Licking County

Licking County sits at a gross rent-to-price ratio of 0.0638, which translates to a 4.15% cap rate at the median. That places it squarely in appreciation territory rather than cash-flow territory. At a 6.85% financing rate, the numbers confirm it: a buyer putting 20% down on a $340,409 purchase faces a $1,784 monthly mortgage payment against $1,811 in gross rent, and after estimated expenses of $634 the model spits out negative $608 per month in cash flow and a cash-on-cash return of -9.32%. None of that is unusual for a market scoring 83 out of 100 on appreciation and only 64 on cash flow. Year-over-year home price growth is running at 4.01%, which is meaningful in a mid-size Ohio market and is what the appreciation score is reflecting. The affordability index of 57 and an overall national rank of 273rd out of 1,000 counties (65th percentile) round out the picture: this is a mid-tier market leaning toward price growth, not a cash machine.

The appreciation score of 83 is the headline for a buy-and-hold investor who can carry negative cash flow or bring a larger down payment to reduce leverage. The cash-flow buyer looking to break even or better at conventional financing will find this market frustrating at current rates, and the numbers do not support a pure income-oriented underwrite at 20% down. The value-add operator has a more nuanced case: if purchase price can be compressed below $340,000, or if rent can be pushed above $1,811 through renovation, the margin between mortgage and rent is close enough that the gap narrows quickly. Every $50 of additional monthly rent improvement shifts the cash-on-cash by roughly 0.88 percentage points given the $68,082 equity deployed, so repositioning upside matters here more than it would in a higher-rent-to-price market.

The taxInsurance data deserves its own line on any underwrite. Ohio's state-average effective property tax rate is 1.56%, flagged as high, and at the median price that produces $5,310 in annual property tax, or $443 per month. Add $65 per month in insurance and the combined tax-and-insurance carry is $508 monthly. That figure alone represents 28% of gross rent and is a real drag on any cash-flow calculation. The honest caveat here is that 1.56% is a state-average estimate from Tax Foundation 2024, and actual Licking County or township-level rates may differ, so pulling the county auditor's current millage before closing is not optional. In a market where the cash-flow margin is already thin, an unexpectedly higher local rate of even 0.2% would add another $57 per month to carry costs and push losses deeper.

Licking County's stability score of 50 is the number worth watching from a risk standpoint. That score, combined with a population of 178,844, suggests the demand base is real but not deep enough to insulate against a meaningful economic disruption. The county is close enough to Columbus to benefit from Columbus-area employment spillover, which likely underpins the appreciation score, but that proximity also means the market can price like Columbus for appreciation without matching Columbus for rental demand depth. An investor concentrated in this county should underwrite a realistic vacancy buffer into those already-negative cash-flow projections rather than assuming full occupancy keeps the loss manageable.

Comparing Licking to its neighbors sharpens the decision. Columbiana County at $153,705 median and a 0.0653 rent-to-price ratio is a pure cash-flow alternative, though its $836 median rent reflects a much smaller and likely more economically fragile demand base. Muskingum County at $202,550 median and a nearly identical 0.0637 rent-to-price ratio to Licking splits the difference on price without offering meaningfully better cash flow math. Butler and Warren counties are both pricier, at $302,712 and $395,975 respectively, with lower rent-to-price ratios of 0.0597 and 0.0586, so they offer less cash flow and require more capital without matching Licking's appreciation score. Clermont County at $316,533 and 0.0582 is a similar story. The case for choosing Licking over these neighbors is straightforward: it offers the highest appreciation score in the comparison set at 83, a rent-to-price ratio competitive with Muskingum at a higher absolute rent level ($1,811 vs. $1,075), and Columbus-adjacent demand tailwinds that the cheaper outlying counties cannot replicate. The investor who belongs here is one betting on continued price growth east of Columbus, can handle or minimize monthly carry losses, and wants a market that competes on appreciation, not yield.