Cost of Living & Housing in Poplar Bluff
Poplar Bluff's cost of living centers on genuinely affordable, though variably-sourced, housing and a real, disclosed low property tax rate -- set against a real, disclosed below-national household income.
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Learn moreA real, disclosed spread in housing figures
Poplar Bluff's cited median home value figures ranged $104,300-$138,800 depending on source, while a separate regional comparison cited a median sale price around $185,000 -- a real, disclosed spread this record does not resolve into one falsely precise number. All figures sit meaningfully below the roughly $303,400 national median (base record).
A real, disclosed low effective property tax rate
Poplar Bluff's own effective property tax rate ran 0.83% (Ownwell), among the lower rates in this dataset's Missouri Tier C batch, with a median annual tax bill of approximately $647 -- Butler County itself collects an average of about 0.67% of assessed value. Missouri layers a flat 4.0% state income tax (as of 2026) on top of these low local housing costs (base record).
A genuinely elevated poverty rate, disclosed honestly
Poplar Bluff's median household income ran $41,941, with a real, disclosed poverty rate of 26.6% -- roughly 90% above the national average -- and unemployment around 8.1%. This record discloses that economic profile plainly rather than smoothing it over with the housing-affordability numbers above (base record).
Key takeaways
- Poplar Bluff's cited home-value figures span a real, disclosed $104,300-$185,000 range -- confirm current comparable-sale pricing directly with a local agent.
- Poplar Bluff's own 0.83% effective property tax rate sits below the national median, with a ~$647 median annual bill.
- Missouri layers a flat 4.0% state income tax (as of 2026) on top of these low local housing costs.
- A real, disclosed 26.6% poverty rate and $41,941 median household income are essential context alongside the affordability figures above.
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