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Place dossier plate
SheetAL-BRANTLEY-AL · Brantley, AL 915 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 Brantley
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Brantley on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Minor · lowest
32,065
Minor · lowest
32,065 median HH income
23.8% of the leader · rank #1
Brantley · this city
35,500
Brantley · this city
35,500 median HH income
26.3% of the leader · rank #2
Magness · near
35,500
Magness · near
35,500 median HH income
26.3% of the leader · rank #3
Buena Vista · near
35,500
Buena Vista · near
35,500 median HH income
26.3% of the leader · rank #4
Loop · near
35,500
Loop · near
35,500 median HH income
26.3% of the leader · rank #5
Junction City · near
35,506
Junction City · near
35,506 median HH income
26.3% of the leader · rank #6
Grantwood · highest
134,844
Grantwood · highest
134,844 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 Brantley 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: 915.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Brantley lands in the 5th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
5th
percentile, household income
20th
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: Brantley, AL
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 915 residents in Brantley, a small town within Alabama. Median household income here is $35,500 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 21.9%. Typical homes in Brantley are valued around $127,200, and the median resident age is 39.5 years. Educational attainment runs 28.1% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 43.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 0 residential building permits were authorized in Brantley (No Permits), per Census BPS data.
Living costs in Alabama run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Alabama at 88.8 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Below Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $936 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Alabama run around $245, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 61.5 out of 100 (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Brantley'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 population change to work and mobility to housing and income 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 Brantley, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, annual population history, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Is Brantley growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -18 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
What does the journey to work look like in Brantley?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 85.9%. 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Brantley?
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 3.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 21.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Brantley?
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.
Within Alabama, the closest population matches are Minor (911 residents, $32,065 income); Powell (911 residents, $62,868 income); Oak Grove (905 residents, $59,191 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Hugo, CO (915 residents); Pine Lake, GA (915 residents); Grantwood, MO (915 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.
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 Brantley?
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 1 public school within the city match. 28.1% 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
21.9%
Bachelor's degree+
28.1%
Matched public schools
1
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 21.9% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
88.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Alabama average
F
City profile score · Brantley, AL
36/100
4 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.
Bachelor's+ share C
28.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
21.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$35,500
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).
Brantley profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 90/100 (A+) · 88.8 index
Bachelor's+ share: 55/100 (C) · 28.1%
Poverty rate: 10/100 (F) · 21.9%
Household income: 1/100 (F) · $35,500
How does Brantley compare to other US cities?
Where Brantley sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income5% higher than other cities
Home value20% 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 Brantley 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 Brantley near the bottom of Alabama's cities
Among the 556 Alabama cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Brantley ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Brantley only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#462 of 530
13th percentile in Alabama
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 556
0th percentile in Alabama
Median Home Value
#297 of 517
43rd percentile in Alabama
Poverty Rate
#109 of 556
80th percentile in Alabama
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#98 of 556
82nd 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. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Brantley's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$127,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 80% 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
Brantley's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,294 of 15,516
More affordable than 40% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,468 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.6×, Brantley sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,294 of 15,516 and #7,468 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$35,500Brantley, AL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Brantley, 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 Brantley, AL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)28.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)21.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)43.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
915
Median Income
$35,500
Median Home Value
$127,200
Median Age
39.5
Poverty Rate
21.9%
Labor force participation
43.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
28.1%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Brantley's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
822 residents
2021
814 residents
2022
808 residents
2023
809 residents
2024
804 residents
2025
804 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
0
0
0
-
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
85.9%
Carpool
11.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
2.4%
Based on 291 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 Brantley. 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 Brantley 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 Brantley sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Brantley 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.