Cedar County

Cedar County sits at a median home price of $246,870, up 10.9% year-over-year, with an affordability index of 69 overall and a 78 on appreciation. The cash-flow score is zero, which is the single most important number on the sheet. No cap rate, no estimated cash flow, and no rent data are provided for this county, meaning the cash-flow picture cannot be underwritten from available figures alone. What the data does tell you is that price appreciation has been running hard, nearly 11% in a single year, in a county with a population of 8,375. That combination, steep appreciation and absent rental yield data, places Cedar squarely on the appreciation end of the spectrum. Investors expecting day-one cash flow will not find confirmation of it here.

The appreciation score of 78 out of 100 and a national percentile rank of 78 out of 1,000 counties suggest this market has been outperforming most of the country on price growth, which is notable for a rural Nebraska county at this price point. The affordability index of 77 means the market is not yet priced out of reach relative to local incomes, which provides some floor under valuations. But with a cash-flow score of zero and no rent-to-price ratio available for Cedar itself, a pure cash-flow buyer has no quantitative basis to underwrite a deal here from this data set. This market suits an appreciation-oriented buyer or a value-add operator who has done independent rent survey work on the ground, not someone whose business model requires day-one positive returns.

Carry costs are a real consideration. Nebraska's state-average effective property tax rate of 1.73% is high enough to deserve its own line on your underwrite. On a $246,870 purchase, that translates to $4,271 annually in property taxes alone. Add insurance at 0.58%, or $1,432 per year, and the combined monthly tax-and-insurance load is $475 before you touch the mortgage, maintenance, or management. At a 6.85% interest rate on an 80% LTV loan, the debt service on $197,496 financed is not trivial. These carry costs put real pressure on any rent figure you need to break even, which makes the absence of local rent data more consequential, not less. The 1.73% rate is a state-average estimate from Tax Foundation 2024 data, and actual Cedar County or township rates may differ, so pull the county assessor's figures before closing.

No economic anchors, employer data, or economy notes were provided for Cedar County, so the drivers behind that 10.9% price appreciation and whatever rental demand exists cannot be attributed to specific institutions or industries from this data. That gap itself is worth flagging: in an 8,375-person county, the economic base is likely narrow, and concentration risk, whether in agriculture, a single employer, or a single industry, is a real consideration even if it cannot be quantified here. Small rural markets can see outsized price moves in both directions, and the stability score of 50 reflects that uncertainty.

The neighbor comparison sharpens the picture considerably. Platte County to the south carries a median price of $270,220 but posts a rent-to-price ratio of 0.0678, meaning monthly rent runs roughly $1,527 against a higher price point, and it scores a 68 overall. Adams County comes in at $216,561 with a rent-to-price ratio of 0.0635 and a matching overall score of 69. Dodge County is almost price-identical to Cedar at $247,136 with a rent-to-price ratio of 0.0597 and a score of 68. Thurston and Custer counties come in well below Cedar on price, at $164,361 and $166,108 respectively, both scoring 69, but no rent data is available for either. If you are choosing between Cedar and its neighbors on yield alone, Platte County shows the highest rent-to-price ratio of the group at 6.78% annualized, with actual rent figures to underwrite against. Cedar's case for selection over Platte or Adams comes down entirely to whether that 10.9% appreciation trajectory continues, and whether an investor has independent evidence of rental demand that the available data does not capture. Without rent figures for Cedar, you are making a price-appreciation bet, not a yield-driven investment, and you should size your position accordingly.