Utah County's Top Cash Flow Cities Ranked

We looked at 16 Utah County cities to see where you get the most rent for the price you pay according the Zillow’s rent and price index. (Zillow does not publish a rent index for: Alpine, Cedar Hills, Elk Ridge, Woodland Hills, Genola, Goshen, Fairfield, Cedar Fort.).

Price-to-rent ratio is the median home price divided by one year of rent. A lower ratio means the home generates more rent for the total cost. Across the county the typical ratio is 26.2, meaning a home costs about 26 years of rent to buy. The gap between cities is wide.

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Eagle Mountain is the cheapest place to own compared with rent, at a ratio of 18.9. Spanish Fork follows at 20.4, then Saratoga Springs at 20.7 and Lehi at 21.2. Put another way, a rental in Eagle Mountain brings in about 5.3% of its price in rent each year, which is the gross yield. The other three run about 4.7% to 4.9%. These are the newer, fast-growing suburbs, and they give you the most rent for each dollar of price.

Of the 16 cities we included in the ranking, Lindon has the highest ratio at 38.6, then Highland at 31.8 and Mapleton at 29.5. A home in these cities costs 30 to nearly 40 years of rent, so the gross yield drops to about 2.6% to 3.4%. People buy here for long-term price growth and location, not for the rent.

The ranking is driven more by price, and less by rent. Rents across the county sit fairly close together, mostly $1,500 to $2,600 a month. Home prices vary significantly, running from about $475,000 to well over $1 million.

One caution on the ratio itself. It is a market-level look at value, not a cap rate, so a 20 ratio is not the same as a 5% cap rate. It also leaves out a few small towns without enough rentals to measure, and in college-heavy Provo and Orem, by-the-room student rentals pull the rent figure down and push the ratio up.

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The lower priced homes on the west and south side of Utah County give you the best price to rent ratio. Utah county is very lean on cashflow and even with 25% down payment, break even is hard to reach on most homes with interest rates sitting around 7.25-7.5% for investment property.

Next week, we’ll run the same report for Salt Lake County so be sure to watch for that.

_{Data sourced from Zillow Research home-value and rent indexes (June 2026) and RentCast active listings (pulled July 22, 2026). A market-level relative-value read, not a cap-rate or deal-underwriting measure.}

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Mortgage rates moved up again this week. The average 30-year fixed is 6.75%, up 0.05% from last week and up 0.17% over the past month. That puts rates near the top of their range for the past year, just under the 6.81% high. Compared with a year ago they are about flat, down only 0.03%. Adjustable loans still cost a little less, with the 7/6 ARM at 6.50%, about a quarter point below the 30-year fixed. An ARM, or adjustable-rate mortgage, holds a fixed rate for a set number of years and can then move up or down. The ARM has climbed fast lately, up 0.26% from a year ago, so that discount is shrinking.

The 10-year Treasury yield, which mortgage rates tend to follow, rose to about 4.64% this week, up roughly 0.07% from last week. When the 10-year climbs, home loan rates usually climb with it, and that is what pushed this week's increase. Unless the yield eases back, rates are likely to hold near these highs in the short run.

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Utah Headlines

Utah Mortgage Rates Would Need to Fall Below 3% to Make the Median Home Affordable — A median earner in Salt Lake City would need a 2.29% mortgage rate to afford the area's $570,450 median home on 30% of income, and in St. George even a 0% rate would not be enough.

Salt Lake City Moves to Cap Building Heights Near Smith's Ballpark at 95 Feet — The city wants to rezone the 14.8-acre ballpark district from a 150-foot height limit down to 95 feet, with a public hearing set for August 18.

Downtown Salt Lake Loses 402,000 Square Feet of Office as the Old Sheraton Falls for a WGU Campus — Demolition of the 402,000-square-foot former Sheraton on a 9.6-acre downtown site could start as early as October 6, clearing the way for a Western Governors University campus built for up to 5,000 employees.

National Headlines

Most Americans Now Oppose New Data Centers, a Fight That Could Reshape Land Use — In a survey of 4,000 residents, 53% said they oppose new AI data centers near their homes, more than oppose new apartments at 39%, even as counties like Virginia's Loudoun saw data-center tax revenue climb 639% since 2010.

Multifamily Drives a 19% Jump in June Housing Starts Even as Single-Family Slips — Total housing starts rose 19% in June to a 1.427 million annual pace as apartment construction jumped to 513,000 units, while single-family starts fell to 895,000, down 3.2% from a year ago.

Wall Street Is Listing Rental Homes at Twice February's Pace After the Investor Buying Ban — Big investors have put 9,447 single-family rentals worth $3.1 billion up for sale, more than double the count on February 1, and 54% of those listings carry price cuts.

Pending Home Sales Fall 5.4% in June as Higher Rates Cool Buyers — Signed contracts dropped 5.4% from May and slipped 0.3% from a year ago, with the Midwest falling hardest at 8.9%.

Mortgage Applications Drop 2.7% With Rates Near a One-Year High — The Mortgage Bankers Association's application index fell 2.7% for the week ending July 10 as borrowing costs sat near their highest level in a year.

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David Robinson - Principal Broker | Investor