Stewart County

Stewart County sits at a median home price of $250,802, down 1.64% year-over-year, which puts acquisition costs modestly below where they were twelve months ago. The affordability index of 76 reflects a market that is still accessible relative to national benchmarks, but the investment picture is incomplete: the provided data carries no cap rate, no estimated rent, and no cash-on-cash return, which is itself diagnostic. When a county's cash flow score registers at zero and the model cannot produce a cap rate, the signal is that rental income data is thin or nonexistent at a scale that supports confident underwriting. Investors who need a modeled return before committing capital should treat those zeros as a data gap requiring direct market research, not as confirmation that returns are zero.

The overall score of 55 and appreciation score of 42, combined with a national percentile of 36 and a state rank of 40 out of 95 Tennessee counties, position Stewart squarely in the lower-middle tier of investment markets. This is not a market distinguished by either cash flow yield or appreciation trajectory. The year-over-year price decline of 1.64% on a sub-$251,000 median is not catastrophic, but it does eliminate the "buy now before it runs" argument. The affordability score of 76 is the strongest number in the dataset, which suggests the market's primary appeal is entry price rather than income generation or capital gains velocity. For a value-add operator who can force appreciation through renovation in a thin market, the low median and still-accessible financing at the prevailing 6.85% rate may provide a workable entry point, but they would need to verify local rental comps independently because the model cannot supply them.

No economic anchors or employer data are included in this dataset, so no claims can be made about the job base, employer concentration, or the drivers of rental demand in Stewart County. What the population figure of 13,724 does tell you is that this is a small rural county. Thin population density typically means a thin rental market, fewer comps, longer vacancy periods when a unit turns, and a tenant pool that can shift materially with any single employer hiring or contracting. Investors accustomed to markets with 50,000-plus residents should calibrate their expectations on liquidity and absorption accordingly.

On carry costs, the combined monthly tax and insurance estimate comes to $224, based on a state-average effective property tax rate of 0.71% and an insurance rate of 0.36%. The tax flag is rated "normal," so the rate does not represent an outsized drag on cash flow the way it would in a high-tax state. That said, the $1,781 in annual property tax and $903 in annual insurance on a $250,802 asset are real line items, and investors should note the honest caveat embedded in the data: the 0.71% figure is a state-average estimate from Tax Foundation 2024, and actual county and township rates in Stewart can differ. Pull the county assessor's current millage rate before finalizing any underwrite.

The primary risk here is market thinness. A population of 13,724 means a small pool of buyers if you need to exit, a small pool of qualified tenants if a unit sits vacant, and limited transaction volume to establish reliable comps for either rent or resale. Without economic anchor data, there is no way to assess how stable or diversified the local employment base is, which is a meaningful underwriting blind spot in a county this size. Regulatory and zoning risk cannot be assessed from the provided data.

Compared to the five neighboring counties, Stewart's $250,802 median sits above Van Buren ($226,333), Jackson ($222,300), Fentress ($236,817), and Grundy ($200,790), while sitting below Putnam ($306,250). All neighbors except Grundy carry the same overall score of 55, and Grundy scores 54. The one county where a meaningful comparison is possible on yield is Putnam, which shows a rent-to-price ratio of 0.58%, a $1,486 median rent on a $306,250 median price. Putnam is a larger, more liquid market anchored by Cookeville, and while the price of entry is $55,000 higher, the existence of rental comps and a real yield figure make it a materially more underwritable market for a buy-and-hold investor. Stewart makes sense over a neighbor only if an investor is explicitly targeting the lowest entry price in the region and is prepared to do the local legwork to build their own rental comp base from scratch.