Sawyer County

Sawyer County sits at a median home price of $344,287 with year-over-year appreciation of 2.4%, an affordability index of 56, and an appreciation score of 74 out of 100. The cash flow score is 0, which tells you most of what you need to know about where this market lands on the spectrum: this is an appreciation and lifestyle play, not a yield machine. The data provided does not include a median rent figure or gross rent multiplier for Sawyer itself, which is itself a signal, because in markets with deep, liquid rental pools those numbers are easy to pull. At a $344,287 purchase price and 6.85% financing on a 20% down ($68,857) position, the carry costs alone are substantial before you layer in taxes and insurance.

That cash flow score of 0 and the absence of a calculable cap rate mean this county is not suited to the investor whose primary objective is monthly net income. The appreciation score of 74 tells a different story for someone with a longer hold horizon and tolerance for near-zero or negative early cash flow. The stability score of 50 and an overall rank of 344 out of 1,000 nationally (56th percentile) put Sawyer in the middle of the pack nationally and toward the lower third of Wisconsin counties (38th of 72). The 56 affordability index indicates the market is not cheap relative to local incomes, which compresses both entry points and the renter pool depth. If your model requires a day-one positive spread, this data set does not support underwriting one here.

Sawyer County is a northwoods Wisconsin county with a population of 18,057. No economic anchor data was provided, so employer-specific analysis is not possible here. What the small population and northwoods geography do suggest, without fabricating data, is that rental demand is likely seasonal and recreation-driven rather than anchored in a deep year-round workforce. That dynamic typically means shorter-term and vacation rental strategies behave differently from conventional long-term rentals, and any underwrite should explicitly model for seasonality and vacancy rather than assuming a 12-month tenancy baseline.

The tax and insurance picture is a real line-item problem for cash flow here. At Wisconsin's state-average effective property tax rate of 1.85%, which is high enough to earn a flag in this dataset, annual property tax on a $344,287 purchase runs approximately $6,369. Add estimated annual insurance of $792, and the combined monthly tax-and-insurance burden lands at $597. That figure alone consumes a substantial portion of any gross rent in a low-rent rural market. To be precise, the 1.85% figure is a state-average estimate from Tax Foundation 2024 data, and actual Sawyer County or township rates may differ materially, but the direction of risk is clear: at that rate, the carry cost structure punishes thin-margin rentals. Any serious underwrite needs Wisconsin's property tax on its own line and should attempt to source the actual assessed rate for the specific parcel before closing.

The concentration risk here is straightforward. An 18,057-person county with no identified economic anchors and apparent dependence on recreation and seasonal activity carries real demand concentration risk. A softening in tourism, a bad winter, or a secular shift in vacation travel patterns could compress both rents and exit prices simultaneously. There is no diversified employer base cited in the data to buffer that exposure. Regulatory risk specific to short-term rentals in Wisconsin northwoods jurisdictions is worth independent research, as many small lake-country counties have moved to restrict or license short-term rental activity, which would directly affect the most plausible yield strategy in a market like this.

Comparing Sawyer to its listed neighbors clarifies the tradeoff investors face. Outagamie County shows a rent-to-price ratio of 4.64% on a $325,896 median, Winnebago County comes in at 4.66% on $286,400, and Dodge County sits at 4.54% on $303,855. Marathon County, at $257,325 and a 4.27% rent-to-price ratio, is the most affordable of the group. All four neighbors carry the same overall score of 60 or 61, but each offers a rent-to-price ratio that at least allows a cash flow conversation at the underwriting table, which Sawyer's data does not. Pierce County, the closest price comp at $350,165, has no rent data available in this dataset. An investor choosing Sawyer over these alternatives is making an explicit bet on appreciation, lifestyle access, or a vacation-rental thesis, because the conventional long-term rental math in Winnebago or Dodge County is structurally more favorable at current prices. Choose Sawyer if you have a specific asset in mind with short-term rental upside and a multi-year hold plan; choose Winnebago or Outagamie if you need the monthly numbers to work from the start.