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Place dossier plate
SheetAL-BROOKSIDE-AL · Brookside, AL 1,200 pop · income 11th 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 Brookside
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Brookside on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Double Springs · lowest
32,250
Double Springs · lowest
32,250 median HH income
26.5% of the leader · rank #1
Brookside · this city
43,750
Brookside · this city
43,750 median HH income
35.9% of the leader · rank #2
Nunapitchuk · near
43,750
Nunapitchuk · near
43,750 median HH income
35.9% of the leader · rank #3
East Fork · near
43,750
East Fork · near
43,750 median HH income
35.9% of the leader · rank #4
Gosnell · near
43,750
Gosnell · near
43,750 median HH income
35.9% of the leader · rank #5
Leola · near
43,750
Leola · near
43,750 median HH income
35.9% of the leader · rank #6
Sea Ranch · highest
121,731
Sea Ranch · highest
121,731 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Brookside 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: 1,200.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Brookside - the verdict
Brookside ranks in the 11th percentile for household income and the 21st percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
11th
percentile, household income
13th
percentile, home value
1st
percentile, median rent
21st
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: Brookside, AL
Brookside is a small town in Alabama, home to 1,200 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Brookside report a median income of $43,750 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 17.4%. Brookside's housing stock carries a median value of $108,700, and the median resident age is 45.6 years. 11.0% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 47.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 35 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 3400% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 2616.0 incidents per 100,000 residents, near the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects 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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $936 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Alabama's average monthly utility costs around $245 (state average). 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 Brookside'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 reported crime to housing and income to work and mobility to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Brookside, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, local building permits, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Brookside?
Within Alabama, the closest population matches are Eclectic (1,201 residents, $49,250 income); Altoona (1,211 residents, $36,694 income); Double Springs (1,188 residents, $32,250 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Sea Ranch, CA (1,200 residents); Allentown, FL (1,200 residents); Cordry Sweetwater Lakes, IN (1,200 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Brookside?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2616.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 15% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
How far does income reach against housing in Brookside?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 17.4%, 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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
What does the journey to work look like in Brookside?
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 89.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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 Brookside growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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 +189 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +15.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 35 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+15.2%
2025 estimate
1,433
2020 estimate
1,244
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
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.
Violent crime F
422 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate F
17.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$43,750
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
11.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Brookside profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 90/100 (A+) · 88.8 index
Violent crime: 21/100 (F) · 422 /100k
Poverty rate: 18/100 (F) · 17.4%
Household income: 12/100 (F) · $43,750
Bachelor's+ share: 9/100 (F) · 11.0%
Where Brookside sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Brookside'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 - Brookside highlighted among 25 peers.Read the chart values
Brookside, AL (this city): home $108,700, crime 2,616/100k
Boyceville, WI : home $158,200, crime 1,001/100k
Eclectic, AL : home $157,500, crime 1,812/100k
Double Springs, AL : home $125,000, crime 1,794/100k
Douglas, AL : home $169,000, crime 1,774/100k
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 Brookside compare to other US cities?
Where Brookside sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income11% higher than other cities
Home value13% pricier than other cities
Median rent1% pricier than other cities
Safety21% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Alabama and the picture shifts: Brookside ranks #147 of 222 Alabama cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Brookside 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 Brookside near the bottom of Alabama's cities
Among the 556 Alabama cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Brookside ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Brookside only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#362 of 530
31st percentile in Alabama
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 556
0th percentile in Alabama
Median Home Value
#361 of 517
30th percentile in Alabama
Poverty Rate
#157 of 556
72nd percentile in Alabama
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#384 of 556
31st 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
11th percentile nationally for median household income · 21st percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Brookside's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Brookside'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 Brookside's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$108,700Among the most affordablemore affordable than 87% 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
Brookside's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,921 of 15,516
More affordable than 75% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,538 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.5×, Brookside sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,921 of 15,516 and #3,538 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
$43,750Brookside, AL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Brookside, 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 Brookside, AL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)11.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)17.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)47.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,200
Median Income
$43,750
Median Home Value
$108,700
Median Age
45.6
Poverty Rate
17.4%
Labor force participation
47.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
11.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2616.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
421.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2194.1
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.
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Brookside's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,244 residents
2021
1,230 residents
2022
1,215 residents
2023
1,205 residents
2024
1,366 residents
2025
1,433 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
35
housing units authorized
Single-Family
35
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
29.2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
1
1
0
$0.4M
2020
1
1
0
$0.4M
2021
1
1
0
$0.3M
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
78
78
0
$10.8M
2024
35
35
0
$6.1M
Permit volume increased 3400% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
89.8%
Carpool
4.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
4.0%
Other
1.5%
Based on 470 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 Brookside. 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 Brookside 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 Brookside sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Brookside 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, 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.