Potosi, Missouri.
Typical home $194,920 (+5.0% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$560 (+121%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $9,275 +5%
- $185,646$194,920 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $32,831 +20%
- $162,090$194,920 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.
- Potosi$1,023
- Missouri$1,393
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 19 years.
Typical home values in Potosi, MO rose 5.0% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Potosi, Washington County, Missouri
Potosi is a city of 2,538 people in Washington County. Unemployment in Washington County was 4.3% in August 2026, and the county had 0.1% 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Potosi is a small city and the seat of Washington County, Missouri, in the hills of the Ozarks' eastern edge. Residents are younger than in many small towns, and incomes in the county run below the typical American household's. Few adults hold a four-year degree. Winters are cold, with some snow, and summers are warm, with plenty of rain and melted snow across the year.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, shops and the building trades also employing a good number. Some of the largest workplaces in Potosi are Elara Caring, a home health care agency, Potosi R-III Schools, and Walmart. Commutes are on the long side, and few people work from home. Unemployment in the county is a little lower than a year ago, though the number of jobs has barely changed.
Things to do. Bates Creek runs in or beside town, and several other creeks and branches, such as Arnault Branch and Allen Branch, are a short drive away. For more room to roam, Mark Twain National Forest and Washington State Park are a longer drive away, and St. Joe State Park is another protected area at a similar distance.
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- 1,059households
- 9%of adults have a degree
- 25%below the poverty line
- 31 mintypical commute
- 5%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Washington County had 4,998 jobs in 2025, 0.1% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 40° and lows near 21°; warmest in July, with highs near 86° and lows near 67°. About 12 inches of snow and 45 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Potosi Southwest weather station, 4 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Potosi
- Elara CaringHome health care agencies257
- Potosi R-iii SchoolsSchool district215FTE
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters211
- Red Wing Shoe Co. PotosiFootwear manufacturing209
- Washington County Memorial HospitalCritical access hospital166FTE
- Tide HealthGroupSkilled nursing facilities111
- Forest ServiceFederal government · Department of Agriculture28
- PotosiMail and parcel delivery23
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 5 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 811 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24), hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and federal offices from OPM's federal workforce data (2026); 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
- Heat wavesVery high
- Cold wavesVery high
- Strong windVery high
- TornadoesVery high
- EarthquakesRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Potosi’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 Washington County.
Potosi home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Potosi$194,920
- Missouri$265,387
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Potosi 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.
- Potosi29.42%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Potosi42
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Potosi11
Zip codes with a Potosi address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Potosi — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.