Salem, Missouri.
Typical home $187,399 (+6.0% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$597 (+154%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $10,651 +6%
- $176,748$187,399 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $51,006 +37%
- $136,393$187,399 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.
- Salem$984
- Missouri$1,393
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 11 years.
Typical home values in Salem, MO rose 6.0% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Salem, Dent County, Missouri
Salem is a city of 4,608 people in Dent County. Half its households earn more than $43,923 a year and half less, against $56,312 across Dent County; 11% of its people live below the poverty line. 50% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 50% are rented. Unemployment in Dent County was 4.1% in August 2026, and the county had 3.2% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then shops.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Salem is a small city and the seat of Dent County, in the Missouri Ozarks. The population is older than in much of the country, and fewer homes are lived in by their owners than across much of the country. Incomes are below the county's, and most adults do not hold a four-year degree. Winters are cold, with January highs staying well below comfortable and lows below freezing, but there is very little snow. Summers are warm, and rain falls steadily through the year.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with shops, restaurants and hotels, and manufacturing also employing a good number. Among the largest workplaces in Salem are US Foods Salem, a grocery wholesaler, along with Walmart and the Forest Service. Across Dent County there were fewer jobs last year than the year before, and unemployment is somewhat lower than a year ago. Commutes are short, and few people work from home.
Things to do. Salem sits among the creeks and woods of the Ozarks. Spring Creek and Lost Creek are rivers a short drive away, good for time by the water. A longer drive brings you to Mark Twain National Forest, a large protected area for walking and camping, and to Montauk State Park, another protected area.
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- 1,966households
- 15%of adults have a degree
- 11%below the poverty line
- 15 mintypical commute
- 6%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Dent County had 3,674 jobs in 2025, 3.2% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 43° and lows near 22°; warmest in July, with highs near 88° and lows near 65°. About 1 inches of snow and 47 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Salem weather station, under a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Salem
- US Foods SalemGeneral-line groceries merchant wholesalers270
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters205
- Elm Investment GroupSkilled nursing facilities60
- BrightliMental health facilities, residential39
- Forest ServiceFederal government · Department of Agriculture31
- Maple Investment GroupNursing homes28
- Scenic Rivers IndustriesKit assembling and packaging services24
- SalemMail and parcel delivery23
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 7 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 649 people in all. Federal offices come from OPM's federal workforce data (2026). 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
- Cold wavesVery high
- Heat wavesRelatively high
- Ice stormsRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively high
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Salem’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 Dent County.
Salem home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Salem$187,399
- Missouri$265,387
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Salem listings — the market is cooling.
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.
- Salem28.77%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Salem90
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Salem20
Zip codes with a Salem address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Salem — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.