Shell, Wyoming.
Typical home $394,155 (-2.3% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,247 (+152%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $9,291 -2%
- $403,447$394,155 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $102,169 +35%
- $291,987$394,155 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.
- Shell$2,069
- Wyoming$1,937
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 12 years.
Typical home values in Shell, WY fell 2.3% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Shell, Big Horn County, Wyoming
Shell, in Big Horn County, had 74 people in the 2020 census. Unemployment in Big Horn County was 3.2% in August 2026, and the county had 1.3% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Big Horn County work in schools and health care, then farming.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Shell is a community in Big Horn County in north central Wyoming, set in the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains. It is a very small place, so most residents are likely to know one another. The surrounding county is open, with a rural feel that many people value.
Work. Residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, in farming, forestry and mining, in the building trades, and in local shops. Across Big Horn County, the number of jobs grew slightly in the most recent year, and unemployment is lower than it was a year earlier. Work tends to be close to home, since the community itself is so small.
Things to do. Shell Falls, a waterfall a short drive away, is a popular spot for a short outing. Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite, a park a short drive away, is known for its dinosaur tracks. The Greybull River, a longer drive away, offers a river setting for a day trip.
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What people in Big Horn County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Big Horn County had 4,295 jobs in 2025, 1.3% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 33° and lows near 6°; warmest in July, with highs near 89° and lows near 54°. About 28 inches of snow and 10 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Shell weather station, under a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Big Horn County
- North Big Horn HospitalCritical access hospital185FTE
- Big Horn County School District #1School district176FTE
- Big Horn County School District #2School district119FTE
- Lovell Gypsum119
- Big Horn County School District #3School district99FTE
- Western Sugar CooperativeBeet pulp, dried, manufacturing91
- Big Horn County School District #4School district71FTE
- Forest ServiceFederal government · Department of Agriculture45
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 6 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 387 people in all across the county; Shell has none of its own. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023), school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) 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
- LandslidesRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- WildfireRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Shell’s census tracts, 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 Big Horn County.
Shell home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Shell$394,155
- Wyoming$369,044
- 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.
- Shell5
Zip codes with a Shell address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Shell — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.