Benton County

Benton County lands squarely in appreciation territory and well out of cash-flow territory. The gross rent-to-price ratio sits at 0.38%, and the model spits out a cap rate of 2.5% at a $313,228 purchase price against $1,003 in median monthly rent. At 6.85% financing with 20% down, the monthly mortgage alone runs $1,642, against rent of roughly $1,003, producing an estimated cash flow of negative $990 per month and a cash-on-cash return of -16.49%. Those are not rounding errors, they are structural. The appreciation score of 78 and 2.76% year-over-year price growth tell you what this market rewards, but that reward accrues on paper, not in your checking account. An affordability index of 63 and an overall score of 53, ranking 544th nationally out of 1,000 counties and 75th out of 87 in Minnesota, confirm this is a middle-of-the-pack market that does one thing reasonably well and the other thing poorly.

The investor this market suits is one who can carry a monthly loss indefinitely and is betting on continued price appreciation, either someone with substantial liquidity or someone assembling a portfolio where other properties generate the carry capital. A pure cash-flow buyer has no business here at current prices and rates; the numbers do not work without a significant price reduction, a substantial rent premium over median, or both. A value-add operator could theoretically force appreciation or push rents above the $1,003 median, but even with a $200 monthly rent improvement, you are still deeply negative on cash flow. The appreciation buyer makes the most logical case, accepting a negative carry position on a $313,228 asset growing at 2.76% annually, which translates to roughly $8,645 in annual price gain at that rate, far short of covering the projected $11,880 annual cash flow deficit at median rent.

The combined monthly tax and insurance burden runs $386, using a state-average effective property tax rate of 1.13% (per Tax Foundation 2024 data) plus a 0.35% insurance rate, producing annual tax of $3,539 and annual insurance of $1,096. The 1.13% rate is flagged as normal, meaning it is not an additional headwind the way a 1.7% rate would be in some Midwest markets, but at $295 per month in taxes alone on a $313,228 home, it is still a real number on your pro forma. Bear in mind this is a state-average estimate; actual Benton County township-level rates may deviate, and you should pull the county assessor's effective rate for any specific parcel before finalizing your underwrite.

The data does not include economic anchor employers for Benton County, so no assessment of employer concentration or job base stability is made here. What the demographic data does tell you is that the county has 41,300 residents, a relatively small base that creates concentration risk in a different sense: thin rental market depth. In a small-population county, tenant turnover can translate into extended vacancy because the pool of qualifying renters is narrow. The stability score of 50 reflects this, and any underwrite should stress-test vacancy assumptions carefully rather than defaulting to metro-area turnover rates.

Against its neighbors, Benton underperforms on the metric that matters most to investors: rent-to-price ratio. Isanti County at 0.50% and Sherburne County at 0.49% both generate materially better rent coverage relative to purchase price, and both carry higher overall scores (57 and 58, respectively) than Benton's 53. Sherburne at $377,016 median is more expensive but delivers $1,535 in median rent, a combination that makes the carry math meaningfully less painful. Isanti at $329,762 with $1,377 in median rent is only slightly pricier than Benton and significantly better on cash flow. Douglas County is closer in price at $326,972 with $1,154 in rent, a 0.42% ratio that still beats Benton's 0.38%. The one case for choosing Benton over these neighbors is if you find a specific property at a below-median price point or above-median rent, or if you have a specific reason to expect local price appreciation to outpace the region. On the numbers as presented, Isanti and Sherburne are the stronger buy-and-hold options within this peer group for most investor profiles.