over-year appreciation of 10.5%, which is the headline number that explains its 95th-percentile national ranking and an appreciation score of 79 out of 100. The affordability index comes in at a perfect 100, meaning entry costs are genuinely accessible relative to income. What the data does not supply are rent figures, cap rate, or cash-on-cash return, so any cash-flow projection requires your own rent survey before underwriting. The absence of those figures, combined with a cash-flow score of 0, signals that this market's investment case rests on price appreciation and affordability of entry rather than day-one income generation.

That profile maps most cleanly onto an appreciation-oriented buyer or a long-horizon buy-and-hold investor who can carry a property at a low purchase price while waiting for equity to compound. At $140,556 and 20% down, you're deploying $28,111 to control an asset that appreciated roughly $13,400 in the past year alone, implying a return on equity from price gain alone that exceeds 47% of the down payment in a single year, if that pace holds. Value-add operators will find the price point permissive for renovation budgets, and the county's affordability score suggests a tenant base that exists but may be rent-sensitive. A pure cash-flow buyer, however, should treat this market with skepticism until rent comps confirm a spread above carrying costs, because the data as structured does not support a cash-flow thesis on its own.

Property taxes are the single most important line item to stress-test before you close anything in Richland County. Illinois carries a state-average effective property tax rate of 2.27%, flagged here as very high, and at a $140,556 purchase price that translates to $3,191 in annual taxes. Combined with $380 in estimated annual insurance, you're looking at $298 per month in tax and insurance alone before you touch mortgage principal and interest, maintenance, vacancy, or property management. At a 6.85% interest rate on an 80% LTV loan, the carry on this asset is not trivial relative to the price point. That $298 monthly figure deserves its own dedicated line in your underwrite, and if the actual county or township rate runs above the state average, the number gets worse. The caveat embedded in the data is honest: the 2.27% is a state-average estimate from Tax Foundation 2024, and Richland County's specific millage rate may differ materially. Confirm with the county assessor before finalizing any pro forma.

No economic anchor data was provided for Richland County, so employer concentration, job stability, and the underlying drivers of rental demand cannot be assessed from the supplied figures. A county of 15,716 people is small enough that a single large employer or institution dominates the local economy in ways that carry real concentration risk. Before committing capital, identify what sustains employment in Olney and the surrounding area, because at this population level, a single facility closure or downsizing can move vacancy rates faster than in larger metros.

The neighbor comparison sharpens the relative value story. McDonough County prices in at $92,986 with a gross rent-to-price ratio of 12.1%, which is a meaningfully better cash-flow starting point if income is your priority. Sangamon County, anchored by Springfield, trades at $186,233 with a rent-to-price ratio of 7.3%, offering less cash-flow leverage but presumably more liquidity and tenant depth. Richland at $140,556 sits between those two poles without published rent data to confirm where its yield actually lands. Clinton County at $212,337 and Shelby County at $156,256 are higher-priced alternatives with identical or near-identical overall scores of 76 and 75 respectively, suggesting the market is not pricing Richland at a meaningful discount to peers on a score-adjusted basis. You'd choose Richland over McDonough if you believe the 10.5% appreciation rate signals durable momentum and you're less dependent on month-one cash flow. You'd choose McDonough over Richland if yield is the constraint, given its 12.1% gross rent-to-price ratio. Sangamon makes sense if you need liquidity and tenant pool depth that a county of 15,716 simply cannot match.