Greenwood County

Greenwood County's gross rent-to-price ratio of 7.56% sits at the upper end of what you'd expect from a small Southern market at this price point, and the 4.92% cap rate reflects a market that leans toward cash flow rather than appreciation. Year-over-year home price growth of just 0.18% confirms this is not an appreciation play, and the affordability index of 93 against a median home price of $174,626 tells you that entry costs are genuinely low, not just low relative to coastal comparables. The model underwrite, however, produces a negative cash-on-cash return of -5.98% at a 6.85% note rate, with monthly mortgage of $915 and estimated expenses of $385 running against $1,101 in median rent. That gap is real and worth sitting with before you get excited about the cap rate headline.

The cash-flow score of 76 out of 100 and the affordability score of 93 make this county most interesting to two specific buyer types: the value-add operator who can close below the median and force rent above it, and the patient cash-flow buyer who is either buying with more equity, paying down to a lower basis, or waiting for rate relief to push the spread positive. At $174,626 with 20% down, the current rate environment kills the levered return. But a buyer who sources off-market at $140,000 to $150,000 or puts 35% down changes the math materially. The appreciation score of 52 and the near-flat price growth make a straightforward buy-and-hold appreciation thesis hard to defend with the provided data, so investors who need their equity working on price gains should look elsewhere.

The combined monthly tax and insurance figure of $132 is a genuine tailwind here. South Carolina's state-average effective property tax rate of 0.57% is low enough to improve cash-flow underwriting by roughly $83 per month compared to what you'd pay in a 1.2% tax state on this same asset. That is real money on a thin margin. The insurance rate of 0.34% adds $49 per month, and neither figure is punishing relative to peer markets. The honest caveat from the source data applies: this is a state-average estimate from Tax Foundation 2024, and your actual county or township rate may differ, so pull the Greenwood County assessor's rate before you finalize your model. That said, if the county tracks close to the state average, carry costs are a tailwind, not a headwind.

The stability score of 50 is the number that deserves the most scrutiny. Greenwood is a county of 69,309 people, and small single-employer or single-sector markets can see outsized rent demand swings if the economic base shifts. The data does not include employer-level anchors, so this analysis cannot speak to what is driving that stability score or what concentration risks exist beneath it. What the numbers do confirm is that this is not a high-growth metropolitan market, and the near-zero price appreciation over the past year reflects that. Investors should do their own ground-level diligence on employer diversity and population trend direction before committing.

Compared to its neighbors, Greenwood ranks 4th in South Carolina out of 46 counties, which is a meaningful position. Its overall score of 67 is the highest in the peer group shown here, edging out Florence County's 70, which actually beats Greenwood on overall score but is noted here as a neighbor for comparison. Richland County (overall 66) and Aiken County (overall 65) both carry higher median prices, $238,959 and $226,755 respectively, with slightly better rent-to-price ratios of 7.75% and 7.76%, but require meaningfully larger capital commitments and offer only marginally better gross yields. Orangeburg County's rent-to-price ratio of 9.18% on a $154,731 median is the standout yield figure in this peer group, but its overall score of 64 suggests other factors, likely stability or economic fragility, are offsetting the gross yield advantage. McCormick County's median of $319,373 with no rent data provided makes it a non-starter for yield-focused analysis here. Greenwood is the right choice over its neighbors when your priority is balancing a low entry price with a reasonable cap rate and low carry costs, and when you have the operating skill to push rents above the median on a value-add acquisition.