Do you have any idea how many people these entities employ?

Economists note that job growth in typically underreported industries fell by 42,000 compared to the 6-month average, suggesting August’s numbers may understate actual gains.Key Employment GainsConstruction: +34,000 jobs, driven by heavy civil engineering and nonresidential trade contractors.Healthcare: +31,000 jobs, though slower than the past year's monthly average of 60,000.Social Assistance: +13,000 jobs, with more modest growth compared to previous months.Other growing sectors include financial activities, wholesale trade, and government (+24,000 jobs).Job Losses and Sector StrugglesManufacturing: -24,000 jobs.Retail: -11,100 jobs.Temporary help employment continues to shrink, reflecting business uncertainty.Wage and Fed Policy ImplicationsWages rose by 0.4% in August, up 3.8% year-over-year, supporting a cautious approach by the Federal Reserve on deeper rate cuts.

My focus is small to mid sized apartment syndications if that matters.  

Also be aware of Unrelated Business Income Tax (or UBIT) on leveraged real estate inside of an IRA.Or better yet, since you are self-employed - go with a truly self-directed Solo 401k plan, which would be a much better option and will help you avoid the UBIT on this investment. 

If you are self employed you can also look at bank statement loans assuming you have a business with high deposits.

Or when I lived in Palo Alto same thing  East palo alto schools and values were 1/3  all in the same area and same size homes. 

is there a particular formula that takes all manner of factors, (employment growth, corporation development news, barrier to entry, rental rates, wage growth, etc) into account and spits out an "invest in city X" answer?

However it could be location,  Common area, size, laundry, tenant qualifications (in rough areas you are not going to get many tenants with unblemished credit), parking, look of surrounding properties, etc.   

The homes are reasonably priced for the size and bones, allowing investors to customize homes with renovation or interior design prior to being able to attract guests at the right price.

No formula can be accurate across the board because even “cookie cutter” properties next store to each other differ as to view, location to the street, topography of the land, lot size, physical condition of the property, past remodeling, quality of the mechanical systems, sunlight, utility bills, past use, etc.