Decatur County

Decatur County sits at a median home price of $188,052 with 6.18% year-over-year appreciation, which tells you immediately where this market lives on the spectrum: it's an appreciation play, not a cash-flow engine. The data assigns it a cash-flow score of 0 and an appreciation score of 90, and the affordability index of 90 confirms you're still buying at a price point where entry is accessible. No cap rate or cash-on-cash figures are provided in the underlying data, which itself signals that the cash-flow math here isn't the draw. What you're getting is a low-cost entry point ($188K median, $37,610 down at 20%) into a market appreciating at a pace that ranked it 14th nationally out of 1,000 counties tracked, placing it in the 98th percentile nationally and 2nd in Tennessee out of 95 counties. That's a meaningful signal about price trajectory relative to purchase cost.

The investor this market suits is someone willing to accept thin or break-even monthly cash flow in exchange for equity accumulation through appreciation. At a $188,052 purchase price and 6.85% interest rate, your monthly mortgage alone will consume a significant share of any rental income at typical rural Tennessee rent levels, and the data doesn't provide a local rent figure to model against. Combined monthly tax and insurance runs $168, using a 0.71% state-average property tax rate and 0.36% insurance rate, so carry costs are manageable in isolation. The affordability score of 90 and stability score of 50 suggest the price floor has room to rise but with moderate economic stability, not the kind of bedrock you'd see in a major metro. This is not the market for a buyer who needs the property to self-fund from month one. It is, however, a plausible market for a long-hold equity strategy or a value-add operator who can force appreciation through renovation above the rising baseline.

The property tax picture at least isn't a headwind. Tennessee's state-average effective rate of 0.71% is flagged as normal, and at a $188,052 price point that works out to roughly $1,335 annually, or $111 per month. Insurance adds another $677 annually, $56 per month, bringing the total tax-and-insurance burden to $168 monthly. That's a workable number and not the kind of carry-cost problem you'd face in Illinois or New Jersey. Keep in mind the 0.71% figure is a state-average estimate from Tax Foundation 2024 data; actual Decatur County rates may differ, and you'll want to pull the county assessor's current millage before finalizing your underwrite.

Decatur County is a small market, population 11,483, and that concentration risk deserves explicit acknowledgment. A market of this size has limited liquidity, a narrow tenant pool, and meaningful sensitivity to any single employer reduction or population outflow. The stability score of 50 reflects this directly. No economic anchor data was provided, so the composition of local employment is not something the available data supports commenting on. What the size alone tells you is that vacancy in a small rural Tennessee county can sit elevated for longer than the state average, and that disposition, if you ever need to sell, will be slower and less competitive than in a Knoxville suburb. You're accepting illiquidity as part of the trade.

Looking at the neighboring counties, Decatur's case gets cleaner by comparison. Claiborne County prices at $228,611 with an overall score of 74, meaning you're paying 22% more for a lower-ranked market. Rhea County ($266,373, score 68) and Lincoln County ($257,281, score 68) are both more expensive and score worse. Carroll County is cheaper at $180,314 but scores 63 overall, a 15-point gap below Decatur's 78. Anderson County sits at $301,800 with a median rent of $1,600 and a rent-to-price ratio of 0.0636, scores 62 overall, and costs 60% more to enter. If you're prioritizing appreciation rank and entry price simultaneously, Decatur is the clear outlier in this peer group. The investor who should choose Decatur over its neighbors is one buying for long-term price appreciation at the lowest cost basis available in the region, accepting that the cash-flow profile and market liquidity are the trade-offs for that positioning.