The country is very diverse and half an hour in the car can lead to dramatically different markets / opportunities.

Also consider the back splash.Since your unit is in an area with a mix of A, B, C properties and the tenant pool for that area is diverse, then decide what your niche is going to be and cater to it.

When I got there, I noticed not a single square foot of the paved driveway was 1 whole piece, the pool liner was stretched off the walls down to the deep end where a new ecosystem was forming. cracks in the grout of the brick (foundation issues, potentially), tarp on part of the roof (but the whole thing was garbage anyway), water damage throughout and a thriving community of mold.

Provo is the most diverse of the cities you've mentioned, it has million dollar homes and $80,000 dollar conds similar rentals like Orem.

Colorado is a solidly blue state now, used to be purplish, but we're still better than every other state in every way (most consistent appreciation, increasing rents, population growth, recreation opportunities, moderate climate, recession-proof jobs in diverse industries, desirability, affordability, landlord friendly laws, the list goes on...).

We always have looked carefully at diversity of employment and market growth - and aligned that with any syndication's we have invested with (in fact Bristol Creek and the Reserve seemed to fit our model :-).We also have NEVER taken a risk with an unproven entity or operator, seems there were a LOT of spreadsheet jockeys without any hands-on not too long ago, and even a few of the better known names have eliminated themselves from our short list during our due-diligence.

We try to bring them into our eco-system and culture rather than your typical relationship.I completely agree @Michael Smythe! 

Overall - there is incredible diversity of income but has affordable housing to make it a great starting market for any beginning investor.

Philly has a diverse spread of areas with different exit strategies for each pocket.

One big reason Charlotte is so popular right now is that from a lot of different angles, it is a sturdy, diverse economy that is rapidly growing.