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Place dossier plate
SheetAL-CEDAR-BLUFF-AL · Cedar Bluff, AL 1,633 pop · income 18th 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 Cedar Bluff
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Cedar Bluff on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Uniontown · lowest
31,071
Uniontown · lowest
31,071 median HH income
29.7% of the leader · rank #1
Alton · near
48,777
Alton · near
48,777 median HH income
46.6% of the leader · rank #2
Cedar Bluff · this city
48,784
Cedar Bluff · this city
48,784 median HH income
46.6% of the leader · rank #3
Bessemer City · near
48,784
Bessemer City · near
48,784 median HH income
46.6% of the leader · rank #4
Paris · near
48,789
Paris · near
48,789 median HH income
46.7% of the leader · rank #5
Bushyhead · near
48,798
Bushyhead · near
48,798 median HH income
46.7% of the leader · rank #6
Fontana-on-Ge… · highest
104,583
Fontana-on-Ge… · highest
104,583 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 Cedar Bluff 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: 1,633.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Cedar Bluff - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Cedar Bluff lands in the 18th percentile for household income and the 52nd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
18th
percentile, household income
44th
percentile, home value
1st
percentile, median rent
52nd
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: Cedar Bluff, AL
Alabama's Cedar Bluff is a small town, with 1,633 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Cedar Bluff brings in $48,784 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 17.5%. Typical homes in Cedar Bluff are valued around $203,000, and the median resident age is 44.4 years. Educational attainment runs 18.9% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 43.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 6 residential building permits were authorized in Cedar Bluff (Slowing), down 25% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Cedar Bluff reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 1303.4 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $936 per month. 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 Cedar Bluff'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 schools and households to reported crime to work and mobility to housing and income to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Cedar Bluff, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Cedar Bluff?
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 Reform (1,636 residents, $33,958 income); Hackleburg (1,642 residents, $43,854 income); Rehobeth (1,647 residents, $69,438 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Olivet, MI (1,633 residents); Fontana-on-Geneva Lake, WI (1,633 residents); Worthington, IN (1,634 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.
What does the education layer cover for Cedar Bluff?
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. 18.9% 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Cedar Bluff?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1303.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 43% lower 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Cedar Bluff?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 83.7%. 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. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Cedar Bluff?
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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 17.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
4.2×
Home value
$203,000
Household income
$48,784
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Is Cedar Bluff growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +115 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +6.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 6 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 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
1,833
2025 estimate
1,948
Period change
+6.3%
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.
Bachelor's+ share F
18.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime F
417 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income F
$48,784
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
17.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Cedar Bluff profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 90/100 (A+) · 88.8 index
Bachelor's+ share: 31/100 (F) · 18.9%
Violent crime: 21/100 (F) · 417 /100k
Household income: 19/100 (F) · $48,784
Poverty rate: 18/100 (F) · 17.5%
Where Cedar Bluff sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Cedar Bluff'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 - Cedar Bluff highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
Cedar Bluff, AL (this city): home $203,000, crime 1,303/100k
Fort Fairfield, ME : home $145,800, crime 538/100k
Reform, AL : home $92,200, crime 1,456/100k
Hackleburg, AL : home $97,300, crime 972/100k
Harpersville, AL : home $186,300, crime 1,379/100k
Uniontown, AL : home $69,300, crime 416/100k
Frisco City, AL : home $89,800, crime 811/100k
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 Cedar Bluff compare to other US cities?
Where Cedar Bluff sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income18% higher than other cities
Home value44% pricier than other cities
Median rent1% pricier than other cities
Safety52% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Alabama, Cedar Bluff ranks #73 of 222 Alabama cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Cedar Bluff 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 Cedar Bluff near the bottom of Alabama's cities
Among the 556 Alabama cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Cedar Bluff ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Cedar Bluff only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#305 of 530
42nd percentile in Alabama
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 556
0th percentile in Alabama
Median Home Value
#111 of 517
79th percentile in Alabama
Poverty Rate
#154 of 556
72nd percentile in Alabama
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#206 of 556
63rd 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
18th percentile nationally for median household income · 52nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Cedar Bluff's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Cedar Bluff'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 Cedar Bluff's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$203,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 56% 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
Cedar Bluff's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,145 of 15,516
More affordable than 28% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,655 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.2×, Cedar Bluff sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,145 of 15,516 and #8,655 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
$48,784Cedar Bluff, AL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Cedar Bluff, 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 Cedar Bluff, AL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)18.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)17.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)43.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,633
Median Income
$48,784
Median Home Value
$203,000
Median Age
44.4
Poverty Rate
17.5%
Labor force participation
43.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
18.9%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1303.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
417.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
886.3
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
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Cedar Bluff's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,833 residents
2021
1,850 residents
2022
1,868 residents
2023
1,886 residents
2024
1,921 residents
2025
1,948 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Slowing
Total Permits (2024)
6
housing units authorized
Single-Family
6
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
3.7
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
8
8
0
$1.3M
2020
9
9
0
$1.5M
2021
4
4
0
$1.1M
2022
5
5
0
$1.1M
2023
4
4
0
$0.8M
2024
6
6
0
$1.3M
Permit volume decreased 25% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
83.7%
Carpool
11.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
4.3%
Based on 576 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 Cedar Bluff. 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 Cedar Bluff 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 Cedar Bluff sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Cedar Bluff 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 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.