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Place dossier plate
SheetAL-BEAR-CREEK-AL · Bear Creek, AL 1,317 pop · income 5th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Bear Creek
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Bear Creek on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Bear Creek · this city · lowest
36,250
Bear Creek · this city · lowest
36,250 median HH income
18.5% of the leader · rank #1
Lower Kalskag · near
36,250
Lower Kalskag · near
36,250 median HH income
18.5% of the leader · rank #2
Bowie · near
36,250
Bowie · near
36,250 median HH income
18.5% of the leader · rank #3
Fulton · near
36,250
Fulton · near
36,250 median HH income
18.5% of the leader · rank #4
Tillar · near
36,250
Tillar · near
36,250 median HH income
18.5% of the leader · rank #5
Wetherington · highest
196,167
Wetherington · highest
196,167 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Bear Creek on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 1,317.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Bear Creek - the verdict
Nationally, Bear Creek sits in the 5th percentile for household income and the 13th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
5th
percentile, household income
8th
percentile, home value
1st
percentile, median rent
13th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Bear Creek, AL
Bear Creek is a small town in Alabama, home to 1,317 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Bear Creek households earn a median of $36,250 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 17.6%. Typical homes in Bear Creek are valued around $95,300, and the median resident age is 41.3 years. 9.5% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 40.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Bear Creek's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 3295.7 in FBI UCR data, above the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Living costs in Alabama run below the national norm: the state registers 88.8 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Well Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $936 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $245 across Alabama, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 61.5 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Bear Creek's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from comparison shortlist to housing and income to work and mobility to reported crime to population change to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Bear Creek, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Bear Creek?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Alabama, the closest population matches are West Blocton (1,320 residents, $37,537 income); Rock Creek (1,313 residents, $80,063 income); Locust Fork (1,312 residents, $42,045 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Lawtey, FL (1,317 residents); Punta Rassa, FL (1,317 residents); Buckeystown, MD (1,317 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
How far does income reach against housing in Bear Creek?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 17.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What does the journey to work look like in Bear Creek?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 88.6%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Bear Creek?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3295.7 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 45% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Population change
Is Bear Creek growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +17 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.6% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
2020 estimate
1,037
2025 estimate
1,054
Period change
+1.6%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the education layer cover for Bear Creek?
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 9.5% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Poverty estimate
17.6%
Bachelor's degree+
9.5%
Matched public schools
2
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 17.6% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
88.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Alabama average
F
City profile score · Bear Creek, AL
23/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Cost of living A+
88.8 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Poverty rate F
17.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
9.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$36,250
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
1,036 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bear Creek profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 90/100 (A+) · 88.8 index
Poverty rate: 18/100 (F) · 17.6%
Bachelor's+ share: 5/100 (F) · 9.5%
Household income: 2/100 (F) · $36,250
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 1,036 /100k
Where Bear Creek sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Bear Creek's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Bear Creek highlighted among 23 peers.Read the chart values
Bear Creek, AL (this city): home $95,300, crime 3,296/100k
West Blocton, AL : home $107,400, crime 2,456/100k
Susan Moore, AL : home $117,600, crime 498/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Bear Creek compare to other US cities?
Bear Creek measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income5% higher than other cities
Home value8% pricier than other cities
Median rent1% pricier than other cities
Safety13% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Alabama alone, Bear Creek ranks #177 of 222 Alabama cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Bear Creek against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Alabama only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Alabama-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Bear Creek near the bottom of Alabama's cities
Among the 556 Alabama cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Bear Creek ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Bear Creek only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#453 of 530
14th percentile in Alabama
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 556
0th percentile in Alabama
Median Home Value
#415 of 517
20th percentile in Alabama
Poverty Rate
#150 of 556
72nd percentile in Alabama
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#421 of 556
24th percentile in Alabama
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Alabama only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
5th percentile nationally for median household income · 13th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Bear Creek's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Bear Creek's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Bear Creek's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$95,300Among the most affordablemore affordable than 92% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Bear Creek's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,669 of 15,516
More affordable than 70% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,132 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.6×, Bear Creek sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,669 of 15,516 and #4,132 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$36,250Bear Creek, AL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Bear Creek, AL median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Bear Creek, AL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)9.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)17.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)40.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,317
Median Income
$36,250
Median Home Value
$95,300
Median Age
41.3
Poverty Rate
17.6%
Labor force participation
40.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
9.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3295.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
1035.8
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2259.9
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Bear Creek's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,037 residents
2021
1,037 residents
2022
1,042 residents
2023
1,045 residents
2024
1,053 residents
2025
1,054 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
88.6%
Carpool
3.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
5.1%
Other
2.6%
Based on 428 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Alabama statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $245
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Alabama at $245 (electricity about $138 , water and sewer about $45 ).
These are Alabama statewide averages, not a meter reading for Bear Creek. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Alabama's BEA cost-of-living index is 88.8 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Bear Creek is $936/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Alabama statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 61.5 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Alabama statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Bear Creek sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Bear Creek compares to similar-size Alabama cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.