Daggett County

Daggett County, Utah scores 63 overall and ranks 295th out of 1,000 counties nationally, landing at the 62nd percentile. The appreciation score of 85 tells most of the story: home prices rose 8.12% year-over-year to a median of $337,573, which is a meaningful real gain in a relatively short time. The cash flow score, however, is 0, and the cap rate and cash-on-cash return fields come back at zero as well. No rental income estimate is available in the underlying data, which itself signals something important about this market: Daggett County has a population of 638 people. That is not a typo. At that scale, there is no meaningful rental market to model, and any investor expecting a stabilized income-producing asset here should treat the absence of those figures as a warning, not a data gap. This county sits firmly at the appreciation end of the cash-flow-versus-appreciation spectrum, with essentially nothing to say on the income side.

The investor profile this market could theoretically suit is narrow: a land-banking or long-hold appreciation play, not a cash-flow buyer and not a value-add operator. The 8.12% price appreciation is real and the affordability index of 47 suggests the market is not cheap relative to local incomes, with a median household income of $61,250 against a median home price of $337,573. That price-to-income ratio of roughly 5.5x is not a screaming buy on fundamentals. A value-add operator needs a tenant pool, and 638 residents cannot support one. A cash-flow buyer needs rents, and none are available to underwrite. The appreciation buyer gets the 85 score and the recent price trend, but must accept that liquidity in a sub-700-person county is essentially zero. Exit options are limited to other appreciation speculators or buyers purchasing for personal use.

No economic anchors or employer data were provided for Daggett County, so no claims can be made about job drivers or demand generators. What is observable from the population figure alone is that this is an extremely rural, likely recreation-adjacent county in the Uinta Basin region of northeastern Utah. Investors should conduct their own research into whether any seasonal or recreational demand exists that could support short-term rental income, as that use case is not captured in the data provided here and should not be assumed.

On the carry cost side, the property tax picture is genuinely favorable. Using a state-average effective rate of 0.63%, annual property tax on a $337,573 purchase comes to approximately $2,127, and insurance adds another $641 annually. Combined, that is $231 per month in tax and insurance, which is a low carry cost relative to the purchase price. The low property tax flag is a real tailwind: at 0.63%, Utah's rate is meaningfully below national norms, and this keeps holding costs manageable even with no rental income. That said, the note in the data is worth taking seriously: this is a state-average estimate, and actual county or township rates in Daggett may differ. Verify the specific mill levy before closing.

The primary risks here are concentration and liquidity. A 638-person county is not a diversifiable market. There is no tenant pool, no comparable sales volume to support confident valuations, and no path to a quick exit if your thesis breaks. Any single change, whether a road closure, a shift in recreational use patterns, or a change in zoning, can affect every property in the county simultaneously. Regulatory risk is harder to assess without additional data, but rural Utah counties sometimes impose restrictions on short-term rentals as the only plausible income-generating use in areas like this. Demographic risk is also implicit: a population this small is not growing in any meaningful absolute sense, and the stability score of 50 reflects that uncertainty.

Among the neighboring counties provided, Daggett is neither the cheapest nor the most expensive. Millard County's median of $334,525 is nearly identical in price but carries an overall score of 66 versus Daggett's 63, making Millard the more efficient buy on the overall ranking. Sevier County comes in at a lower median of $322,742, carries a rent-to-price ratio of 0.054, and has actual rent data ($1,450 median) available, meaning an investor can underwrite a real cash flow scenario there that simply does not exist in Daggett. Duchesne and Sanpete are priced higher with similar or lower overall scores. The only reason to choose Daggett over any of these neighbors is a specific, conviction-driven view on appreciation in this particular geography, because on every other metric, the neighbors offer more to work with. Sevier, in particular, is the obvious alternative for an investor who wants some exposure to rural Utah but needs actual income to service debt.