Bristol County

Bristol County sits at a 4.56% gross rent-to-price ratio on a $545,691 median home price against $2,072 in monthly rent. The modeled cap rate of 2.96% tells you what you need to know about where this market lands on the cash-flow-versus-appreciation spectrum: firmly on the appreciation side. At a 6.85% financing rate, a 20% down payment produces a monthly mortgage of $2,861, and after adding $725 in estimated operating expenses, the modeled cash flow lands at negative $1,514 per month, a cash-on-cash return of negative 14.48%. That is not a rounding error or a bad deal, that is simply the math of buying into a $545,000 median market with today's rates and a 4.56% gross yield. The appreciation score of 82 out of 100 and a year-over-year price gain of 3.72% reflect what the market actually rewards here: capital growth, not income.

The cash-flow buyer should treat this data as a hard stop. A negative $1,514 monthly carry requires a sizable reserve and a firm conviction that appreciation will compensate. The affordability index of 22 out of 100 and an overall score of 49 out of 100, placing Bristol at the 21st percentile nationally across 1,000 counties, are consistent with a market that is expensive relative to the income it generates. That said, the appreciation buyer or longer-horizon hold investor has a legitimate case: 3.72% annual price appreciation on a $545,000 asset generates roughly $20,300 in paper equity per year, which partially offsets the carry cost. Value-add operators chasing rent increases face the same constraint, since even a materially higher rent does not close a $1,514 monthly gap without a substantially lower basis. The investor best positioned here bought before 2020 and is evaluating a refinance or 1031 exit, not a fresh acquisition at these prices and rates.

The monthly tax and insurance figure deserves attention in any underwrite. Based on the state-average effective property tax rate of 1.23% (Tax Foundation 2024), the annual tax bill on a $545,691 purchase comes to approximately $6,712, and insurance runs an estimated $1,419 annually, for a combined $678 per month. That number is already baked into the modeled expense figure, but it is worth isolating: at $678 per month, taxes and insurance alone consume roughly 33% of the $2,072 gross rent before debt service or management fees touch it. The 1.23% rate is flagged as normal for Massachusetts, neither a tailwind nor a penalty relative to state norms, but actual rates at the county or township level may differ from this state-average estimate, so confirm the specific parcel's assessed rate before finalizing any underwrite.

The most meaningful risk for a Bristol County buy-and-hold investor is structural: this is a high-price, low-yield market in a high-rate environment, and that combination has a narrow margin for error. The stability score of 50 out of 100 suggests neither exceptional resilience nor acute fragility, but it offers no cushion. Concentration risk is worth flagging given the population of 576,699, which is large enough to provide tenant depth but not so large that any single employer exit or industry contraction passes without effect. No vacancy or crime data is provided here, so those dimensions require independent diligence.

Compared to its neighbors, Bristol is actually the most accessible entry point by a significant margin. Middlesex County sits at $790,411 median with a 4.39% rent-to-price ratio and an overall score of 46; Essex at $698,257 and a 4.43% ratio also scores 46; Norfolk at $744,669 runs a 4.58% ratio and scores 46; and Suffolk at $747,013 produces the group's best yield at 5.31% but still scores only 45. None of these neighbors improve the cash-flow picture meaningfully, and all carry higher price tags. The one outlier is Nantucket at $3.17 million median, which is a categorically different investment product and irrelevant for most buy-and-hold strategies. Bristol's edge over the neighbor set is straightforward: it offers a comparable or slightly better rent-to-price ratio at a lower acquisition cost, and its appreciation score of 82 beats the group. An investor who has already decided to accept an appreciation-forward thesis in eastern Massachusetts and wants the lowest basis to manage carry cost should prefer Bristol over Middlesex, Essex, Norfolk, or Suffolk, while recognizing that none of these markets solves the fundamental cash-flow problem at current rates.