Scioto County

Scioto County sits at a median home price of $144,148, putting it among the most affordable entry points in Ohio and ranking 14th nationally out of 1,000 counties scored, landing in the 98th percentile overall. The affordability index of 99 out of 100 is the headline number here. What's missing from this picture is published rent and cap rate data, which means you cannot run a complete cash-on-cash model from the provided figures alone. The 4.38% year-over-year home price appreciation and an appreciation score of 84 suggest the market is gaining momentum on the price side, but with a cash flow score of zero and no rent-to-price ratio available, this county does not announce itself as a yield play. Until you source local rent comps and stress-test a full pro forma, treat this as an appreciation-leaning market with an unusually low acquisition cost basis.

The investor best positioned here is someone who wants to buy low, hold for appreciation, and has the patience to let the 4.38% annual price gains compound on a $144,000 asset. A value-add operator can also find opportunity: at this price point, even modest forced appreciation from renovation adds meaningful percentage returns relative to the purchase price. A pure cash-flow buyer chasing a 1% monthly rent-to-price rule needs more data before committing, because nothing in the dataset confirms that rents in Portsmouth and the surrounding Scioto County market clear the threshold on a $144,000 purchase. That said, $144,000 is cheap enough that if rents land anywhere near the $900 to $1,100 range common in comparable southern Ohio markets, the numbers could pencil, but you need to verify that on the ground, not assume it.

On the economic side, the data does not include specific employer anchors or an economy note for Scioto County, so no claims about the local job base are made here. What the stability score of 50 does signal is that this is not a market with the kind of diversified, institutional employment base that insulates rents from cyclical pressure. A score at the midpoint of the scale suggests meaningful economic risk, likely tied to the county's smaller population of 73,716 and its position in the Appalachian Ohio corridor, where workforce and population trends can be uneven. That context matters when you are modeling tenant quality and vacancy assumptions.

The tax and insurance picture deserves attention on your underwrite. At a state-average effective property tax rate of 1.56%, Ohio's rate is high enough to put its own line on your model. On a $144,148 purchase, that works out to $2,249 in annual property taxes and $332 in annual insurance, combining to $215 per month in carry cost before a single dollar of debt service, maintenance, or management. To be precise, that 1.56% is a state-average estimate from Tax Foundation 2024 data, and actual Scioto County or township-level rates may differ, so pull the county auditor's current millage before you close. That $215 monthly figure is not crippling on an affordable asset, but on a low-rent property it can represent 20% or more of gross monthly income, which is exactly the kind of cost that separates a 6% cap rate deal from a 4% one.

The primary risks here are concentration and demographic. A county of 73,716 people has a thin tenant pool, and any single large employer addition or subtraction moves the needle on demand meaningfully. There is no vacancy or crime data in the dataset, so no claims are made on those fronts, but a market this small warrants conservative vacancy assumptions in your model, likely 10% or higher unless local property managers give you evidence otherwise. Population trajectory matters in small Ohio counties and is worth independent verification before you commit capital.

Compared to the neighboring counties in the dataset, Scioto's $144,148 median is the second cheapest after Belmont County at $130,448. Belmont has a rent-to-price ratio of 0.0724 and a lower overall score of 74, suggesting that cheaper does not always mean better positioned. Trumbull County at $160,493 carries a rent-to-price ratio of 0.0799 and scores 77, and Lucas County at $169,370 shows a 0.0783 ratio with a score of 75. Both Trumbull and Lucas offer more published rent data and likely deeper tenant pools given their larger urban centers. If confirmed cash flow is your primary objective and you want data visibility before buying, Trumbull or Lucas may be the more underwriteable choice today. Choose Scioto over its neighbors when your thesis is entry price and appreciation upside on a small capital outlay, when you have local knowledge of the rental market that the dataset does not capture, or when you are a value-add operator who can manufacture yield that passive market-rate data doesn't reflect.