ZIP code 97523

ZIP 97523 is a mid-size town in Josephine County, Oregon, with 7,162 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #144 of 428 ranked by population — larger than 66% of them. The median age here is 43.2 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly older profile than the country as a whole. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.

Households in ZIP 97523 earn a median of $45,960 a year, 41.5% below the national figure of $78,538. 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 24.8% of residents here, well above the 12.4% national rate, which is the single clearest signal in this dataset that median income here is carried by a narrow band of households.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 97523 is valued at $301,000, essentially level with the national figure, while median gross rent runs $1,239 a month, 11.9% below the national figure, or roughly $14,868 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 32.3% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is a stretch on median earnings. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 6.5×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is out of reach on local earnings alone and the ownership market leans on outside income, equity or dual high earners. 80.9% 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.

Home values sit at 6.5× median household income, far past the 3.9× national mark, so ownership costs here are set by something other than local wages — second homes, retirees with equity, or commuters earning elsewhere.

All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. 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.

ZIP 97523 is tabulated inside Josephine County, Oregon, one of 10 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 428 across Oregon. Population sits in the small-town band, typically one main street plus the addresses that feed into it. County assignment on this page follows the largest share of the ZIP's land area, which matters where a delivery route crosses a county line: mail addressed to 97523 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 97523 reports a median household income of $45,960, 11% below the $51,532 county median, and 36% below the $71,485 typical OR ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $301,000, 21% below the county figure and 22% below the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $1,239 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.

Oregon charges 0% statewide, and no local sales tax is layered on top, so the state rate is the full amount collected in 97523.

Everything above comes from the Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates for this ZIP Code Tabulation Area, with sales tax rates traced to the state revenue agency. Five-year estimates pool sixty months of responses, so they are stable enough to compare 97523 with its neighbours but always trail the current year, and any value the Census suppressed for sample size is shown as unpublished rather than filled in with a model.