Union County

Union County sits at a median home price of $210,630 with 6.44% year-over-year appreciation, which immediately tells you something about where this market sits on the spectrum. The affordability index of 85 and a national percentile rank of 96th out of 1,000 counties screened, along with the top rank in Mississippi, signal a market that scores well on relative value and price momentum. The cash flow score, however, comes in at zero, and no cap rate or rent-to-price ratio is provided in the data, which is itself a signal worth sitting with. The appreciation score of 90 confirms this is primarily a price-growth story, not a yield story. Investors coming in expecting day-one cash flow will need to run their own rent comps carefully before underwriting a purchase.

The profile here suits an appreciation-oriented buyer or a long-term hold investor who is comfortable accepting thin or breakeven cash flow in exchange for continued price growth. At $210,630, Union is not a deep-value buy in absolute terms relative to neighboring counties, but the 6.44% annual price gain on that base is meaningful. A value-add operator could potentially find upside by improving properties in an appreciating market where the entry price is still under $250,000, giving some buffer on repositioning costs. Pure cash-flow buyers, by contrast, should temper expectations. Without a confirmed rent-to-price ratio above 0.8% monthly (the rough threshold for breakeven on a leveraged single-family), this market does not self-certify as a yield play on the available data.

No economic anchors or employer data were provided for Union County, so drawing conclusions about job concentration or institutional demand drivers is not possible from this dataset alone. What the population figure of 27,880 does indicate is a small, likely rural county. Markets of this size carry specific considerations: tenant pools are narrower, vacancy can move materially with even modest local economic shifts, and liquidity on exit is thinner than in metro-adjacent markets. That is not disqualifying, but it is a factor any serious buyer should stress-test. Stability scores at 50, which is middle-of-the-road, reinforcing that this is not a recession-resistant institutional-grade market.

On carry costs, the combined monthly tax and insurance figure is $230, based on a state-average effective property tax rate of 0.81% and an insurance rate of 0.50%. Mississippi's 0.81% rate is flagged as normal, so it is not the underwriting headwind you would face in Illinois or New Jersey, but insurance at 0.50% annually deserves attention. On a $210,630 property that works out to roughly $1,053 per year, and when combined with taxes at $1,706 annually, you are looking at $2,759 in combined tax and insurance before touching mortgage service, maintenance reserves, or property management. Worth modeling carefully if rents are not firmly established. As always, this is a state-average estimate; actual county and township rates may differ, so pull the Union County assessor data before closing your underwrite.

The comparative picture across neighboring counties sharpens the decision. Scott County at $123,939 and Holmes County at $84,259 offer dramatically lower entry prices and may suit cash-flow buyers if local rent levels are proportionate to price, though neither rent figure is provided. Hinds County, likely anchored by the Jackson metro, shows a rent-to-price ratio of 0.1285%, which is a strong yield signal on a $125,430 median, with rents running $1,343 monthly. Lee County at $196,256 median and a rent-to-price ratio of 0.0777% is the closest comp to Union on price, but it carries a lower yield signal. Union's 6.44% price appreciation outpaces what the static data shows for neighbors, and its top state rank at 96th nationally gives it a differentiated positioning. The investor who should choose Union over its neighbors is the one prioritizing capital gains and relative market momentum over immediate income yield, is comfortable with a small-county tenant pool, and wants the lowest-priced path into a top-percentile Mississippi appreciation market rather than the highest-yielding path into a deeper-value county like Hinds.