Fayette County

Fayette County comes in at a median home price of $459,432, which immediately raises the central tension in this market: at a population of 24,564 and an affordability index of 34 out of 100, the entry price is steep relative to what the local renter base can support. The cash flow score is 0 and the cap rate field returns zero, which is not a data gap but a signal, one that tells you the rent-to-price relationship here does not close a conventional buy-and-hold deal at current values. Prices are down 1.37% year over year, so there is modest softening, but a $459,000 asset in a rural Texas county of 25,000 people is priced more like an appreciation or lifestyle play than an income vehicle. The overall score of 43 out of 100, landing at the 8th national percentile and ranking 191st out of 243 Texas counties, confirms this is not a market where the numbers line up easily for most investor strategies.

The cash flow picture is the most important thing to confront directly. With a $459,432 purchase, a 20% down payment of $91,886, and a 6.85% mortgage rate, the monthly debt service alone is substantial before you add carry costs. The tax and insurance data makes that carry cost concrete: at a 1.80% state-average property tax rate and a 0.50% insurance rate, the combined monthly tax and insurance bill comes to $881. That is before maintenance, management, or vacancy. The 1.80% rate carries the "high" flag in this data set, and it deserves its own line on your underwrite, because at that rate on a $459,000 asset you are paying $8,270 annually in property tax alone. That figure, combined with $2,297 in annual insurance, means your fixed carry costs before the mortgage are over $10,500 per year. As always, this is a state-average estimate per Tax Foundation 2024 data, and actual Fayette County or township rates may differ, but plan for high rather than hope for low. A cash-flow buyer should not be buying here at this price point unless the rent data from specific submarkets contradicts what the aggregate scores indicate.

No economic anchor or employer data was provided for Fayette County, so no claims about job concentration or demand drivers can be made. What the population figure does tell you is that 24,564 residents is a thin renter pool, and a $459,000 median price in a market that size suggests the price level is being driven by factors other than rental income demand, whether that is land value, agricultural acreage bundled into residential sales, proximity to Austin or the Hill Country corridor, or second-home and lifestyle buyers. Any of those explanations would push this toward appreciation speculation rather than income investing, and the data does not give you enough to confirm which.

If there is a use case for Fayette County, it is a patient appreciation buyer or a land-and-lifestyle acquirer who is not underwriting this on cash flow in year one. The appreciation score of 43 is not exceptional, but it is the only score here with any meat on it. The stability score of 50 suggests median volatility, neither a collapsing market nor a high-conviction hold. A value-add operator would face the same cost structure as anyone else, plus renovation capital, on top of a purchase price that already strains the math against rental income. That profile only works if you can identify specific assets mispriced well below the $459,000 median or if you have a clear exit to a lifestyle buyer who is not yield-constrained.

The neighbor comparison sharpens the opportunity cost question. Hardeman County prices at $62,124 with a 45 overall score, higher than Fayette's 43 at roughly one-seventh the purchase price. Shackelford County at $148,074 scores 44. Camp County at $208,864 and Willacy County at $169,393 both score 42, essentially equivalent to Fayette. Bandera County at $329,463 scores 44. Every comparable in this data set either matches or beats Fayette's overall score at a dramatically lower price. The cap rate math in any of those lower-priced markets is going to close faster than it will at $459,000. The only reason to choose Fayette over these neighbors is if you have specific conviction about price appreciation in this particular corridor, a use case that justifies the premium, or off-market access to assets priced far below the county median. On the numbers as presented, a cash-flow investor should look at Shackelford or Hardeman first, and an appreciation buyer should be able to articulate clearly why Fayette at $459,000 outperforms Bandera at $329,000 before committing capital here.