Murray, Iowa.
Typical home $168,869 (+3.2% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$488 (+123%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $5,287 +3%
- $163,582$168,869 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $40,947 +32%
- $127,922$168,869 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.
- Murray$886
- Iowa$1,242
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 12 years.
Typical home values in Murray, IA rose 3.2% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Murray, Clarke County, Iowa
Murray is a city of 684 people in Clarke County. 84% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 16% are rented. Unemployment in Clarke County was 2.7% in August 2026, and the county had 1.5% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in manufacturing, then schools and health care.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Murray is a small Iowa city where almost everyone lives in a home they own, a far greater share than in most American places. Poverty is low, and fewer adults hold a four-year degree than in much of the country. Winters are cold, with January highs near freezing and lows well below it, and a fair amount of snow falls each year. Summers turn warm, with July the hottest month.
Work. Residents work mostly in manufacturing, in schools, hospitals and social care, in the building trades, and in restaurants, hotels and entertainment. Across Clarke County, some of the largest workplaces are Hormel Foods, Altec Industries and the Clarke Comm School District. Unemployment in the county is lower than it was a year ago, and the county has added jobs. Commutes are on the long side, and very few people work from home.
Things to do. For time outdoors, Lake Ahquabi State Park and Green Valley State Park are protected areas, each a longer drive away. The Platte River is also a longer drive away, for those who like to be near moving water. Winterset City Park, a garden, is another longer drive.
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- 218households
- 19%of adults have a degree
- 8%below the poverty line
- 28 mintypical commute
- 2%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Clarke County had 4,770 jobs in 2025, 1.5% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 32° and lows near 11°; warmest in July, with highs near 86° and lows near 64°. About 28 inches of snow and 39 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Osceola weather station, 10 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Clarke County
- Hormel FoodsProcessed meats manufacturing930
- Altec IndustriesManufacturing388
- Lakeside Hotel CasinoFloating casinos236
- Clarke Comm School DistrictSchool district231FTE
- Clarke County Public HospitalCritical access hospital190FTE
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters167
- DHL Supply ChainMotor freight transportation and warehousing142
- Paul Mueller CompanyBakery machinery and equipment manufacturing113
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 16 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 2,472 people in all across the county; Murray has one of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); 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
- DroughtRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively high
- HailRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively 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 Murray’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 Clarke County.
Murray home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Murray$168,869
- Iowa$236,623
- United States$366,157
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
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Murray5
Zip codes with a Murray address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Murray — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.