Scott County

Scott County, Tennessee sits at a median home price of $190,030 with year-over-year appreciation of just 0.69%, which tells you immediately that this is not a market betting on price momentum. The affordability index of 89 is one of the more accessible entry points you will find, and the county ranks 253rd nationally out of 1,000 counties analyzed, landing in the 68th percentile overall. That overall score of 65 is decent, but the cash flow score of 0 and the appreciation score of 57 paint a picture of a market that does not excel cleanly in either direction. At a $190,030 purchase price, you are not overpaying for land, but the return profile needs to be stress-tested carefully before assuming this translates to positive cash flow.

The cash flow score of 0 is the number that should anchor your thinking here. Without a reported cap rate or gross rent multiplier in the dataset, the investment case rests almost entirely on entry price and expense structure rather than any demonstrated income yield. The affordability score of 89 is genuine, and low entry prices reduce your equity exposure, but cheap acquisition means nothing if rents do not support the carry. Stability scores at 50, which is median, suggesting neither the tenant base nor the local economy provides a particularly strong floor. This market is best suited to a patient, cost-disciplined operator who can acquire below the median, force value through improvements, and hold for yield rather than an appreciation buyer expecting price acceleration at 0.69% annualized growth or a cash flow buyer relying on a proven rent-to-price spread.

The tax and insurance picture adds some texture to the carry cost analysis. At Tennessee's state-average effective property tax rate of 0.71%, Scott County sits in normal territory, so this is not a line item that will quietly destroy your underwrite the way a high-tax state can. The combined monthly tax and insurance burden runs approximately $169 on a $190,030 asset, which is manageable. That said, the 0.71% figure is a state-average estimate from Tax Foundation 2024 data, and actual county and township rates in Scott will differ, so pull the local assessor's mill rate before finalizing any model. The insurance rate of 0.36% annualizing to $684 is also moderate. Together these costs are not alarming, but on a thin-margin rural market they still consume meaningful cash flow that has to be covered by rent.

Comparing Scott to its neighboring counties sharpens the investment thesis considerably. Carroll County, TN comes in at $180,314 and an overall score of 63, marginally cheaper but also marginally lower rated. Rhea County and Lincoln County both score 68 overall at $266,373 and $257,281 respectively, suggesting higher-rated markets are commanding a meaningful price premium of roughly $70,000 over Scott. Anderson County at $301,800 and a rent-to-price ratio of 0.0636 and Greene County at $240,638 with a rent-to-price ratio of 0.0652 both provide actual rent data that Scott's dataset lacks, and those ratios, while not exceptional, are at least observable. An investor choosing Scott over these neighbors is essentially betting that the $70,000 to $110,000 price gap more than compensates for the income and growth differential. If you can replicate Greene County's rent levels, or anything close to them, against Scott's lower acquisition cost, the math could work in your favor. But if rents in Scott are proportionally lower due to its smaller population of 21,917 and limited economic base, the discount may be priced in for a reason. Scott makes sense over a neighbor when the deal-specific numbers, actual rent comps and local cap rates, confirm the spread; it does not make sense as a market-level thesis based solely on the data provided here.

The risk profile for Scott County is primarily one of concentration and scale. A population of 21,917 is small enough that vacancy in a handful of units can meaningfully move your portfolio's performance, and tenant demand is tied to a narrow local labor market. Small rural Tennessee counties can experience sudden demand shocks if a major local employer contracts, and with no economic anchor data provided here, that risk cannot be quantified or dismissed. Regulatory risk in rural Tennessee is generally low compared to urban markets, but the limited tenant pool means pricing power is constrained and vacancy periods can run longer than in a county with five times the population. Any investor entering Scott should have a clear view on the local rent comp data before closing, because the dataset's missing cash flow and cap rate figures are not an oversight you can paper over with optimism.