Shell Knob, MO population, income and ZIP codes

Shell Knob CDP is a small town in Missouri, with 1,445 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #319 of 1,082 ranked by population — larger than 70% of them. The median age here is 59.5 years against 39.1 nationally, a markedly older profile that usually tracks retirees staying put and younger households leaving for work. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.

Households in Shell Knob CDP earn a median of $51,852 a year, 34% below the national figure of $78,538 and 7% below the $55,543 median for the 374 Missouri cities we cover. Household income here is measured before tax and pooled across everyone at the address, which is why it reads higher than typical individual earnings in the same area. Poverty reaches 16.5% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Shell Knob CDP is valued at $304,700, essentially level with the national figure and 100% above the $152,400 peer median, while median gross rent runs $1,010 a month, 28.2% below the national figure, or roughly $12,120 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 23.4% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 5.9×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is harder here than in the average US market. 84.8% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, an owner-dominated market where rental listings are scarce and rent medians rest on a thin sample. The rent line includes utilities paid by the tenant, a definition worth remembering when comparing it against a landlord's quoted rate.

A median age of 59.5 puts Shell Knob CDP well into retirement-weighted territory, which pulls median household income down even where household wealth is high, because retirement draws are counted differently from wages.

No figure on this page is estimated by us; each one comes straight from the published ACS tables for this area. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.