Rental market · Palmer Town, MA · Incorporated city
Palmer Town, MA: average rent, home values, and rental yield
New England · Population 12,381
Why this market does or does not qualify
Overall City Market Score rank #4,502 of 4,812. The standardized Buy & Hold screen cannot produce a complete result for this city.
Supported strengths
Cash Flow 33/100 and Growth 31/100.
Measured weakness
Stability is the weakest category at 17/100.
Missing screen inputs: investor-entry price estimate. Primary evidenced risk: expense-adjusted yield is the weakest measured factor (9th national percentile).
Data caveat: no missing input is treated as a zero cost. Bring an actual property’s price, rent, taxes, condition, and insurance quote to the calculator.
Why this grade
Overall 26.3 is a weighted geometric mean of the three category scores. Because they are multiplied rather than averaged, their distances from a perfect 100 combine as an exact identity, and each category's share of that distance is the arithmetic below, not an estimate. Stability carries 40% of it, which is what makes it the binding constraint on this grade.
Inside Stability, the shortfall splits over the factors the model scored here, exactly, in proportion to their published weights. The largest component is violent crime (weight 10 of the category's 30, 11th national percentile, 36% of the category's own shortfall); next is rental vacancy (weight 7 of the category's 30, 10th national percentile, 25% of the category's own shortfall).
What this is not. It is not a claim that a different value on any one factor would produce a different score or a different grade. Every factor is scored as a national percentile and the grade is a percentile cut against the other 4,812 ranked markets, so this market's position moves only relative to all of them, never on its own. 1 of the 13 factors could not be measured for this market (rent growth). Its category renormalizes over the factors that remain: a factor we could not measure is never imputed to fill the gap and never scored as neutral.
How Palmer Town ranks nationally
Each row places Palmer Town against all 4,812 ranked U.S. markets. The marker is this city; the centre tick is the national median, and the bar spans from that median to the marker, so its length is how far from the middle of the country this market sits and the side it falls on is the direction. Further right is more favorable to an investor: inverted measures (crime, vacancy, price-to-income) are already flipped so higher always means better here.
What a deal looks like here
We can't build a representative buy-box for Palmer Town yet: no investor-entry price (Zillow Bottom-Tier ZHVI) could be identity-matched to this market. Rather than fabricate numbers, bring your own price and rent to the calculator.
Open the cash-flow calculator →Price & rent history
Home value: no Zillow ZHVI series - Zillow does not cover this city (Census-only). Nothing plotted rather than estimated.
Asking rent: no Zillow ZORI series - Zillow does not cover this city (Census-only). Nothing plotted rather than estimated.
ZIP markets in Palmer Town
6 Census ZIP Codes (ZCTAs) officially overlap Palmer Town by land area · 4 data-eligible for subscores. Overlap is Census land-area share, not a population or address share. Each ZIP Code's overall Rental Investor ZIP Score, grade and canonical national rank are shown below (the two component signals, affordability and rental market, are separate percentiles). There is no city-scoped ZIP rank: city overlap isn't a ranking universe, so only the national rank is shown. These ZIP rankings sit in the ZIP universe only, never mixed with, and not directly comparable to, Palmer Town's city ranking. Vintage: the Key metric column below is Census ACS 2020–2024 (5-year), the same survey release as the figures used above for Palmer Town itself; a city and a ZIP Code are different geographies, so the same measure can still show a different number at each level.
6 of 6 overlapping ZIP Code areas, scoredgrade, overall Rental Investor ZIP Score and national rank for each, on a separate model from this page's city scoreShow table
| ZIP Code | Overallgrade · natl rank | Tier · overlap | Affordabilitysignal · natl rank | Rental marketsignal · natl rank | Key metric |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01009Palmer Town | — | ProfilePrimary | — | — | 5.6%Survey yield |
| 01069Palmer Town | F 27#17,772 nat | RankedPrimary | 22#19,034 of 20,132 · bottom 5% | 32#16,618 of 20,132 · bottom 17% | 4.4%Survey yield |
| 01079Palmer Town | — | ProfilePrimary | — | — | $263kMedian value |
| 01080Palmer Town | D 36#14,706 nat | RankedPrimary | 32#16,846 of 20,132 · bottom 16% | 42#13,242 of 20,132 · bottom 34% | 5.0%Survey yield |
| 01095Wilbraham | D 32#16,280 nat | Ranked7.4% overlap | 14#19,959 of 20,132 · bottom 1% | 41#13,806 of 20,132 · bottom 31% | 3.4%Survey yield |
| 01082Ware | C 44#11,564 nat | Ranked1.1% overlap | 23#18,820 of 20,132 · bottom 7% | 34#16,354 of 20,132 · bottom 19% | 4.2%Survey yield |
The honest read
Palmer Town scores 26/100 overall (grade F): 33 for Cash Flow, 31 for Growth, and 17 for Stability, each a 0–100 score built from the factors in that category. The scenario above shows what a representative investor-entry purchase pencils out to at today's rates. Everything we can measure is in the table below, with its source.
Every factor, shown
The Overall score blends three category scores built from thirteen measured factors: Cash Flow (35%), Growth (35%), and Stability (30%). The table shows every factor; the tag on each percentile marks which category a scored factor feeds. Untagged factors are shown for context but not scored. Every percentile also carries the band it falls in - top 10%, top quartile, above or below the national median, bottom quartile, bottom 10% - so a bare ordinal still reads as a position; the band restates that percentile and adds nothing to it. Every value carries its source and as-of date. How the score works.
| Factor | Value | National percentile | Source · as-of | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expense-adjusted yield fallback | 0.9% | Bottom 10%9th percentile · Cash Flow | Census ACS · ACS 5-yr 2020-2024 | Annual rent divided by price, net of a modeled vacancy, tax, capex, and management allowance: the core of the Cash Flow category and what the score is actually computed from. The unadjusted gross yield is shown elsewhere on this page. |
| Price to income fallback | 3.5x | Top quartile75th percentile · Cash Flow | Census ACS · ACS 5-yr 2020-2024 | Home price over local median income. Lower is cheaper relative to what people earn. Part of the Cash Flow category. |
| Population growth | 0.0%/yr | Below median35th percentile · Growth | Census PEP · Census PEP 2020→2025 (vintage 2025) + Census PEP 2015→2025 (vintages 2019+2025) | Census population trend for the place, capped at 4.5%/yr before scoring (diminishing returns above that rate): the heaviest factor in the Growth category. |
| Job growth | 0.0%/yr | Bottom quartile21st percentile · Growth | BLS LAUS (county) · BLS LAUS county annual 2019→2025 (pre-COVID anchor; 2025 is an 11-month average) + BLS LAUS county annual 2015→2025 | County employment trend, capped at 4.0%/yr before scoring (diminishing returns above that rate). A Growth-category factor. |
| Income growth | 4.0%/yr | Below median30th percentile · Growth | Census ACS · ACS 5-yr 2020-2024 | Local median-income trend. A Growth-category factor. |
| Rent growth | not measured | - | Census ACS · ACS 5-yr 2020-2024 | A 40/60 blend of 3-year and 10-year rent trend (the model's own weighting). A Growth-category factor. |
| Home-value growth fallback | 5.2%/yr | Above median64th percentile · Growth | Model cohort median (eligible county or state/population cohort); no city-specific observation. Published 2026-10-06 | A 40/60 blend of 3-year and 10-year price trend (the model's own weighting). A small Growth-category factor. |
| Unemployment | 5.5% | Bottom quartile11th percentile · Stability | BLS LAUS (county) · BLS LAUS county annual 2025 (11-month average) | County unemployment rate. Lower is steadier, a Stability-category factor. |
| Rental vacancy | 10.1% | Bottom quartile10th percentile · Stability | Census ACS B25004 · ACS 5-yr 2020-2024 | Share of rentals empty. Lower means more pricing power. A Stability-category factor. |
| Property tax rate | 1.7% | Bottom quartile19th percentile · Stability | Census ACS B25103/B25077 · ACS 5-yr 2020-2024 | Median tax over median value. A direct drag on cash flow, scored in the Stability category as carrying-cost burden. |
| Months of supply fallback | 1.9 mo | Top quartile81st percentile · Stability | Model cohort median (eligible county or state/population cohort); no city-specific observation. Published 2026-10-06 | Listings over sales pace. Under about 4 is a seller market, over 6 a buyer market. A Stability-category factor. |
| Days on market | not measured | - | derived | How fast homes sell. Lower means more liquidity and an easier exit. Shown for context, not scored. |
| Sale-to-list ratio | not measured | - | derived | Sale price over asking. Above 100% means homes clear over ask. Shown for context, not scored. |
| Net domestic migration | -0.9/1k | Below median43rd percentile | Census PEP (county) · PEP vintage 2025 | Net people moving in or out of the county, per 1,000 residents. Shown for context, not scored. |
| Building permits | 2.2/1k | Top 10%95th percentile | Census BPS (county) · BPS 2025 | New-construction permits per 1,000 homes. More means more supply coming. Shown for context, not scored. |
| Rent burden | 32% | Below median33rd percentile | Census ACS B25071 · ACS 5-yr 2020-2024 | Median rent as a share of income. Higher means less headroom for increases. Shown for context, not scored. |
| Median year built | 1962 | Bottom quartile21st percentile | Census ACS B25035 · ACS 5-yr 2020-2024 | Age of the housing stock. Older stock carries more capex. Shown for context, not scored. |
| Max drawdown | not measured | - | derived | Worst peak-to-trough home-value decline on record. Shown for context, not scored. |
| Violent crime | not reported | - | FBI CDE | No agency reported this place to the FBI. We never impute a crime number; where it is missing, the Stability category renormalizes over its remaining factors. |
- † Job growth and unemployment are county-level (BLS LAUS, county FIPS 25013); large multi-county cities inherit their dominant county’s figures.
- Yield uses ACS median gross rent and home value (Census survey data, 2020–2024 average) because Zillow does not cover this city - not directly comparable to Zillow-based yields.
- Data flag: cashYield: ACS fallback (no Zillow rent+value).
- Data flag: rentGrowth: ACS CAGR fallback.
- Data flag: appreciation: ACS CAGR fallback.
Where to go next from Palmer Town
Every link below is this market's own data taken one step further: its neighbours in the ranking, the same numbers side by side, or the same numbers in a calculator you can change.
Nearby in the Massachusetts rankings, and national look-alikes
- Newburyport, MAGrade F · score 29/100 · yield 4.1% · $938,245 · #4,389 nationalZillow ZHVI $258k (2000) to $938k (2026), +263%
- Gloucester, MAGrade F · score 28/100 · yield 4.2% · $776,814 · #4,399 nationalZillow ZHVI $212k (2000) to $777k (2026), +266%
- Newton, MAGrade F · score 22/100 · yield 2.7% · $1,509,055 · #4,638 nationalZillow ZHVI $432k (2000) to $1.5M (2026), +249%
- North Adams, MAGrade F · score 19/100 · yield 4.9% · $262,950 · #4,699 nationalZillow ZHVI $84k (2000) to $263k (2026), +213%
- Brookhaven, GAGrade F · score 26/100 · yield 2.9% · $744,798 · #4,503 nationalZillow ZHVI $266k (2000) to $745k (2026), +180%
- Fort Madison, IAGrade F · score 26/100 · yield 6.7% · $114,173 · #4,501 nationalZillow ZHVI $64k (2009) to $114k (2026), +77%
- Diamond Bar, CAGrade F · score 26/100 · yield 3.8% · $1,007,680 · #4,504 nationalZillow ZHVI $247k (2000) to $1.0M (2026), +308%
Compare Palmer Town head to head
- Palmer Town vs Newburyport vs BrookhavenThe pre-filled matchup: nearest in-state rank and closest national grade.
- Palmer Town vs Gloucester, MAGrade F · yield 4.2%
- Palmer Town vs Fort Madison, IAGrade F · yield 6.7%
- Pick your own opponentAny of the 5,233 tracked cities.
Underwrite a Palmer Town deal
- Cap rateOpens on Palmer Town's own entry price and rent. Change either one.
- Cash flow & DSCRMonthly cash flow and DSCR, prefilled with this market's numbers.
- Mortgage paymentP&I on Palmer Town's entry price at the assumptions shown above.
- All marketsCompare Palmer Town against 4,812 ranked cities.
- Massachusetts ZIP CodesEvery Massachusetts ZIP Code area (Census ZCTAs), scored separately from the city rankings.
- Ranked listsYield, affordability, growth, stability, price band, or whether rent covers the mortgage.
For learning, not advice. A market screen from public data - not a forecast, not underwriting, not a recommendation to buy anywhere.