Cavalier County

Cavalier County sits at a median home price of $173,752 with year-over-year appreciation of 11.2%, which is a meaningful price gain for a county this small. The affordability index of 93 signals that homes here remain accessible relative to income, and the overall score of 74 places Cavalier in the 91st percentile nationally out of 1,000 counties ranked. The appreciation score of 77 is the clearest signal this data sends: this is a market where price momentum is the story, not monthly cash flow. The cash flow score of 0 and zeroed-out cap rate, cash-on-cash, and estimated expenses in the model reflect insufficient rental market data to underwrite a specific yield, which itself tells you something about market depth. Investors who need a fully transparent income projection before deploying capital will find that gap uncomfortable.

That asymmetry between a 77 appreciation score and a 0 cash flow score defines exactly which buyer this market suits and which it doesn't. An appreciation-oriented buyer, particularly one comfortable holding a lightly leveraged position in a low-price-point asset, can get exposure to a market posting 11.2% price growth at a $173,752 entry, a purchase price that requires only a $34,750 down payment at 20%. That's a low absolute dollar commitment compared to most markets at similar appreciation velocity. A pure cash-flow investor or anyone underwriting to a specific cap rate target should look elsewhere, at least until rental comparables become available to fill in the income side of the model. A value-add operator might find opportunity here if they can source distressed assets below the median and force appreciation through renovation, but the thin population base of 3,691 limits buyer depth on exit and tenant depth during hold.

No economic anchor data was provided for Cavalier County, so this analysis won't speculate on employer concentration or job drivers. What the population figure does indicate is that this is a genuinely small, rural county. Markets at this scale can carry meaningful concentration risk: a single employer contraction, a school district closure, or an agricultural downturn can move vacancy rates and home values sharply in a county where the entire renter pool may be measured in the hundreds. Stability scores of 50 out of 100 reflect that uncertainty. An investor comfortable with illiquidity and thin exit markets can absorb that risk; one managing a portfolio to specific occupancy targets probably cannot.

On carry costs, the combined monthly tax and insurance figure comes to $193, based on a state-average effective property tax rate of 0.98% and an insurance rate of 0.35% applied to the $173,752 purchase price. The 0.98% rate is flagged as normal, meaning it neither materially helps nor hurts the cash-flow story relative to a national baseline. That said, the standard caveat applies: this is a state-average estimate sourced from Tax Foundation 2024 data, and actual rates at the county or township level in Cavalier may differ. Verify the local mill levy before closing. At $193 per month, taxes and insurance are manageable against a low purchase price, but without a confirmed rent figure, there's no way to assess what margin, if any, remains after debt service at 6.85%.

Against its neighbors, Cavalier's $173,752 median is the second-lowest in the comparison set, above only Hettinger County at $121,524. Hettinger also scores 75 overall, one point higher than Cavalier's 74, which makes it worth a parallel look if price entry is the primary filter. Barnes County at $187,323 and an overall score of 75 offers slightly better score efficiency at a modestly higher price. Oliver County at $244,648 and Mountrail at $236,745, both with scores of 74 or 73, carry meaningfully higher price points without a proportional score advantage, which suggests worse value on a price-to-score basis. Choose Cavalier over its neighbors when the investment thesis is low absolute capital deployment with exposure to appreciation momentum, and when the investor can tolerate the illiquidity and data opacity that come with a sub-4,000 population county.