This added demand for rentals drives up rents.You must invest in a city with significant and sustained population growth to have rents outpace inflation.

Keep in mind rent control is 1 thing, its a laws for existing tenants but some city's like Newark are so strict that you must get approval for what rent can be even after a tenant moves out and new ones move in. 

for infill I concentrated on Charleston Sc and built about 35 homes in that market. uber competitive for dirt though they are running out of it and the city wont let you tear down homes in many cases because of historic considerations.

Kansas city is a great market to invest in - are you thinking smaller (1-4 units) or larger (5+ units) multifamily properties?

@Breeya Johnson,Austin is one of the rare cities in the Sunbelt that’s highly unaffordable.

Property is in Granite City, tenant lost his job, and has stopped responding to texts and emails. 

After all expenses paid the profits are closer to $2k at $8k/month revenue. 5+ bedroom homes in mid-sized cities is my strategy. 

San Diego’s average house hold income is about what you stated, but the median is a surprisingly low (considering US news and world report lists it as the most expensive US city) ~$100k.  

I had to cancel my credit card at CITI just to stop the fees.

Plus virtually every city of note has a REIA with monthly meetings and other meetups.