Clackamas County

Clackamas County's numbers tell a clear story before you run a single pro forma. The median home price sits at $615,069 against a median rent of $1,897, producing a rent-to-price ratio of 3.70%. That is well below the 0.8% monthly rule of thumb most cash-flow investors use as a floor, and the model confirms it: at a 6.85% interest rate with 20% down, you are looking at a $3,224 monthly mortgage, estimated expenses of $664, and a monthly cash flow of negative $1,991 on a stabilized rental. The cap rate of 2.41% and cash-on-cash return of negative 16.89% are not rounding errors, they are the market telling you this county does not work as a yield play at current prices. The year-over-year price change of negative 0.32% means you are not even getting a meaningful appreciation tailwind right now to compensate. The appreciation score of 48 out of 100 and the cash-flow score of 26 place Clackamas squarely in the "modest appreciation potential, poor current income" quadrant, which is the hardest quadrant to underwrite with confidence.

This market does not suit a cash-flow buyer. The negative cash-on-cash of nearly 17% is disqualifying unless you are buying all-cash and have a very long time horizon. A pure appreciation buyer could make a case given the county's location in the Portland metro, but with prices essentially flat year-over-year and an appreciation score below the midpoint, that thesis requires patience and conviction that the broader metro resumes its prior price trajectory. The investor profile most likely to find a path here is a value-add operator who can acquire a distressed asset meaningfully below the $615,069 median, force equity through renovation, and refinance or sell rather than hold for income. Even then, the entry price needs to be substantially lower than median to get the cap rate into a range where carry costs don't compound the pain. The affordability index of 36 and a median household income of $95,740 suggest the local renter pool can support rents around the current median, but there is limited upward rent pressure when affordability is already stretched for residents.

The $595 monthly tax and insurance figure deserves attention in your carry cost model. At Oregon's state-average effective property tax rate of 0.97%, the annual tax burden on a $615,069 asset comes to roughly $5,966, with insurance adding another $1,169, totaling $7,135 per year. The 0.97% rate carries a "normal" flag relative to other states, so it is not a headline risk the way a 1.5%-plus rate would be, but at this price point the dollar amount is still a real line item. Per the data, this is a state-average estimate and your actual Clackamas County rate may differ, so pull the county assessor's effective rate for any specific parcel before finalizing your underwrite. This is not a tax-advantaged market in the way that some lower-rate states are, but it is not punitive either.

The primary risk in Clackamas is concentration and valuation sensitivity. The county is functionally part of the Portland metro, which means its rental demand is tethered to Portland's employment base and migration patterns. A 420,925 population provides some scale, but when your cap rate is 2.41% there is essentially zero margin for a vacancy quarter, a capex surprise, or a softening in rents. The affordability index of 36 also signals that renters are already paying a high share of income for housing, which caps rent growth without a corresponding income growth catalyst. The national percentile rank of 4 out of 100 and the state rank of 30 out of 36 Oregon counties assessed here reflect those structural constraints.

Compared to its neighbors, Clackamas is the most expensive market in the group and generates the worst rent-to-price ratio at 3.70%. Tillamook County comes in at $503,130 median with a 4.64% rent-to-price ratio and an overall score of 40, meaning you are paying 22% more per dollar of property in Clackamas while collecting proportionally less rent. Multnomah County, which includes Portland proper, is priced at $493,151 with a 4.10% rent-to-price ratio and a higher overall score of 41. Even Clatsop County at $505,919 and a 4.15% ratio outperforms Clackamas on yield metrics. Benton County at $548,593 and a 3.96% ratio also edges Clackamas on the income side. The only scenario where you choose Clackamas over these neighbors is if you have a specific value-add deal trading at a deep discount to the median, or if you are underwriting for long-run Portland suburban appreciation and are comfortable holding through a period of negative carry. On the numbers as they stand, none of the neighboring counties look worse than Clackamas for a buy-and-hold income strategy.