Tatum, Texas.
Typical home $252,427 (+4.7% in a year). Longview, TX metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$621 (+88%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $11,263 +5%
- $241,164$252,427 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $38,557 +18%
- $213,870$252,427 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.
- Tatum$1,325
- Texas$1,556
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 21 years.
Typical home values in Tatum, TX rose 4.7% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Tatum, Rusk County, Texas
Tatum is a city of 1,342 people in Rusk County. Half its households earn more than $77,404 a year and half less, against $68,658 across Rusk County. Unemployment in Rusk County was 4.8% in August 2026, and the county had 1.6% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then transport and warehouses.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Tatum is a small East Texas city where households earn more than the county's typical household, and homes are worth a good deal more than many people expect in a place this size. Not many adults here hold a four-year degree. Winters are mild and brief, with little or no snow, while summers turn hot by August. Rain falls generously through the year.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, and others in transport, warehouses and utilities, the building trades, or manufacturing. Some of the larger workplaces across Rusk County are VitalCaring Group, Henderson ISD and Sadlers Smokehouse. Commutes tend to run long, which fits a town where many people drive to jobs elsewhere in the county, and a share of residents work from home.
Things to do. Martin Creek Lake State Park is the closest of the nearby places, a park a short drive away. A longer drive brings you to the Starr Family Home State Historic Site, a protected area, and to the Harrison County Historical Museum, a museum for anyone who likes local history. The Ballpark at Hallsville, a stadium, is also a longer drive away.
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- 15%of adults have a degree
- 32 mintypical commute
- 15%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Rusk County had 13,308 jobs in 2025, 1.6% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 57° and lows near 36°; warmest in August, with highs near 94° and lows near 72°. About 50 inches of rain a year, and little or no snow.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Longview Wsmo weather station, 8 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Rusk County
- VitalCaring GroupHome health agencies599
- Henderson ISDSchool district536FTE
- Sadlers SmokehouseCooked meats made from purchased carcasses470
- Management & Training CorporationJails, privately operated348
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters275
- Tatum ISDSchool district229FTE
- Merico Abatement Contractors Inc - Luminant Power Plant- Martin LakeSpecialty trade contractors225
- Luminant Generation CompanyElectric power generation, fossil fuel201
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 28 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 3,722 people in all across the county; Tatum has one of its own. 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
- Strong windRelatively high
- Ice stormsRelatively moderate
- Heat wavesRelatively moderate
- TornadoesRelatively moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
- Winter weatherRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Tatum’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively 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 Rusk County and the Longview, TX metro.
Tatum home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Tatum$252,427
- Texas$296,424
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 5 Tatum 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.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Tatum17
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Zip codes with a Tatum address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Tatum — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.