Short of that, the census is a good place to start for median income, household size, population change, ect. best places.net is also a good source for more real estate specific data.Lastly, I use cached zillow ads to track the changed in rent. 

I'm in a small(75,000 Population) market in northwest alabama.  

We look for states/MSA's where there is stable market appreciation, positive employment trends, decent population density and lower risk of climatic volatility (hurricanes, tornados, etc).

In order to be included in this study, the homes had to be in a metropolitan area with a population of more than two hundred thousand.

Job growth/diversity, population growth, landlord laws, path of progressWhat are your overall goals?

With our aging population I can see a huge opprotunity to purchase these homes but need to figure out a pricing strategy that can be used to buy them preferably on a land contract while letting owners continue to live in them.

I do know that people have a little more of their income to keep and will probably use that not their primary residence to some extent. 3) Price point seems attractive to me vs CA prices and mortgage/expenses will be manageable if I have to make payments during vacancy periods. 4) Growing population and strong job markets.Am I on the right track with identifying where I am going to start building out my team of professional (PM, Realtors, Lenders, etc.)?

The problem is that the population is declining in rural America and Colorado is no exception.

In my experience, I will stay on big metropolitan area, with positive population growth.   

@Benjamin Barredo Job growth and population growth are huge for gauging the health of an investment area.