Independence, Oregon.
Typical home $421,354 (+1.8% in a year), asking rent $1,932 (+1.1%). Salem, OR metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,202 (+119%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $7,384 +2%
- $413,971$421,354 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $62,557 +17%
- $358,797$421,354 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.
- Independence$2,212
- Oregon$2,586
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 22 years.
Typical home values in Independence, OR rose 1.8% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Asking rents in Independence, OR rose 1.1% over the past year — slower than the nation's +2.7%.
Owning the typical home in Independence runs $1,012/mo more than renting one. The gap peaked at $1,046 in Jan 2025.
That is $2,943 a month against $1,932 rent: a $2,212 mortgage payment, plus $281 property tax and $451 insurance & upkeep.
Owning vs renting — Independence
The owning line is the typical home's monthly payment at that month's rate, plus property tax and insurance & upkeep; the renting line is the typical asking rent; the grey line is the mortgage payment on its own. Same homes, same months, both ways of paying for a roof.
- Owning all in$2,943
- Renting$1,932
- Mortgage only$2,212
Property tax · $281/mo 0.80% of value a year — the ACS 2020-2024 median bill over the median home value for Polk County, OR
Insurance & upkeep · $451/mo insurance, maintenance and repairs together, from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey — the national figure for mortgaged homeowners, scaled to this market's home value. BLS publishes the three bundled and they cannot be split.
Both are priced off the same month's home value, so they rise with the market. Neither is a quote — a specific home's bill depends on its assessment, its age and its insurer.
Living in Independence, Polk County, Oregon
Independence is a city of 9,828 people in Polk County. Half its households earn more than $85,375 a year and half less, against $85,118 across Polk County; 12% of its people live below the poverty line. 55% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 45% are rented. Unemployment in Polk County was 5.0% in August 2026, and the county had 3.5% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then professional services.
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. Independence is a small city in Polk County, and its residents are younger than in most American towns. Incomes run close to the county's, and more homes are lived in by their owners than rented. Winters are cool and damp, with December the coldest month, while summers turn warm in August. A good deal of rain and melted snow falls over the year.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, with professional and business services, shops and manufacturing also employing many. Among the largest workplaces in Independence are Central SD 13J, the school district, along with Winco Foods and Salem Health. Jobs across Polk County have dipped somewhat from the year before, and unemployment there has stayed about where it was a year earlier. A typical commute is a modest one, and some people work from home.
Things to do. The Jensen Arctic Museum is in or beside town, and the Santiam River is a short drive away for time by the water. Also a short drive off is Sarah Helmick State Recreation Site, a protected area good for a walk. For a longer outing, the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum is a longer drive away.
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- 3,151households
- 27%of adults have a degree
- 12%below the poverty line
- 25 mintypical commute
- 13%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Polk County had 21,174 jobs in 2025, 3.5% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in December, with highs near 46° and lows near 35°; warmest in August, with highs near 83° and lows near 52°. About 48 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Dallas Northeast weather station, 8 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Independence
- Central SD 13JSchool district419FTE
- Winco FoodsStore83
- Alofa TransportLocal letter and parcel delivery services as part of intercity courier network80
- Empres Operated By EvergreenNursing homes65
- Salem HealthClinics/centers of health practitioners with multi-industry degrees30
- The Independence HotelResort hotels without casinos30
- Salem HealthCommunity health centers and clinics, outpatient25
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 6 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 313 people in all. 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
- EarthquakesRelatively high
- Heat wavesRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- Ice stormsRelatively moderate
- Winter weatherRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Independence’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 Polk County and the Salem, OR metro.
Independence home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Independence$421,354
- Oregon$492,753
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Independence 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.
- Independence23.29%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Independence28
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Independence9
Zip codes with a Independence address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Independence — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.