Vernon County

Vernon County sits at a 2.36% cap rate with a rent-to-price ratio of 0.0364, which places it squarely in appreciation territory rather than cash-flow territory. At a $264,100 median purchase price and $800 median rent, the gross monthly income doesn't come close to covering carrying costs. The model underwrite produces negative $864 per month in cash flow and a cash-on-cash return of -17.07% at 6.85% financing. That's not a rounding error or a bad deal, it's the market. The 10.0% year-over-year home price appreciation is the number doing the work here, and it's the only number that justifies owning in Vernon at current prices and rates.

This market suits an appreciation buyer with a long horizon and the balance sheet to absorb negative carry, not a cash-flow buyer. The affordability index of 73 and a median price under $265,000 suggest the entry ticket is lower than many Wisconsin markets, but that affordability advantage evaporates the moment you layer in the financing math. A value-add operator would face the same fundamental problem: even if you force equity through renovation, the rent ceiling in a county of 30,000 people is real. The $800 median rent leaves very little room to reposition a property into positive cash flow without an extraordinary discount to market on the acquisition. Someone buying all-cash, or substantially reducing leverage, changes the equation, but at conventional financing terms this is a hold-for-appreciation play with negative monthly drag.

The $458 per month in combined property tax and insurance deserves its own line on your underwrite. Wisconsin's state-average effective property tax rate is 1.85%, flagged here as high, and at that rate annual taxes alone run $4,886 on the median-priced asset, adding up to $407 per month before you touch insurance. That's a meaningful cost drag in a market where gross rent is $800. Note that 1.85% is a state-average estimate from Tax Foundation 2024 data, and actual Vernon County or township rates may differ, so verify the specific parcel rate before closing. In a higher-rent market the tax burden is easier to absorb. At $800 in rent, it represents over half of gross monthly income before debt service, vacancy, or maintenance.

The concentration risk in a rural county with a population of 30,811 is the clearest structural concern the data supports. Tenant pools are thin, and any softening in local employment or outmigration will show up in rent faster than it would in a larger metro. No economic anchor data was provided for Vernon, so there's nothing in this dataset to assess employer diversification or demand drivers beyond what the population figure implies. That absence is itself a signal worth taking seriously when stress-testing occupancy assumptions.

Vernon's neighbors make the comparison stark. Saint Croix County carries a rent-to-price ratio of 0.0514, Dane County 0.0486, Ozaukee County 0.0454, Brown County 0.0389, and Waukesha County 0.0402. Every neighbor in this dataset produces a higher rent-to-price ratio than Vernon's 0.0364, in most cases meaningfully so. All five also carry higher median rents, ranging from $1,092 in Brown County to $1,817 in Dane County, against correspondingly higher prices but with more efficient ratios. Vernon's case for outperforming those markets rests entirely on price appreciation continuing at or near the 10% annual pace, in a smaller, less economically diversified county with a weaker rent yield. Choose Vernon over a neighbor only if you have a specific off-market acquisition at a material discount to the $264,100 median, a long hold period of seven or more years, and the liquidity to fund negative carry without stress. If the goal is income, any neighbor in this dataset is more competitive on the math.