Menominee County

Menominee County sits at a median home price of $191,388 with year-over-year appreciation of 4.83%, and it scores 85 out of 100 on appreciation while carrying a cash flow score of 0. That combination tells you most of what you need to know about where this market sits on the spectrum: it leans hard toward the appreciation side. The data provides no cap rate, no estimated cash flow, and no rent figures for Menominee itself, which means underwriting a buy-and-hold rental here requires extra legwork before you can build a credible pro forma. The affordability index of 89 and a median price under $200,000 do suggest room for continued price growth without hitting a ceiling that chokes off buyer demand, and a 4.83% annual price gain in a county of 23,000 people is a real number, not noise.

This market is suited for an appreciation-oriented buyer who is comfortable holding through thin cash flow, or possibly a value-add operator who can manufacture yield through renovation in a low-price-point environment. It is not a market for an investor whose primary thesis is day-one cash flow: the cash flow score of 0 is a hard flag, and with a $191,388 purchase price, a 20% down payment of $38,278, and a 6.85% interest rate, the mortgage alone will be a meaningful hurdle before you even get to operating expenses. The affordability score of 89 out of 100 is a genuine tailwind for long-term price support, meaning the local buyer pool is not priced out, which matters when you eventually want to exit. If your model depends on rent covering PITI plus reserves from day one, this data does not support that thesis.

On the economic side, the data does not include named employers or an economy note for Menominee, so drawing conclusions about job base or employment concentration would require outside research. What the population figure of 23,433 does tell you is that this is a small, thinly traded market. Thin markets can produce outsized appreciation when demand ticks up, but they can also produce extended vacancy when a major local employer contracts or population trends shift. A population base of this size means your tenant pool is narrow, and underwriting should reflect that by holding a conservative vacancy assumption.

The tax and insurance picture deserves real attention. At Michigan's state-average effective property tax rate of 1.54%, flagged here as high, annual property taxes on a $191,388 purchase come to approximately $2,947. Add $498 in annual insurance and you are looking at $287 per month in combined tax and insurance carry before you pay a dollar of principal, interest, or operating expense. At 6.85% on a $153,110 loan (80% LTV), that mortgage payment adds another substantial fixed cost. The 1.54% rate is a state-average estimate per Tax Foundation 2024 data, and the actual Menominee County or township rate may differ, so pull the county assessor's levy before you finalize any underwrite. If you are buying in a township with a higher millage than the state average, your carry cost climbs further and the already-zero cash flow score gets worse. This is a line item that deserves its own row in your model, not a rounding assumption.

The primary risks here are concentration and scale. A county of 23,433 people with no visible cash flow profile and no rent data in the dataset is a market where one or two large tenants leaving the area, or one regulatory shift at the local level, can move vacancy rates materially. There is no data here to support claims about specific vacancy rates or regulatory environment, so those are due-diligence items, not assumptions you can borrow from a comparable metro.

Compared to the neighboring counties in the dataset, Menominee's $191,388 median price is higher than Crawford ($179,615, score 76), Iron ($138,682, score 75), Bay ($175,060, score 75), and Gratiot ($172,768, score 75), and roughly in line with Huron ($198,226, score 74). Menominee ties Crawford's overall score of 76 while carrying a higher price point, which makes Crawford worth a side-by-side look for any buyer primarily chasing affordability. Bay County is the only neighbor with rent data in this dataset, showing a median rent of $1,143 and a rent-to-price ratio of 0.0784, which is a materially better cash flow signal than anything Menominee shows. If cash flow is any part of your return requirement, Bay County's numbers make a stronger case on that dimension. Choose Menominee over its neighbors specifically when you are underwriting for appreciation, have tolerance for thin or negative near-term cash flow, and believe the sub-$200,000 price point with an 89 affordability score creates a durable floor that the lower-priced neighbors may not match on exit liquidity.