Wyoming County

Wyoming County, Pennsylvania sits at a median home price of $255,047 with essentially flat price movement, down 0.33% year-over-year. The affordability index of 75 is one of the more readable numbers here: relative to income, homes are accessible. What's missing from the data tells its own story. Cap rate, cash-on-cash return, monthly cash flow, and estimated expenses all come back as zero, which means the rental income side of the equation either couldn't be modeled or produced numbers too thin to register as a return. That's a signal, not a rounding error. Without a calculable cap rate or gross yield, this county sits firmly at the cash-flow-negative or cash-flow-neutral end of the spectrum, and it scores exactly zero on the cash flow dimension. Appreciation scores a 48 out of 100, just below the midpoint, which combined with the slight price decline makes Wyoming County neither a cash flow play nor a convincing appreciation story at current pricing.

The investor this market does not suit is the yield-focused buyer hunting monthly cash flow at 6.85% financing. The math simply isn't there, and the data confirms it with a cash flow score of zero. The investor it might suit is someone with a very specific thesis: a patient, low-leverage buyer willing to hold for modest appreciation in a low-entry-cost Pennsylvania market, or a value-add operator who can manufacture equity through forced appreciation where the market itself won't deliver it organically. The affordability score of 75 does mean acquisition prices are reasonable relative to area incomes, which provides some floor on downside, but an affordability index is not a rent-growth engine. At a 42nd national percentile and 51st out of 67 Pennsylvania counties, this market competes poorly against its own state peers on the metrics that drive investor returns.

No economic anchor data was provided for Wyoming County, so employer-level analysis of rental demand drivers isn't possible here. What the population figure of 26,219 does communicate is that this is a small, rural county with a shallow renter pool. Thin rental demand typically limits rent growth even when occupancy holds, and it concentrates risk around any single local employer or economic shift that affects the area's employment base. Investors underwriting this market should treat rental demand as a constraint, not an assumption.

The tax and insurance carry costs deserve direct attention. At a state-average effective property tax rate of 1.54%, Pennsylvania is a high-tax state for landlords, and that rate earns a flag here as a real underwriting consideration. On the $255,047 purchase price, annual property taxes land at approximately $3,928 and insurance at $587, producing a combined monthly tax-and-insurance burden of $376. That $376 hits the cash flow statement before you pay a mortgage, before maintenance, before vacancy, and before management. At 6.85% on an 80% LTV loan, the debt service alone is substantial, and the $376 carry cost on top of that leaves almost no room for positive cash flow unless rents are materially higher than what the model is producing. To be explicit: the 1.54% figure is a state-average estimate per Tax Foundation 2024 data, and actual county or township rates in Wyoming County may differ, but investors should verify the local millage before assuming a more favorable number.

The concentration and demographic risks here are structural. A county of 26,219 people in rural Pennsylvania with flat or declining home prices and no modelable rent yield presents a liquidity risk that matters at exit. Buyers for investment properties in thin markets are fewer, and the buyer pool shrinks further if conditions deteriorate. There's no vacancy or crime data to cite here, but market size itself is a risk factor when you need to refinance, sell, or attract quality tenants across a downturn.

The neighboring county comparison is clarifying. Montgomery County ($473,900 median, $2,030 rent, 0.051 rent-to-price ratio) and Franklin County ($278,887 median, $1,166 rent, 0.050 rent-to-price ratio) both post gross yield ratios around 5%, which is thin but at least calculable. Lancaster County ($372,151 median, $1,455 rent, 0.047 ratio) shows similar dynamics. Wyoming County, with no modelable rent yield at all, compares unfavorably on income return to every neighbor with rent data available. Armstrong County has a median price of just $156,968 and the same overall score of 58, suggesting that if an investor's goal is Pennsylvania exposure at lower entry cost with a better shot at cash flow, Armstrong likely deserves analysis before Wyoming. Franklin County at $278,887 and a 0.050 rent-to-price ratio also scores a 58 overall at a price point close to Wyoming's, with actual rent data supporting an underwrite. Choose Wyoming County over its neighbors only if you have a hyper-local reason to be here: a specific asset, a specific submarket, or operational advantages that the county-level data doesn't capture.