Clatsop County

Clatsop County posts a gross rent-to-price ratio of 4.04% and a modeled cap rate of 2.62%, which places it squarely in appreciation territory rather than cash-flow territory. At a $518,689 median purchase price financed with 20% down at 6.85%, the modeled mortgage runs $2,719 per month against median rent of $1,744, producing an estimated cash-on-cash return of negative 15.94% and a monthly cash-flow deficit of roughly $1,585 before any vacancy or capital expenditure. Those aren't rounding errors, they're structural. Year-over-year home price growth sits at just 0.41%, so the appreciation thesis isn't being validated by recent comps either. The overall score of 40 out of 100, a national percentile rank of 4, and a state rank of 28 out of 36 Oregon counties all point to the same conclusion: this county is not producing numbers that support a conventional buy-and-hold rental underwrite at current prices and rates.

The investor most likely to buy here anyway is someone explicitly underwriting a short-term or vacation rental strategy tied to Cannon Beach or Seaside, or someone who already owns property here and is evaluating a hold decision rather than a new acquisition. The appreciation score of 54 is the one bright spot, sitting modestly above neutral, but it needs to carry enormous weight to compensate for a cash-on-cash of negative 15.94%. A pure cash-flow buyer should find this market nearly impossible to make work without substantial rent premiums above the modeled median, either through furnished rental income, a value-add that meaningfully raises rents, or an acquisition price well below the $518,689 median. An affordability index of 26 tells you tenant incomes in this county are stretched relative to housing costs, which limits how aggressively rents can be pushed on long-term units.

No economic anchor data was provided for this county, so job base and employer concentration cannot be assessed from the available inputs. What the population figure of 41,190 does suggest is a small, likely tourism-influenced coastal market where demand is real but rental demand depth is limited. Small market size is itself a risk factor: a single large employer contraction, a shift in tourism patterns, or a change in short-term rental regulations can move the vacancy needle materially when the total renter pool is shallow.

On carry costs, the modeled monthly tax-and-insurance figure is $501, using a state-average effective property tax rate of 0.97% and an insurance estimate of 0.19%. Oregon's 0.97% rate is flagged as normal relative to other states, so it doesn't create outsized drag the way a Texas or Illinois rate would. That said, $501 per month in tax and insurance is still a real line on your underwrite when gross rent is $1,744, representing nearly 29% of gross income before mortgage, maintenance, or management. The caveat here matters: that 0.97% is a state-average estimate, and actual Clatsop County or township-level rates may differ, so pull the specific assessor data before closing.

The risk profile is straightforward: small population, tourism concentration, negative cash-on-cash at median price, and limited price appreciation over the trailing year. Oregon also has a landlord-tenant regulatory environment that tends to favor tenants on eviction timelines and, in some jurisdictions, limits on rent increases, which compresses the operational flexibility that value-add operators typically rely on. None of those regulatory specifics are confirmed at the county level from the available data, but they warrant legal due diligence before committing.

Against its neighbors, Clatsop's 4.04% rent-to-price ratio is comparable to Multnomah (4.10%) and Washington (4.08%) counties but trails Tillamook (4.64%) by a meaningful margin. Tillamook carries the same overall score of 40 but achieves higher gross yield on a lower median price of $503,130 against median rent of $1,947, making it the more defensible buy-and-hold option of the two coastal counties if you're targeting this part of Oregon. Multnomah and Washington counties, despite similar overall scores of 41, offer larger and more economically diversified renter pools, which reduces the concentration risk inherent in a 41,000-person coastal county. Clackamas County posts the worst gross yield of the group at 3.87% on the highest median price of $603,032, so it doesn't compete on cash-flow terms either. Choose Clatsop over its neighbors only if you have a specific, defensible thesis for above-median rents, a purchase price below market, or a use case the modeled numbers don't capture.