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Place dossier plate
SheetAL-CHELSEA-AL · Chelsea, AL 15,731 pop · income 83rd 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 Chelsea
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Chelsea on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Whitewater · lowest
49,000
Whitewater · lowest
49,000 median HH income
33.9% of the leader · rank #1
Spokane · near
110,048
Spokane · near
110,048 median HH income
76.1% of the leader · rank #2
Catonsville · near
110,051
Catonsville · near
110,051 median HH income
76.1% of the leader · rank #3
Chelsea · this city
110,056
Chelsea · this city
110,056 median HH income
76.1% of the leader · rank #4
Volin · near
110,060
Volin · near
110,060 median HH income
76.1% of the leader · rank #5
Beavercreek · near
110,064
Beavercreek · near
110,064 median HH income
76.1% of the leader · rank #6
Longmeadow · highest
144,639
Longmeadow · highest
144,639 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 Chelsea 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: 15,731.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Chelsea lands in the 83rd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
83rd
percentile, household income
70th
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: Chelsea, AL
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 15,731 residents in Chelsea, a small town within Alabama. Households in Chelsea report a median income of $110,056 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 1.1%. Home values in Chelsea run a median of $339,400, and the median resident age is 38.2 years. Educational attainment runs 44.9% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 64.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 163 residential building permits were authorized in Chelsea (Stable), up 1% from five years earlier, 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). 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 Chelsea'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 work and mobility to population change to schools and households to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Chelsea, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, local building permits, commute-mode shares.
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.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Chelsea?
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 Gulf Shores (15,785 residents, $73,873 income); Scottsboro (15,641 residents, $52,949 income); Hartselle (15,586 residents, $67,863 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Longmeadow, MA (15,724 residents); Vail, AZ (15,722 residents); Fort Mohave, AZ (15,716 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 journey to work look like in Chelsea?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 80.1%. 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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +2,469 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +16.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 163 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.
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.
The NCES join finds 4 public schools within the city match. 44.9% 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.
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 Chelsea?
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 3.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 1.1%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
3.1×
Home value
$339,400
Household income
$110,056
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
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.
Poverty rate A+
1.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
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.
Household income A-
$110,056
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share B+
44.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Chelsea profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 92/100 (A+) · 1.1%
Cost of living: 90/100 (A+) · 88.8 index
Household income: 81/100 (A-) · $110,056
Bachelor's+ share: 79/100 (B+) · 44.9%
How does Chelsea compare to other US cities?
Chelsea measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income83% higher than other cities
Home value70% 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 Chelsea 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 Chelsea near the bottom of Alabama's cities
Among the 556 Alabama cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Chelsea ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Chelsea only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#22 of 530
96th percentile in Alabama
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 556
0th percentile in Alabama
Median Home Value
#22 of 517
96th percentile in Alabama
Poverty Rate
#501 of 556
10th percentile in Alabama
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#28 of 556
95th 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
83rd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Chelsea's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$339,40030th percentilemore affordable than 30% 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
Chelsea's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,122 of 15,516
More affordable than 54% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,026 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.1×, Chelsea sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,122 of 15,516 and #1,026 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
$110,056Chelsea, AL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Chelsea, 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 Chelsea, AL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)44.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)1.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)64.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
15,731
Median Income
$110,056
Median Home Value
$339,400
Median Age
38.2
Poverty Rate
1.1%
Labor force participation
64.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
44.9%
Schools
Total Schools
4
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Chelsea's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
15,247 residents
2021
15,749 residents
2022
16,249 residents
2023
16,828 residents
2024
17,287 residents
2025
17,716 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
163
housing units authorized
Single-Family
163
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
10.4
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
161
161
0
$46.4M
2020
196
196
0
$61.6M
2021
202
202
0
$71.9M
2022
196
196
0
$64.2M
2023
177
177
0
$53.7M
2024
163
163
0
$45.4M
Permit volume increased 1% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
80.1%
Carpool
4.7%
Public Transit
0.4%
Walk
0.2%
Work from Home
13.8%
Other
0.8%
Based on 7,635 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 Chelsea. 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 Chelsea 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 Chelsea sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Chelsea 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.