Palmer, Massachusetts.
Typical home $336,430 (+3.9% in a year), asking rent $1,838 . Springfield, MA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,018 (+136%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $12,583 +4%
- $323,847$336,430 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $84,943 +34%
- $251,487$336,430 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.
- Palmer$1,766
- Massachusetts$3,439
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 12 years.
Typical home values in Palmer, MA rose 3.9% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Palmer, Hampden County, Massachusetts
The Census does not count Palmer on its own, so the figures here are Hampden County's. Half the county's households earn more than $71,306 a year and half less; 16% of the county's people live below the poverty line. 62% of the county's homes are lived in by their owners and 38% are rented. Unemployment in Hampden County was 5.7% in August 2026, and the county had 0.5% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Hampden County work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Palmer is in Hampden County in western Massachusetts, where winters are colder than in most of the country and snow is a regular part of the season. Summers are warm, and rain and melted snow fall steadily through the year. Across the county, most homes are lived in by their owners, and the typical household income sits below the state's.
Work. Across Hampden County, many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, in manufacturing, in shops, or in professional and business services. Unemployment is a little lower than it was a year earlier, though the county has slightly fewer jobs than the year before. Most people's drive to work is a fairly short one, and fewer people work from home than in many places.
Things to do. Lake Chaubunagungamaug, a lake, is a longer drive away and draws visitors to its shores. Springfield Armory, a protected area, is also a longer drive away, while Brimfield State Forest, another protected area, is a short drive away.
Report a mistake
- 184,471households
- 40.0median age
- 29%of adults have a degree
- 16%below the poverty line
- 23 mintypical commute
- 10%work from home
What people in Hampden County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Hampden County had 201,216 jobs in 2025, 0.5% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 33° and lows near 15°; warmest in July, with highs near 82° and lows near 60°. About 48 inches of snow and 48 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Belchertown weather station, 7 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Hampden County
- Baystate Medical CenterGeneral hospital6,945FTE
- Springfield SchoolsSchool district4,290FTE
- BMP - Baystate Medical PracticesPhysicians' offices2,187
- Springfield NDCMail and parcel delivery1,619
- Trinity Health of New EnglandMedical doctors', mental health, offices1,372
- Holyoke Medical CenterGeneral hospital1,273FTE
- Chicopee SchoolsSchool district1,253FTE
- Holyoke SchoolsSchool district994FTE
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 405 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 60,376 people in all. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and school districts 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 floodingRelatively high
- Ice stormsRelatively high
- HurricanesRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively high
- EarthquakesRelatively moderate
- Heat wavesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms across Hampden County, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. 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 Hampden County and the Springfield, MA metro.
Palmer home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Palmer$336,430
- Massachusetts$655,219
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Palmer 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.
- Palmer30.50%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Palmer34
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Palmer16
Zip codes with a Palmer address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Palmer — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.
Zip codes in Palmer
| Zip activate to sort by Zip | Place activate to sort by Place | Population sorted descending, activate to sort ascending | Rent activate to sort by Rent | Home value activate to sort by Home value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01069 | Palmer | 8,821 | — | $342,106 |
| 01080 | Three Rivers | 2,454 | — | $315,147 |