Roosevelt County

Roosevelt County, Montana sits at a median home price of $151,980, which makes it one of the more affordable entry points you'll find anywhere in the northern plains. The county ranks 53rd nationally out of 1,000 counties in this dataset, landing in the 93rd percentile overall, and comes in 3rd out of 56 Montana counties. The appreciation score of 78 and a year-over-year price gain of 10.82% tell you where the market's energy is concentrated: this is primarily an appreciation play, not a cash-flow machine. The cash-flow score is listed at zero, and with cap rate and cash-on-cash return both absent from the investment estimate, there's no yield number to anchor a cash-flow underwrite. At a $151,980 purchase price and 6.85% financing, a buy-and-hold investor needs to model rents carefully before assuming this pencils as a day-one income producer.

The affordability index of 97 and the low absolute price make Roosevelt genuinely accessible for an investor working with limited capital. A 20% down payment is roughly $30,400, which is a low barrier compared to most US markets. But affordability alone doesn't make a deal. The zero cash-flow score is a flag worth taking seriously: in a small, rural Montana county with a population of 10,799, rent levels are unlikely to outpace carrying costs by a wide margin at current interest rates. The investor this market suits is someone who can stomach flat or marginal monthly cash flow in exchange for a bet on continued price appreciation, currently running at 10.82% annually. A value-add operator who can buy distressed assets below the $151,980 median and force equity through renovation may find more room to manufacture yield, but that thesis depends on deal-level execution, not market-level tailwinds.

The taxInsurance data is relatively benign for carry cost purposes. At a state-average effective property tax rate of 0.83%, Roosevelt produces an estimated annual tax bill of $1,261, and insurance runs approximately $578 per year, putting combined monthly tax and insurance at $153. That's a manageable number and does not create the kind of drag you see in high-tax states. The 0.83% rate is flagged as "normal," which is accurate context: it's neither a tailwind nor a headwind in any dramatic sense. Bear in mind this is a state-average estimate from Tax Foundation 2024 data, and actual county or township rates in Roosevelt may differ, so pull the current mill levy before finalizing your underwrite.

The economic context here matters significantly for assessing rental demand stability. Roosevelt County is rural and small at under 11,000 people. No economic anchors or employer data were provided for this county, so it would be irresponsible to speculate about the local job base. What the population figure alone signals is concentration risk: a small tenant pool means vacancies can move your annual return dramatically in either direction. If a major local employer contracts or relocates, absorption of vacant units becomes a real problem in a market this size. That's not a reason to walk away, but it is a reason to underwrite vacancy conservatively and to understand the local employment picture through independent research before committing.

Comparing Roosevelt to its neighbors sharpens the investment case. At $151,980, Roosevelt's median home price is the lowest in this peer group by a meaningful margin. McCone County sits at $230,436, Pondera at $250,371, Liberty at $219,236, and Blaine at $205,075. Sheridan County is the closest comparable at $165,002. Yet Roosevelt's overall score of 75 matches McCone exactly and beats both Blaine and Liberty, which score 71 despite costing $53,000 to $98,000 more per property. Sheridan's score of 77 edges Roosevelt by two points, and at $165,002 it offers a modest price-to-score tradeoff worth examining. The case for choosing Roosevelt over its neighbors comes down to capital efficiency: you get a top-tier county score at the lowest entry price in the region, which maximizes your equity upside per dollar deployed if the 10.82% appreciation trend holds. Choose a neighbor if your thesis requires a larger, more liquid rental market, or if local economic anchors in those counties provide demonstrably more stable tenant demand than Roosevelt's data supports.