Montgomery County

Montgomery County, Kansas sits at a gross rent-to-price ratio of 9.4%, which places it firmly in cash-flow territory. At a median home price of $102,915 and median rent of $808, the raw math is compelling before you even factor in financing. The model underwrite assumes a 20% down payment ($20,583), a 6.85% 30-year rate, and arrives at a monthly mortgage of $539. Add $283 in estimated expenses and $171 in combined tax and insurance (more on that below), and the property essentially breaks even at negative $14 per month cash flow with a 0.71% negative cash-on-cash return. That thin negative is largely a function of today's rate environment: the unlevered cap rate is 6.13%, which clears the cost of financing but not by enough to produce meaningful levered cash flow at 80% LTV without some operational edge. Buyers who bring more equity, find below-median acquisition prices, or push rents modestly above the median will cross into positive territory without much difficulty. Year-over-year home price appreciation of 7.76% means the total return story, cash flow plus equity growth, is more interesting than either metric alone.

This market suits two investor profiles. The first is the cash-flow buyer who is rate-sensitive and wants to minimize equity at risk: at $103K median, a failed deal is a manageable loss, not a catastrophic one. The affordability index of 100 (the ceiling of the dataset) signals that even an unsophisticated operator is unlikely to buy badly at the median. The second profile is the value-add operator who can acquire below median, do light work, and reposition rents. When the gross yield floor is already 9.4%, compressing that to 10% or 11% through selective buying is realistic in a market with a $103K median, where deal volume and motivated sellers tend to be higher than in markets trading at three or four times that price. The appreciation buyer, meanwhile, has a more nuanced case: 7.76% YoY price growth is real and material, but appreciation scores of 94 out of 100 should be read alongside a stability score of 50, which suggests the upward trajectory may not be smooth or structurally driven. An appreciation-pure buyer who needs consistent compounding should temper expectations.

The property tax and insurance carry in Montgomery is not a serious headwind. The state-average effective rate of 1.41% is flagged as normal, and the resulting combined tax-and-insurance drag is $171 per month on a $103K asset. That is $2,048 annually, or roughly 2% of purchase price, which is in line with what most Midwest markets impose. The insurance component, 0.58%, reflects Kansas's elevated wind and hail exposure, and that figure should be stress-tested with local carriers before closing rather than assumed. The 1.41% tax rate is a state-average estimate per Tax Foundation 2024 data, and actual county or township rates in Montgomery will differ, so pulling the real assessor figure for any specific parcel is a necessary underwriting step, not an optional one.

The stability score of 50 is the number that demands the most scrutiny and the least speculation. Without economic anchor data provided, it is not possible to name the specific employers or industries underlying demand. What the score does signal is concentration or fragility risk: a small county of 31,448 people with cash-flow metrics this attractive often reflects a market where population trends, employer concentration, or both create real vacancy risk that does not show up in the yield math. An investor unfamiliar with southeast Kansas should do primary research on Coffeyville and Independence employment before committing, because a 9.4% gross yield can compress rapidly if occupancy drops from 95% to 85% in a thin rental pool.

Compared to its Kansas neighbors in this dataset, Montgomery is the clear top pick on price and overall score. Pawnee County has a nearly identical overall score of 82 at a slightly higher median of $107,014, making it the closest competitor, but Montgomery's score of 84 and lower acquisition cost give it the edge. Doniphan, Dickinson, Sherman, and Grant counties all carry median prices between $146K and $165K with overall scores of 77 to 81, meaning the investor pays 43% to 60% more in acquisition cost for a lower score. Montgomery ranks first nationally out of 1,000 counties and first in Kansas out of 105 in this dataset, and the numbers explain why. Choose Montgomery over the neighbors when your primary objective is capital efficiency, minimizing dollars deployed per unit of yield. Choose a neighbor when you have specific local knowledge of a stronger economic base that justifies the higher entry price, or when you want to avoid the population-size risk that the 50 stability score flags in Montgomery.