Grand County

Grand County sits at a median home price of $585,610 with a cash-flow score of 0 and a cap rate that the data does not support calculating at a positive number. The affordability index of 18 out of 100 and the overall score of 2nd percentile nationally (766th out of 1,000 counties) tell you most of what you need to know before underwriting a single deal: this is one of the most expensive, least cash-flow-friendly markets in the dataset. Home prices declined 2.1% year-over-year, which softens the appreciation thesis without meaningfully improving yields. The appreciation score of 39 is below average, the stability score is a middling 50, and the affordability score of 18 is near the floor. There is no scenario in the provided numbers where a standard leveraged acquisition produces positive cash flow at a $585,610 purchase price and a 6.85% interest rate.

This market does not suit a cash-flow buyer. Full stop. The numbers score that at zero, and the rent-to-price relationship implied by comparable Utah counties in the neighbors data confirms why: even Washington County, the most yield-friendly neighbor in this dataset at a 0.043 rent-to-price ratio, generates rents of $1,890 on a $522,000 median, and Grand County's price point is higher while the rental demand base is thinner given a county population of just 9,680. An appreciation buyer gets a marginal case at best: a 39 appreciation score and a 2.1% price decline in the trailing year are not a compelling setup. The only plausible investor type here is someone with a very specific strategy, most likely short-term rental or hospitality-adjacent, which the data does not score for and does not support evaluating here. On the metrics provided, no standard buy-and-hold profile scores well in Grand County.

No economic anchors or employer data were provided for Grand County, so the demand-side story cannot be told from the numbers in hand. What the population figure of 9,680 does tell you is that this is a thin, small-county market with limited tenant depth. A small county rental portfolio is inherently concentrated, and any tenant turnover, economic disruption, or regulatory change has an outsized impact on occupancy because the replacement tenant pool is small. Investors who operate in major metro counties rarely account for how differently small-county vacancy events compound; when the entire county has fewer than 10,000 residents, a handful of vacant units can materially move your effective occupancy rate.

The tax and insurance picture is one genuine tailwind. At a state-average effective property tax rate of 0.63%, Utah's rate is low, and at a purchase price of $585,610 that translates to $3,689 in annual property tax. Combined with $1,113 in estimated annual insurance, the monthly tax-and-insurance carry is approximately $400. That is a meaningful relief relative to what the same asset would cost to hold in a high-tax state, and it is worth acknowledging as a real line-item advantage. The caveat is significant, though: this is a state-average estimate from the Tax Foundation's 2024 data, and actual county and township rates in Grand County may differ. Verify the specific millage rate before finalizing your underwrite, but the direction of the signal is favorable.

The concentrated risk here is demographic and market-depth related. A county of under 10,000 people with a median home price above $585,000 is pricing its housing at levels that very few local-income residents can access, which compresses the owner-occupant pool and raises questions about who is actually renting and why. If the rental demand is tied to tourism, seasonal workers, or remote workers drawn to the landscape rather than a diversified employment base, vacancy risk is higher and less predictable than the stability score of 50 suggests. The data does not provide vacancy statistics, so this is a structural inference from the size and price profile, not a measured rate.

Compared to the five neighboring counties in the dataset, Grand County scores the lowest overall at 36, tied with Wasatch County but trailing Summit (38), Washington (41), Salt Lake (45), and Cache (48). Washington County at a 0.043 rent-to-price ratio and a $522,143 median price is the most cash-flow-accessible of the group and scores 41 overall, making it the cleaner buy-and-hold entry point if southern Utah geography works for your operations. Salt Lake County at 45 overall offers the deepest tenant pool of any county in this comparison. Cache County at 48 overall is the highest-scoring market in this peer group with a median price of $454,811, the lowest entry point of the five neighbors, and a rent-to-price ratio of 0.039. An investor choosing Grand County over any of these alternatives needs a specific, non-standard rationale that the conventional buy-and-hold metrics in this dataset do not provide.