Osage County

Osage County lands at the 93rd national percentile overall, which immediately signals this is not a market you stumble into by accident. At a $214,439 median home price with 5.59% year-over-year appreciation, the county is clearly skewing toward the appreciation end of the spectrum. The cash flow score reads zero and the cap rate field is unpopulated, which is a signal in itself: at a $214K entry point in a county of roughly 15,800 people, the math on gross rent versus purchase price is tight enough that the model cannot construct a dependable cash-on-cash figure. Investors who need day-one positive cash flow should treat that zero as a caution flag, not a data gap to hand-wave away.

The appreciation score of 88 out of 100 is where Osage genuinely earns its ranking. A 5.59% price gain in a rural Kansas county of under 16,000 people is meaningful, particularly when you consider that the affordability index sits at 84, meaning homes here are still accessible relative to incomes. That combination, above-average appreciation plus genuine affordability, describes a market in an early-to-middle growth phase rather than one that has already been repriced by outside capital. For an appreciation-oriented buyer willing to accept thin or neutral early cash flow in exchange for equity accumulation, the numbers support that thesis. Value-add operators may also find opportunity here: if you can acquire below median, add square footage or modernize a dated rental, and benefit from that 5.59% tailwind while you work, the exit case improves materially. This is not a market for the cash-flow buyer who needs their rental portfolio to fund monthly draws from the start.

No economic anchor data was provided for Osage County, so the employer base and job concentration picture cannot be drawn from this dataset. Investors should independently verify what drives local rental demand before committing capital. A county of 15,787 people is small enough that a single large employer closing or relocating would meaningfully affect both occupancy and price appreciation, so understanding the local economy is not optional underwriting.

The combined monthly tax and insurance burden works out to $356 per month, based on Kansas's state-average effective property tax rate of 1.41% and an insurance rate of 0.58%. At $214,439 purchase price, that $356 monthly figure is real carry weight: before debt service, maintenance, or vacancy, you are already at $4,268 annually in fixed overhead. The 1.41% rate is flagged as "normal" in the context of national benchmarks, meaning it does not rise to the level of a deal-killer, but at a state-average estimate it deserves its own line in your underwrite, particularly because county and township rates in Kansas can diverge meaningfully from the statewide figure. Pull the actual Osage County assessor data before you finalize any acquisition model.

The primary risk here is concentration. A rural county under 16,000 people offers a limited rental pool, limited comparable sales for appraisals, and limited liquidity if you need to exit quickly. Appreciation numbers like 5.59% are encouraging, but thin trading volume can produce price volatility in both directions. There is no vacancy or crime data in this dataset to cite, but the population size alone should prompt due diligence on local renter demographics, population trend, and whether nearby employment centers are growing or contracting.

Among the neighbors provided, Osage sits at the highest median home price of the group at $214,439, above Franklin County's $248,596 being the only outlier above it, yet Franklin scores 74 overall versus Osage's 75. That gap in score despite Franklin's higher price implies Osage is delivering more relative value per dollar invested, likely because its appreciation trajectory and affordability profile hold up better relative to entry cost. Linn County ($162,321, score 76) and Atchison County ($174,878, score 75) offer cheaper entry points and slightly comparable overall scores, which means a cash-flow-first buyer who needs lower absolute dollar exposure should look at those alternatives. Choose Osage over its neighbors when your primary objective is appreciation capture in a still-affordable market and you can carry the property through a thin-cash-flow period. Choose Linn or Atchison when you need lower basis and tighter monthly math from day one.