Joseph, Oregon.
Typical home $501,882 (+2.2% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,500 (+132%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $10,811 +2%
- $491,071$501,882 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $86,390 +21%
- $415,492$501,882 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.
- Joseph$2,634
- Oregon$2,586
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 18 years.
Typical home values in Joseph, OR rose 2.2% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Joseph, Wallowa County, Oregon
Joseph is a city of 1,154 people in Wallowa County. Half its households earn more than $54,444 a year and half less, against $67,112 across Wallowa County; 6% of its people live below the poverty line. Unemployment in Wallowa County was 4.5% in August 2026, and the county had about as many jobs in 2025 as the year before. The most people in Wallowa County work in schools and health care, then farming.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Joseph is a small city in Wallowa County, in the far northeast corner of Oregon. Household incomes here run below the county's, and homes are priced well above what the local incomes would suggest, so buying in is a stretch for many. Winters are cold and snowy, with December the coldest month, while summers are warm and Augusts are pleasant rather than hot.
Work. Most residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by farming, forestry and mining, professional and business services, and restaurants and hotels. A fair number work from home. Across Wallowa County, some of the largest employers are the Wallowa County Health Care District, Winding Waters Medical Clinic and the Forest Service.
Things to do. Iwetemlaykin State Heritage Site is a protected area in or beside town. A short drive away are Wallowa Lake and Wallowa Lake State Park, and Ferguson Ridge Ski Area is also close by for the snowy months. For a longer outing, the Wallowa–Whitman National Forest is a longer drive away.
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- 518households
- 6%below the poverty line
- 15%work from home
What people in Wallowa County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Wallowa County had 2,855 jobs in 2025, about as many as the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in December, with highs near 35° and lows near 18°; warmest in August, with highs near 80° and lows near 49°. About 54 inches of snow and 17 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Joseph weather station, under a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Wallowa County
- Wallowa County Health Care DistrictCritical access hospital146FTE
- Winding Waters Medical ClinicCommunity health centers and clinics, outpatient89
- SafewaySupermarkets and other grocery stores67
- Enterprise SD 21School district56FTE
- Forest ServiceFederal government · Department of Agriculture52
- Joseph SD 6School district38FTE
- Wallowa SD 12School district33FTE
- Heartwood BiomassFirewood and fuel wood containing fuel binder manufacturing25
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 4 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 201 people in all across the county; Joseph has one of its own. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023), school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and federal offices from OPM's federal workforce data (2026); 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
- WildfireRelatively high
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- AvalanchesRelatively moderate
- HailRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Joseph’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 Wallowa County.
Joseph home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Joseph$501,882
- Oregon$492,753
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 6 Joseph 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.
- Joseph17.48%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Joseph29
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Joseph5
Zip codes with a Joseph address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Joseph — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.