Alton, Missouri.
Typical home $171,313 (+4.0% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$408 (+83%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $6,576 +4%
- $164,737$171,313 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $27,779 +19%
- $143,534$171,313 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Alton$899
- Missouri$1,393
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 20 years.
Typical home values in Alton, MO rose 4.0% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Alton, Oregon County, Missouri
Alton is a city of 707 people in Oregon County. Half its households earn more than $50,208 a year and half less, against $43,069 across Oregon County; 16% of its people live below the poverty line. Unemployment in Oregon County was 3.9% in August 2026, and the county had 0.8% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Oregon County work in schools and health care, then shops.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Alton is a small city in Oregon County, in the Missouri Ozarks, with a population that keeps it a place where neighbors tend to know one another. Household incomes run higher than across the county as a whole, though a noticeable share of residents live below the poverty line. Homes are modestly priced compared with much of the country. Winters are cold and summers are warm, with only a little snow and a fair amount of rain through the year.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by shops, manufacturing and the building trades. A small share work from home. Across Oregon County, some of the biggest employers are Thayer R-II Schools, Alton R-IV Schools and Walmart. Unemployment across the county is lower than it was a year ago, and the county has added a few more jobs over the past year.
Things to do. Water is close at hand, with Culp Branch and Tucker Creek running in or beside town and Dry Creek a short drive away. For a longer outing, Grand Gulf State Park, a protected natural area, is a longer drive away, as is Mammoth Spring State Park.
Report a mistake
- 16%below the poverty line
- 5%work from home
What people in Oregon County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Oregon County had 2,556 jobs in 2025, 0.8% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 44° and lows near 22°; warmest in July, with highs near 88° and lows near 66°. About 4 inches of snow and 47 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Alton weather station, under a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Oregon County
- Thayer R-II SchoolsSchool district113FTE
- Alton R-IV SchoolsSchool district92FTE
- WalmartDiscount department stores76
- Thayer No. 1Nursing homes72
- Harp's Food StoreRetail grocery70
- Hirsch Feed and Farm SupplyAnimal feed mills manufacturing56
- McClain Forest ProductsWood flooring manufacturing43
- Couch R-I SchoolsSchool district40FTE
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 8 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 407 people in all across the county; Alton has one of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Cold wavesVery high
- Ice stormsVery high
- TornadoesVery high
- Inland floodingVery high
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- Heat wavesRelatively high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Alton’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Oregon County.
Alton home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Alton$171,313
- Missouri$265,387
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 11 Alton listings — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Alton9.09%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Alton25
Zip codes with a Alton address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Alton — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.