Melrose, Florida.
Typical home $312,902 (+2.2% in a year). Palatka, FL metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$924 (+129%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $6,855 +2%
- $306,047$312,902 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $57,955 +23%
- $254,947$312,902 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.
- Melrose$1,642
- Florida$1,970
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 17 years.
Typical home values in Melrose, FL rose 2.2% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Melrose, Putnam County, Florida
The Census does not count Melrose on its own, so the figures here are Putnam County's. Half the county's households earn more than $47,934 a year and half less; 23% of the county's people live below the poverty line. 75% of the county's homes are lived in by their owners and 25% are rented. Unemployment in Putnam County was 5.6% in August 2026, and the county had 1.7% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Putnam County work in schools and health care, then construction.
Written by AI Claude Haiku 5.5 wrote this on 22 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Melrose is a small town in Putnam County, in northeast Florida. Across the county, the typical resident is in middle age, and most homes are lived in by their owners. Winters are mild, summers are hot, and rain falls heavily through the year, so the seasons are defined more by warmth and wet weather than by cold.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, in the building trades, in shops, or in professional and business services. Across the county, job numbers grew over the past year, while unemployment is a little higher than it was a year earlier. A minority of adults hold a college degree, and a notable share of households live below the poverty line.
Things to do. Lake Suggs is in or beside town, so it is the easiest place to spend an afternoon outdoors. Mike Roess Gold Head Branch State Park, a protected area, is a short drive away. The Florida Museum of Natural History, a museum, is a longer drive away.
Report a mistake
- 31,360households
- 45.0median age
- 14%of adults have a degree
- 23%below the poverty line
- 30 mintypical commute
- 10%work from home
What people in Putnam County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Putnam County had 17,617 jobs in 2025, 1.7% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 68° and lows near 45°; warmest in July, with highs near 92° and lows near 74°. About 53 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Starke weather station, 17 miles away (NOAA).
Largest employers in Putnam County
- Putnam County School District (K-12)1,527
- Georgia -Pacific, Palatka Operations982
- Putnam County Government756
- St. Johns River State College489
- Wal-Mart408
- Putnam Community Medical Center378
- Eaze Florida LLC360
- St. Johns River Water Management District321
From Putnam County’s annual financial report for 2025, its schedule of principal employers (its source: “FYE 2024 - Sources & Notes:”), as Florida’s Auditor General publishes it: the report. Employees as the report counts them.
Natural hazards
- HurricanesRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- WildfireRelatively moderate
- TornadoesRelatively moderate
- Inland floodingRelatively moderate
- Strong windRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms across Putnam County, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively low. 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 Putnam County and the Palatka, FL metro.
Melrose home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Melrose$312,902
- Florida$375,361
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Melrose 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.
- Melrose30.31%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Melrose55
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Melrose10
Zip codes with a Melrose address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Melrose — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.