Renting rookie question

[Cole Britting]

Hi all, I have a rookie question about renting.

So I have been living in a town in Southern NH all my life, until about two years ago when I went off to college. It is a mostly residential community, and I have never heard of anybody in my town that pays rent. Instead, most people seem to buy their house with a conventional mortgage. 

I have been thinking about different real estate strategies, and was wondering about buying a property to rent in an area like this. Do all towns have people that rent? Does it depend on the local economy and jobs?

I have been trying to analyze a few deals and have seen the monthly estimated rent on sites like Zillow even for houses in my town. I have some confusion as to how sites come up with the rental numbers in places where there are not many people that rent, but maybe I just have never met someone in my area that rents. I am wondering if I am wasting my time trying to analyze these deals or trying to find rental property deals if it is unlikely that I will be able to find a tenant. 

If anyone has some more information on this please let me know.

Hope everyone is staying safe!

[Cole Britting]

@Martin Neal Thank you for the insight! I appreciate you taking the time to help me out.