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Place dossier plate
SheetAL-BOAZ-AL · Boaz, AL 10,847 pop · income 19th 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 Boaz
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Boaz on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Cleveland · lowest
43,519
Cleveland · lowest
43,519 median HH income
41.0% of the leader · rank #1
Yoakum · near
49,950
Yoakum · near
49,950 median HH income
47.0% of the leader · rank #2
Richford · near
49,954
Richford · near
49,954 median HH income
47.0% of the leader · rank #3
Hagerstown · near
49,957
Hagerstown · near
49,957 median HH income
47.0% of the leader · rank #4
Boaz · this city
49,962
Boaz · this city
49,962 median HH income
47.0% of the leader · rank #5
Madison · near
49,964
Madison · near
49,964 median HH income
47.0% of the leader · rank #6
DeForest · highest
106,223
DeForest · highest
106,223 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Boaz on ACS population and median household income
. 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: 10,847.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Boaz places in the 19th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
19th
percentile, household income
29th
percentile, home value
1st
percentile, median rent
📝 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: Boaz, AL
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 10,847 residents in Boaz, a small town within Alabama. Households in Boaz report a median income of $49,962 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 10.4%. Boaz's housing stock carries a median value of $158,200, and the median resident age is 34.1 years. Educational attainment runs 16.7% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 61.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 21 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Stable), up 0% from five years earlier.
Living costs in Alabama run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Alabama scores 88.8 (Well Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $936 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Alabama's average monthly utility costs around $245 (state average). Natural-hazard exposure scores 61.5 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Boaz'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 housing and income to population change to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Boaz, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, annual population history, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Boaz?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 10.4%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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.
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +504 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +5.0% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 21 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 85.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for Boaz?
Within Alabama, the closest population matches are Russellville (10,783 residents, $52,529 income); Saks (10,727 residents, $50,529 income); Valley (10,406 residents, $55,422 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are McKee, NJ (10,843 residents); DeForest, WI (10,853 residents); Pleasanton, TX (10,854 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.
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.
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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Boaz?
The NCES join finds 7 public schools within the city match. 16.7% 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.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
Matched public schools
7
Bachelor's degree+
16.7%
Poverty estimate
10.4%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
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
10.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
16.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$49,962
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Boaz profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 90/100 (A+) · 88.8 index
Poverty rate: 38/100 (F) · 10.4%
Bachelor's+ share: 25/100 (F) · 16.7%
Household income: 20/100 (F) · $49,962
How does Boaz compare to other US cities?
Where Boaz sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income19% higher than other cities
Home value29% pricier than other cities
Median rent1% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Boaz 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 Boaz near the bottom of Alabama's cities
Among the 556 Alabama cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Boaz ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Boaz only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#290 of 530
45th percentile in Alabama
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 556
0th percentile in Alabama
Median Home Value
#209 of 517
59th percentile in Alabama
Poverty Rate
#311 of 556
44th percentile in Alabama
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#253 of 556
54th 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
19th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Boaz's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$158,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 71% 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
Boaz's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,522 of 15,516
More affordable than 52% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,139 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.2×, Boaz sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,522 of 15,516 and #1,139 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$49,962Boaz, AL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Boaz, 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 Boaz, AL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)16.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)10.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)61.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
10,847
Median Income
$49,962
Median Home Value
$158,200
Median Age
34.1
Poverty Rate
10.4%
Labor force participation
61.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
16.7%
Schools
Total Schools
7
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Boaz's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
10,115 residents
2021
10,174 residents
2022
10,319 residents
2023
10,427 residents
2024
10,557 residents
2025
10,619 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
21
housing units authorized
Single-Family
21
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.9
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
21
21
0
$3.6M
2020
30
22
8
$4.7M
2021
12
12
0
$2.1M
2022
11
11
0
$1.9M
2023
17
15
2
$2.8M
2024
21
21
0
$4.4M
Permit volume increased 0% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
85.3%
Carpool
10.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
3.8%
Based on 4,598 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 Boaz. 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 Boaz 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 Boaz sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Boaz 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, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, 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.