Kemper County

Kemper County sits at a median home price of $143,801, up 10.95% year-over-year, with an affordability index of 99, which places it in the top 1% nationally for affordability (95th percentile, ranked 40th out of 1,000 counties). The appreciation score of 78 is the headline number here. Cash-flow and cap rate figures are not provided in the underlying data, so the price-to-rent math cannot be completed from this data set alone, and any investor should run their own rent comparables before underwriting. What the data does confirm is that entry cost is low, price momentum is real at nearly 11% annually, and the county ranks first in Mississippi out of 80 counties on overall score. This is a market that earns its rank on the appreciation and affordability side of the ledger, not on day-one yield.

The investor profile this county suits most clearly is the appreciation-oriented buyer who can tolerate uncertainty on immediate cash flow in exchange for a low basis and above-average price growth. At $143,801 median, a 20% down payment is just over $28,700, which is a low hurdle for a buy-and-hold position. An investor who already owns cash-flowing assets elsewhere and wants to diversify into a low-cost appreciation play will find the entry point compelling. A pure cash-flow buyer, on the other hand, should treat the absence of cap rate and cash-on-cash data as a yellow flag and do their own rental survey before committing. A value-add operator could also be relevant here given the affordability, but without renovation cost or rent-lift data from this county, that thesis requires independent due diligence.

No economic anchors or employer data were provided for Kemper County, so the employment base and rental demand drivers cannot be assessed from this data set. That is itself a data point worth taking seriously. Kemper's population of 8,980 is small, which means the rental pool is limited in absolute size. A thin population base can mean lower vacancy if you buy right and keep the property maintained, but it also means any single large employer leaving or a demographic shift has an outsized impact on demand. Stability scores at 50, squarely at the midpoint, which suggests neither strong resilience nor acute fragility from what the data captures, but investors should independently research what is anchoring employment in the county before building a multi-property position here.

On carry costs, the estimated monthly tax and insurance figure is $157, using a state-average effective property tax rate of 0.81% and an insurance rate of 0.50%. The tax rate flag is "normal," meaning it is neither a tailwind nor a material headwind, though the caveat in the data is worth repeating: this is a state-average estimate from Tax Foundation 2024 data, and actual county and township rates in Kemper may differ. Mississippi is a relatively low-insurance-cost state by national standards, but the Gulf Coast and central Mississippi exposure to severe weather means the 0.50% insurance estimate should be stress-tested with an actual quote. At $157 per month combined, the carry cost on taxes and insurance is manageable relative to the price point, but it only holds if the rental rate can cover it alongside principal, interest, maintenance, and vacancy reserves.

The primary risks here are concentration and demographic. A county of under 9,000 people has a thin tenant pool by definition, and any investor building beyond one or two units is creating meaningful concentration in a single small market. There is no vacancy or crime data in the provided data set, so those risks cannot be quantified here, but they warrant independent research. The 10.95% year-over-year price appreciation is encouraging, and if it reflects genuine demand, that is a meaningful signal, but investors should determine whether that growth is driven by a one-time transaction anomaly in a low-volume market or by a structural shift in buyer demand.

Against the neighbors provided, Kemper at $143,801 is a middle-of-the-pack entry price, sitting well above Holmes County at $84,259 and Scott County at $123,939, but meaningfully below Lee County at $196,256 and Monroe County at $160,564. The most useful comparison is with Hinds County, the only neighbor with a complete rent-to-price ratio in the data: Hinds shows a ratio of 0.1285, which is a solid cash-flow indicator at a $125,430 median. If an investor's primary goal is yield, Hinds County, with a population anchored by Jackson and a $1,343 median rent, may offer a cleaner cash-flow thesis with more data to underwrite against. Lee County, at a 0.0777 rent-to-price ratio, leans more toward an appreciation profile at a higher cost basis. Kemper's 78 appreciation score makes it the most differentiated play in this peer group on price-growth momentum, and an investor should choose it over neighbors specifically when they want a low-basis Mississippi position with demonstrated recent appreciation and are prepared to underwrite the thin market depth and limited rental demand data independently.