Kelso, Washington.
Typical home $385,912 (-0.3% in a year), asking rent $1,469 (+4.7%). Longview, WA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,058 (+109%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $1,247 -0%
- $387,159$385,912 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $38,709 +11%
- $347,203$385,912 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.
- Kelso$2,026
- Washington$3,084
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 33 years.
Typical home values in Kelso, WA fell 0.3% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Asking rents in Kelso, WA rose 4.7% over the past year — faster than the nation's +2.7%.
Owning the typical home in Kelso runs $1,232/mo more than renting one. The gap peaked at $1,510 in Oct 2023.
That is $2,701 a month against $1,469 rent: a $2,026 mortgage payment, plus $263 property tax and $413 insurance & upkeep.
Owning vs renting — Kelso
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$2,701
- Renting$1,469
- Mortgage only$2,026
Property tax · $263/mo 0.82% of value a year — the ACS 2020-2024 median bill over the median home value for Cowlitz County, WA
Insurance & upkeep · $413/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 Kelso, Cowlitz County, Washington
Kelso is a city of 12,720 people in Cowlitz County. Half its households earn more than $66,751 a year and half less, against $76,531 across Cowlitz County; 12% of its people live below the poverty line. 56% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 44% are rented. Unemployment in Cowlitz County was 5.2% in August 2026, and the county had 0.4% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
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. Kelso is a small Washington city where incomes run below the county's and fewer adults hold a four-year degree than in many places. Most homes are lived in by their owners, though a good number of households rent. Winters are cool and damp, summers are mild to warm, and a good deal of rain and melted snow falls through the year.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, professional and business services, and shops close behind. Among the biggest workplaces in Kelso are the Kelso School District, Safeway and Target. Unemployment across Cowlitz County is a little lower than a year ago, though the county has slightly fewer jobs than it did the year before. A typical commute is fairly short, and few people work from home.
Things to do. The Coweeman River runs in or beside town, handy for a walk along the water. Lake Sacajawea, in neighboring Longview, is a short drive away. For a longer outing, the Lewis River and the Toutle River are both a longer drive away.
Report a mistake
- 5,435households
- 12%of adults have a degree
- 12%below the poverty line
- 21 mintypical commute
- 6%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Cowlitz County had 41,077 jobs in 2025, 0.4% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in December, with highs near 47° and lows near 35°; warmest in August, with highs near 80° and lows near 53°. About 48 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Longview weather station, 3 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Kelso
- Kelso School DistrictSchool district627FTE
- SafewaySupermarkets and other grocery stores145
- TargetDiscount department stores123
- C&C LoggingLogging119
- UPSCouriers and express delivery services94
- Department of Children Youth and Families73
- Anderson Environmental ContractingExcavation contractors49
- Hadaller LoggingCutting and transporting timber35
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 13 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 801 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
- Inland floodingVery high
- Heat wavesRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- Volcanic activityRelatively moderate
- Earthquakesrelatively high in parts of KelsoRelatively 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 Kelso’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 Cowlitz County and the Longview, WA metro.
Kelso home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Kelso$385,912
- Washington$587,533
- 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 Kelso listings, and the typical home goes pending in 25 days — the market is heating up.
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.
- Kelso27.47%
- United States26.90%
Days to pending
How long the typical listing takes to go under contract.
- Kelso25
- United States24
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Kelso91
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Kelso25
Median sale price
What buyers actually paid — closed sales, not asking prices.
- Kelso$370,290
- United States$370,717
Sale-to-list ratio
Above 100%, homes sell over asking; below, buyers negotiate wins.
- Kelso99.33%
Zip codes with a Kelso address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Kelso — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.