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Place dossier plate
SheetAL-CREOLA-AL · Creola, AL 2,489 pop · income 48th 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 Creola
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Creola on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Abbeville · lowest
32,778
Abbeville · lowest
32,778 median HH income
18.5% of the leader · rank #1
Creola · this city
68,594
Creola · this city
68,594 median HH income
38.6% of the leader · rank #2
West Lebanon · near
68,594
West Lebanon · near
68,594 median HH income
38.6% of the leader · rank #3
Cody · near
68,594
Cody · near
68,594 median HH income
38.6% of the leader · rank #4
Zuehl · near
68,594
Zuehl · near
68,594 median HH income
38.6% of the leader · rank #5
Shenandoah · near
68,594
Shenandoah · near
68,594 median HH income
38.6% of the leader · rank #6
Goshen · highest
177,604
Goshen · highest
177,604 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 Creola 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: 2,489.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Creola - the verdict
Nationally, Creola sits in the 48th percentile for household income and the 72nd percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
48th
percentile, household income
39th
percentile, home value
1st
percentile, median rent
72nd
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: Creola, AL
Alabama's Creola is a small town, with 2,489 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Median household income here is $68,594 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 13.4%. Creola's housing stock carries a median value of $187,500, and the median resident age is 34.5 years. Educational attainment runs 13.3% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 51.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 6 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 200% from five years earlier. Creola reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR figures show 809.3 crimes per 100,000 residents, below the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
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). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $936 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $245 across Alabama, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Creola'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 population change to reported crime to housing and income to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Creola, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, local building permits, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Creola?
Within Alabama, the closest population matches are Brookwood (2,489 residents, $79,297 income); Sumiton (2,506 residents, $62,226 income); Abbeville (2,470 residents, $32,778 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Beverly, NJ (2,489 residents); Mineralwells, WV (2,489 residents); Deerfield, WI (2,489 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.
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 +30 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.6% 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Creola?
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 809.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 65% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
How far does income reach against housing in Creola?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 13.4%, 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.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Creola?
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 93.6%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
1.4%
Drive alone
93.6%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 876 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 13.4% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
88.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Alabama average
D
City profile score · Creola, AL
45/100
5 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.
Household income D
$68,594
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime D
253 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate F
13.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
13.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Creola profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 90/100 (A+) · 88.8 index
Household income: 47/100 (D) · $68,594
Violent crime: 40/100 (D) · 253 /100k
Poverty rate: 26/100 (F) · 13.4%
Bachelor's+ share: 15/100 (F) · 13.3%
Where Creola sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Creola'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 - Creola highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Creola, AL (this city): home $187,500, crime 809/100k
Beverly, NJ : home $190,100, crime 1,508/100k
Goshen, AR : home $616,800, crime 381/100k
Newaygo, MI : home $102,900, crime 2,535/100k
Brookwood, AL : home $181,900, crime 1,446/100k
Sumiton, AL : home $176,500, crime 955/100k
Abbeville, AL : home $98,000, crime 1,928/100k
Guin, AL : home $111,400, crime 2,296/100k
Trinity, AL : home $233,600, crime 1,162/100k
Ashford, AL : home $167,500, crime 552/100k
How does Creola compare to other US cities?
Where Creola sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income48% higher than other cities
Home value39% pricier than other cities
Median rent1% pricier than other cities
Safety72% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Alabama alone, Creola ranks #38 of 222 Alabama cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Creola 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 Creola near the bottom of Alabama's cities
Among the 556 Alabama cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Creola ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Creola only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#136 of 530
74th percentile in Alabama
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 556
0th percentile in Alabama
Median Home Value
#143 of 517
72nd percentile in Alabama
Poverty Rate
#238 of 556
57th percentile in Alabama
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#332 of 556
40th 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
48th percentile nationally for median household income · 72nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Creola's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Creola'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 Creola's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$187,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 61% 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
Creola's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,216 of 15,516
More affordable than 66% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,555 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.7×, Creola sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,216 of 15,516 and #4,555 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
$68,594Creola, AL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Creola, 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 Creola, AL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)13.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)13.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)51.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,489
Median Income
$68,594
Median Home Value
$187,500
Median Age
34.5
Poverty Rate
13.4%
Labor force participation
51.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
13.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
809.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
252.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
556.4
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
Creola's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,933 residents
2021
1,933 residents
2022
1,937 residents
2023
1,954 residents
2024
1,968 residents
2025
1,963 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
6
housing units authorized
Single-Family
6
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2.4
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
2
2
0
$0.5M
2020
4
4
0
$0.5M
2021
9
9
0
$2.7M
2022
10
10
0
$3.0M
2023
8
8
0
$4.0M
2024
6
6
0
$2.4M
Permit volume increased 200% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
93.6%
Carpool
4.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.8%
Work from Home
1.4%
Based on 876 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 Creola. 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 Creola 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 Creola sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Creola 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.