Polk, Missouri.
Typical home $176,238 (+13.1% in a year). Springfield, MO metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$24 (+3%) since Nov 2023.
- 1 year
- Up $20,450 +13%
- $155,788$176,238 since Sep 2025
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.
- Polk$925
- Missouri$1,393
- United States$1,922
Typical home values in Polk, MO rose 13.1% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Polk, Hickory County, Missouri
The Census does not count Polk on its own, so the figures here are Hickory County's. Half the county's households earn more than $39,390 a year and half less; 20% of the county's people live below the poverty line. 82% of the county's homes are lived in by their owners and 18% are rented. Unemployment in Hickory County was 5.7% in August 2026, and the county had 1.7% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Hickory County work in schools and health care, then shops.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Polk is a small town in Hickory County, in the Ozark hills of Missouri. Across the county, most homes are lived in by their owners, and residents are older on average than across the country. Winters are cold, summers are warm, and rain and melted snow fall heavily through the year.
Work. Across Hickory County, many people work in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, in restaurants, hotels and entertainment, and in the building trades. Fewer people are out of work than a year earlier, and the county added jobs last year. Fewer adults hold a four-year degree than across the country, and few people work from home.
Things to do. Pomme de Terre Lake, a reservoir, is a short drive away and is one of the best known spots nearby. Pomme de Terre State Park, a protected area, is also a short drive away. Bennett Spring State Park, another protected area, is a longer drive away.
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- 3,601households
- 55.2median age
- 13%of adults have a degree
- 20%below the poverty line
- 31 mintypical commute
- 6%work from home
What people in Hickory County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Hickory County had 1,546 jobs in 2025, 1.7% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 42° and lows near 23°; warmest in July, with highs near 89° and lows near 69°. About 44 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Pomme De Terre Dam weather station, 10 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Hickory County
- Lucas Oil SpeedwayRacetracks108
- Hickory Co. R-I SchoolsSchool district69FTE
- Wheatland R-II SchoolsSchool district57FTE
- Hermitage R-IV SchoolsSchool district51FTE
- Weaubleau R-iii SchoolsSchool district38FTE
- Lucas Cattle RanchBreeding, animal, services34
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 2 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 142 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
- Ice stormsRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms across Hickory County, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very 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 Hickory County and the Springfield, MO metro.
Polk home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Polk$176,238
- Missouri$265,387
- 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.
- Polk6
Zip codes with a Polk address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Polk — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.