Keweenaw County presents a price-momentum-versus-income-evidence tension. Zillow’s county median home value was $225,229, up 11.97% year over year, while FHFA’s repeat-transaction HPI showed a 99.94% cumulative five-year gain in 2025. Those are different vintages and methods, not one growth rate. Income-focused or liquidity-sensitive buyers should investigate rather than treat appreciation measures as resale proof.
Measured market rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed from this record. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR is $973 per month, but it is a payment standard, not a market asking-rent estimate, and cannot fill the gap. The effective property-tax rate is 1%, and median annual tax is $1,689; confirm parcel assessment, tax billing and insurance before linking price to carrying cost. Appreciation evidence therefore does not establish cash flow.
QCEW’s annual workplace count is 498 covered jobs, and its average weekly covered-worker wage is $728; both rose from their prior annual averages. Leisure and hospitality, the largest disclosed private supersector, accounts for 43.99% of private covered employment, not the whole county economy or resident employment. Net migration was 7 tax-return households, with inbound mover AGI $11,279 above outbound. Investor participation was 1 of 22 purchase mortgages, or 4.55%, indicating limited observed non-owner participation rather than an absence of buyer competition.
Risk controls are central. Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled annual building-value loss is 0.08%; this is a modeled ratio, not a parcel insurance quote or realized loss. Realtor.com’s inventory of 18 active MLS listings is visible asking supply, not sales. Its shorter marketing time and price reductions describe marketing and seller concessions; the pending ratio is an active-to-pending pipeline measure. None establishes closed-sale pricing or buyer demand by itself. Next checks are market asking rent, parcel flood zone and insurance, lease terms, condition, and closed comparables; without them, cash flow, exit liquidity and hazard-adjusted carrying-cost conclusions cannot be underwritten.