Morrison County

Morrison County sits at a median home price of $315,708 with year-over-year appreciation of 3.27%, placing it squarely in the appreciation-oriented tier of Minnesota markets. The data does not include a median rent figure or cap rate for Morrison, which means a clean gross-yield or cash-flow calculation cannot be run from the provided numbers alone. What the scores do tell you: cash flow is rated 0, appreciation is rated 81 out of 100, and the overall score lands at 66, putting Morrison in the 70th percentile nationally among the 1,000 counties ranked and 39th out of 87 Minnesota counties. This is not a market you underwrite expecting day-one positive cash flow. The thesis here is price growth and equity accumulation, not monthly spread.

Given those scores, Morrison is a poor fit for the pure cash-flow buyer and a reasonable candidate for the appreciation buyer willing to carry a property at break-even or slight negative. The affordability index of 62 suggests the market is moderately accessible, not distressed-cheap, which means you are not finding deep-value entry points that would manufacture cash flow through discount acquisition. A value-add operator could potentially close the cash-flow gap by forcing equity and pushing rents above market, but the underlying market dynamics, specifically the zero cash-flow score and $315,708 median, mean that strategy requires execution discipline rather than market tailwinds to pencil. The 3.27% annual price appreciation is real but not aggressive enough on its own to compensate for significant monthly carry losses, so investors should model conservatively on hold period and exit timing.

Morrison County's economic context is not detailed in the provided data, so no employer or anchor analysis is included here. What the population figure of 34,023 does signal is a small, rural county. Rental demand in markets this size tends to be thinner and more susceptible to demographic shifts than larger metros. Stability scores at 50, exactly at the midpoint, reflect that ambiguity: not a market in obvious distress, but not one with the institutional demand drivers that create a reliable floor under rents and occupancy.

On carry costs, the combined monthly tax and insurance burden runs $389, based on Minnesota's state-average effective property tax rate of 1.13% and an insurance rate of 0.35%. That is a notable but not punishing line item. The 1.13% rate carries a "normal" flag, meaning it is neither a tailwind nor a red flag for underwriting, though you should verify the actual Morrison County and township rate before finalizing any proforma, since the figure here is a state-average estimate and local rates can diverge meaningfully. At a $315,708 price point with 20% down and a 6.85% interest rate, that $389 monthly TI sits on top of a mortgage payment that will itself be substantial, reinforcing why the cash-flow score lands where it does.

The primary risk profile in Morrison is concentration and scale. A 34,000-person rural county with no named economic anchors in the data means rental demand is likely concentrated around a narrow set of local employers and population segments. If a major local employer contracts or if out-migration trends accelerate, vacancy can move quickly in a market too small to absorb the shock across a deep tenant pool. There is no vacancy data provided here, but the stability score of 50 is the quantitative expression of that structural fragility. Regulatory risk is not flagged in the data and should be researched locally.

Compared to its neighbors, Morrison is neither the cheapest nor the most expensive option. Mower County at a $195,984 median and a gross rent-to-price ratio of 4.94% offers meaningfully better cash-flow mechanics, even if its overall score of 65 is just slightly below Morrison's 66. Blue Earth County at $293,828 and a 6.09% rent-to-price ratio presents a more attractive yield profile at a lower entry price. Olmsted County at $337,521 has a 5.96% rent-to-price ratio and overall score of 65, offering a larger population base for rental demand but at a higher buy-in. Morrison's appreciation score of 81 is the one area where it likely outpaces neighbors on a projected equity basis, but without rent data to confirm actual cash-flow dynamics, that edge is partially theoretical. An investor should choose Morrison over its neighbors only if the specific appreciation thesis is primary, if they have confirmed local rent data that improves the income picture, and if they are comfortable with the thinner, rural demand profile that comes with a county of this size.