Waynesville, Missouri.
Typical home $250,308 (+3.1% in a year), asking rent $1,320 (+6.2%). Fort Leonard Wood, MO metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$760 (+137%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $7,524 +3%
- $242,784$250,308 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $65,347 +35%
- $184,961$250,308 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.
- Waynesville$1,314
- 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 Waynesville, MO rose 3.1% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Asking rents in Waynesville, MO rose 6.2% over the past year — faster than the nation's +2.7%.
Owning the typical home in Waynesville runs $390/mo more than renting one. The gap peaked at $479 in Oct 2023.
That is $1,709 a month against $1,320 rent: a $1,314 mortgage payment, plus $127 property tax and $268 insurance & upkeep.
Owning vs renting — Waynesville
The owning line is the typical home's monthly payment at that month's rate, plus property tax and insurance & upkeep; the renting line is the typical asking rent; the grey line is the mortgage payment on its own. Same homes, same months, both ways of paying for a roof.
- Owning all in$1,709
- Renting$1,320
- Mortgage only$1,314
Property tax · $127/mo 0.61% of value a year — the ACS 2020-2024 median bill over the median home value for Pulaski County, MO
Insurance & upkeep · $268/mo insurance, maintenance and repairs together, from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey — the national figure for mortgaged homeowners, scaled to this market's home value. BLS publishes the three bundled and they cannot be split.
Both are priced off the same month's home value, so they rise with the market. Neither is a quote — a specific home's bill depends on its assessment, its age and its insurer.
Living in Waynesville, Pulaski County, Missouri
Waynesville is a city of 5,406 people in Pulaski County. 63% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 37% are rented. Unemployment in Pulaski County was 4.5% in August 2026, and the county had 1.4% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in government, then schools and health care.
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. Waynesville is a small Missouri city and the county seat of Pulaski County, in the Ozarks. Most homes are lived in by their owners, though there are more renters than in many Missouri towns of its kind. Homes cost less than the national typical, and fewer adults hold a four-year degree than hold one across the country. Winters are cold, summers are hot, and snow falls on only a few days each year.
Work. Many residents work in government, in schools, hospitals and social care, in restaurants, hotels and entertainment, or in manufacturing. The largest workplaces in town include Waynesville R-VI Schools, Perimeter Behavioral of Missouri and Life Care Center of Waynesville. Most people get to work in a short drive, and few work from home. Unemployment across Pulaski County is about where it was a year ago, and the county has slightly fewer jobs than the year before.
Things to do. Several creeks lie close by, including Bell Creek, Dry Creek and Bear Creek, all a short drive away, and they suit a quiet afternoon by the water. Farther out, Ozark Caverns is a tourist attraction a longer drive away, and well worth the trip for a day out.
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- 2,201households
- 32%of adults have a degree
- 19 mintypical commute
- 7%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Pulaski County had 13,141 jobs in 2025, 1.4% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 44° and lows near 22°; warmest in July, with highs near 89° and lows near 67°. About 10 inches of snow and 47 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Waynesville West weather station, under a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Waynesville
- Waynesville R-VI SchoolsSchool district477FTE
- Perimeter Behavioral of MissouriMental health facilities, residential164
- Life Care Center of WaynesvilleSkilled nursing facilities108
- Pyramid Foods /RPCSGrocery stores60
- Veterans Health AdministrationFederal government · Department of Veterans Affairs41
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 3 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 332 people in all. School districts come 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
- Heat wavesVery high
- Cold wavesVery high
- Inland floodingVery high
- LightningVery high
- Ice stormsRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Waynesville’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 Pulaski County and the Fort Leonard Wood, MO metro.
Waynesville home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Waynesville$250,308
- 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 Waynesville listings, and the typical home goes pending in 24 days — 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.
- Waynesville33.02%
- United States26.90%
Days to pending
How long the typical listing takes to go under contract.
- Waynesville24
- United States24
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Waynesville96
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Waynesville29
Median sale price
What buyers actually paid — closed sales, not asking prices.
- Waynesville$276,536
- United States$371,407
Sale-to-list ratio
Above 100%, homes sell over asking; below, buyers negotiate wins.
- Waynesville97.64%
Zip codes with a Waynesville address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Waynesville — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.