Jefferson County

Jefferson County sits at a median home price of $242,975 with year-over-year appreciation of 5.21%, and the model scores it 87 out of 100 on appreciation while assigning a cash flow score of 0. That combination tells you everything about where this market sits on the spectrum: it leans hard toward appreciation, and cash flow is not the story here. The affordability index of 78 means homes are reasonably accessible relative to local incomes, which supports continued buyer demand and price momentum, but without rent and gross yield figures in the data, the precise price-to-rent ratio cannot be calculated. What the appreciation score and the 5.21% price gain do confirm is that this is a market rewarding owners who are patient, not operators hunting monthly spread.

The investor profile this suits is someone who buys for equity accumulation and is willing to accept thin or breakeven monthly cash flow in exchange for price appreciation that is outpacing most Indiana markets. The overall score of 73 and a national percentile rank of 89th out of 1,000 counties confirm Jefferson carries real investment merit at the macro level, but the cash flow score of 0 is a hard number, not a soft warning. A value-add operator looking to force appreciation through renovation could find a foothold here given the $242,975 median, which is low enough to leave room for improvement capital, but the exit strategy would still lean on price appreciation rather than yield compression. A pure cash-flow buyer targeting double-digit gross yields should look elsewhere in Indiana before committing here.

On carry costs, the monthly tax and insurance estimate of $229 is based on a state-average effective property tax rate of 0.85%, flagged as normal, plus an insurance rate of 0.28%. On a $242,975 purchase that works out to roughly $2,065 in annual taxes and $680 in annual insurance. This is not an outsized burden, and it will not materially kill a deal that otherwise pencils, but it does represent a real line item. One honest caveat: the 0.85% is a state-average estimate from Tax Foundation 2024 data, and Jefferson County's actual township or county rate may differ from that figure. Verify the local assessor's rate before finalizing your underwrite, because even a 0.15 to 0.20 point deviation at this price point shifts your annual carry by $365 to $486.

The data does not include economic anchors or an economy note for Jefferson County, so employer-level demand drivers cannot be assessed here. What the stability score of 50 does signal is that this market carries meaningful uncertainty on the demand side, whether from employment concentration, population size at 33,057, or demographic trends. That score is average, and in a county of this size, average stability means you need to underwrite for vacancy with discipline and not assume consistent tenant demand without doing local legwork on the ground.

The primary risk worth naming is the combination of a 0 cash flow score and a stability score of only 50 in a population base of 33,057. Small-county markets at this size can be sensitive to a single large employer, an outmigration trend, or an economic shock in ways that larger metro-adjacent markets absorb more easily. Without vacancy, crime, or regulatory data in the dataset, specific regulatory or legal risks cannot be assessed, but the size of the market itself is a concentration risk. Thin rental demand in a soft quarter can move vacancy meaningfully when the tenant pool is measured in hundreds rather than thousands.

Compared to its neighbors, Jefferson at $242,975 is priced above Orange County ($182,101, score 73), Miami County ($163,132, score 73), Howard County ($185,850, score 72), and Newton County ($218,351, score 73), but below Lagrange County ($322,425, score 72). The neighbors where rent data is available, Miami and Howard counties, show rent-to-price ratios of 0.072 and 0.065 respectively at much lower price points, meaning those two markets offer materially better gross yield profiles for the cash-flow buyer. If monthly income matters to your underwriting, Miami County at $163,132 median and a 7.18% gross yield ratio is the sharper tool. Jefferson makes the most sense over its neighbors when you are specifically targeting the appreciation vector, when you have a thesis tied to something locally observable driving the 5.21% price gain, or when you find a specific asset below the median where value-add work can manufacture equity that the raw yield numbers alone would not justify.