Leavenworth County

Leavenworth County's numbers tell a clear story: this is an appreciation market, not a cash-flow market. At a rent-to-price ratio of 0.043%, the market sits well below the thresholds where conventional financing pencils for income. The model underwrite at a $347,796 purchase price, 20% down ($69,559), and a 6.85% rate produces a monthly mortgage of $1,823. Add $436 in estimated expenses and $577 in monthly tax and insurance, and you're looking at total carry of roughly $2,836 against $1,246 in median rent. That's negative $1,013 per month in cash flow, a cash-on-cash return of -15.2%, and a cap rate of 2.79%. The appreciation score of 85 and a 4.79% year-over-year price gain are the only numbers in this dataset doing real work for the investor.

Given those figures, this county is suited almost exclusively to the appreciation buyer who can sustain a meaningful monthly subsidy out of pocket, betting that price appreciation offsets negative carry over a hold period. The cash-flow score of 34 out of 100 makes it a non-starter for anyone whose business model depends on monthly income from rents. A value-add operator could theoretically improve rents on a specific asset, but the market-level rent of $1,246 against a $348,000 median price leaves very little margin even after a renovation lift. The investor this market fits is someone who wants Kansas City metro-adjacent exposure and is willing to treat this as a long-term capital-appreciation hold, accepting cash-flow losses as the cost of that position.

The county's stability score is 50 and its overall score is 55, landing it at the 36th national percentile across 1,000 counties. That's middle of the road by most measures, but the affordability index of 55 suggests the median home isn't cheap relative to local incomes, which matters for rental demand. Renters who can't afford to buy do create a baseline tenant pool, but at a median rent under $1,300, there's a natural ceiling on what the market will bear, which is part of why the math is so hard at current prices. No economic anchor data was provided for this county, so the employer and job-base picture can't be evaluated here.

The tax and insurance burden deserves attention in any underwrite. The combined monthly tax and insurance figure is $577, which is a significant line item against $1,246 in rent, representing 46% of gross rent before debt service or any other expense. The state-average effective property tax rate is 1.41%, flagged as normal, meaning this isn't an outlier drag like you'd see in Illinois or New Jersey, but it's also not a tailwind. At 1.41%, annual taxes on a $348,000 property run approximately $4,904. This is a state-average estimate per Tax Foundation 2024 data, and county and township rates in Leavenworth may differ materially in either direction, so pull the actual mill levy for any specific parcel before finalizing your numbers.

The primary risk here is structural: you are buying an asset with high carry costs relative to achievable rent, in a market where the only investment case is price appreciation continuing at or above current rates. If appreciation moderates, the loss on cash flow has no offset. The affordability index of 55 and a median home price of $347,796 also suggest limited upside from the renter pool converting to buyers, which would be the natural exit for a long-term hold. No vacancy, regulatory, or demographic risk data was provided, so those factors can't be quantified here.

Compared to the listed neighbors, Leavenworth sits at a price point considerably below Johnson County's $438,419 median but above Ford County ($204,156), Sumner County ($140,857), Labette County ($94,035), and Neosho County ($106,328). Johnson County, with a rent-to-price ratio of 0.046% versus Leavenworth's 0.043%, actually offers slightly better rent coverage at a higher price point, which is counterintuitive but reflects Kansas City's southern suburbs commanding stronger rents. The lower-priced neighbors, Ford, Sumner, Labette, and Neosho, don't have rent or ratio data provided, so a direct cash-flow comparison isn't possible. Choose Leavenworth over those neighbors if your thesis requires metro-adjacent demographics and a higher appreciation trajectory, and if you can sustain the negative carry. If your primary objective is cash flow or entry-level pricing, this dataset doesn't give you enough on the rural neighbors to make that call, and you'd need to run full underwrites on each.