Cannon County

Cannon County, Tennessee sits at a median home price of $331,426 with 8.1% year-over-year appreciation, an overall score of 67 out of 100, and a cash flow score of zero. That combination tells you almost everything you need to know about where this market sits on the spectrum: it leans hard toward appreciation, with the data offering no meaningful yield signal on the rental side. The appreciation score of 85 is the headline number here, placing Cannon in the top tier of Tennessee markets for price growth, but the absence of cash flow data and a zero cap rate estimate means an investor cannot underwrite a carry-cost-positive deal from these figures alone. With a median price above $330,000 and an affordability index of 59, this is not a cheap market relative to typical Tennessee buy-and-hold targets, and anyone expecting day-one cash flow will need to stress-test their rent assumptions carefully before committing.

The investor profile that fits Cannon County is narrow but clearly defined. This market is for the appreciation buyer, not the cash-flow buyer or the value-add operator looking for immediate yield. The 8.1% price growth, a top-12 ranking among 95 Tennessee counties, and a 73rd-percentile national ranking out of 1,000 counties tracked all point to a market with genuine price momentum. A stability score of 50, however, signals meaningful volatility risk relative to peer markets, so an appreciation bet here is not a set-it-and-forget-it position. The investor who belongs here is someone willing to hold through cycles, can absorb neutral or negative monthly cash flow in the near term, and is betting that continued price appreciation in this corner of middle Tennessee outpaces whatever carry-cost drag accumulates over time.

On carry costs, the combined monthly tax and insurance figure comes to $296, based on a state-average effective property tax rate of 0.71% and an insurance rate of 0.36%. The 0.71% rate carries a "normal" flag, meaning it is neither a structural headwind nor a meaningful tailwind compared to the broader Tennessee baseline. That said, the note attached to this estimate is worth taking seriously: this is a state-average effective rate sourced from Tax Foundation 2024 data, and actual county and township rates in Cannon can differ from that figure. Before closing, pull the actual county assessor data for any specific parcel and run your numbers against the real rate. At $296 per month combined, taxes and insurance represent a fixed drain that, paired with a mortgage on a $331,000 purchase, will produce a materially negative monthly position unless rents in the area are running well above what one might expect for a county of 14,481 people.

That population figure is the most significant risk in this data set. Cannon County is a small market, with under 15,000 residents, which introduces real concentration risk on the demand side. A small tenant pool means higher sensitivity to any single employer slowdown, demographic shift, or economic disruption. No economic anchor data is provided here, so it would be speculative to name employers or characterize the job base, but a market of this size warrants ground-level diligence on where tenants actually work and how far they commute. Small rural counties in Tennessee have historically benefited from spillover demand when nearby metros get too expensive, but that dynamic depends on proximity and road access to larger employment centers, factors not captured in the provided data.

Compared to the five neighboring counties in the data, Cannon carries the highest median home price at $331,426, yet its overall score of 67 matches only Anderson County's 62 or Greene County's 62 when you account for the fact that both of those neighbors have actual rent-to-price ratios on record. Anderson County shows a rent-to-price ratio of 0.0636 on a $301,800 median price, and Greene County shows 0.0652 on a $240,638 median. Both ratios are meaningfully better for cash flow underwriting than what Cannon's figures imply at its price point. Carroll County at $180,314 median and a 63 overall score represents the cheapest entry in the group, likely with a very different return profile. Rhea and Lincoln counties, both scored at 68, sit about $65,000 to $74,000 cheaper than Cannon while posting slightly higher overall scores.

The case for choosing Cannon over its neighbors rests entirely on conviction in the price appreciation thesis. If an investor believes middle Tennessee's secondary and exurban markets will continue absorbing demand pressure from Nashville metro and surrounding corridors, Cannon's 8.1% growth rate and 85 appreciation score make it the most compelling growth play in this peer group. If the priority is day-one yield, measurable rent coverage, or a lower basis for value-add repositioning, the data points clearly toward Greene County for balance, Carroll County for low entry cost, or Anderson County for a more documented rental market at a manageable price point.