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Place dossier plate
SheetAL-EPES-AL · Epes, AL 361 pop · income 0th 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 Epes
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Epes on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Sidon · lowest
15,000
Sidon · lowest
15,000 median HH income
18.4% of the leader · rank #1
Palmer comuni… · near
15,022
Palmer comuni… · near
15,022 median HH income
18.4% of the leader · rank #2
Epes · this city
15,156
Epes · this city
15,156 median HH income
18.6% of the leader · rank #3
Mucarabones c… · near
15,221
Mucarabones c… · near
15,221 median HH income
18.7% of the leader · rank #4
Villa Quinter… · near
15,298
Villa Quinter… · near
15,298 median HH income
18.8% of the leader · rank #5
Coto Laurel c… · near
15,305
Coto Laurel c… · near
15,305 median HH income
18.8% of the leader · rank #6
Talmo · highest
81,429
Talmo · highest
81,429 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 Epes 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: 361.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Epes places in the 0th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
0th
percentile, household income
1st
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: Epes, AL
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 361 residents in Epes, a small town within Alabama. Households in Epes report a median income of $15,156 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 47.5%. Epes's housing stock carries a median value of $54,800, and the median resident age is 36.6 years. Educational attainment runs 22.7% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 41.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Alabama run around $245, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Commute times here average 21.5 minutes, with 100.0% driving alone and 0.0% working from home, per Census ACS commuting 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 Epes'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 work and mobility to housing and income to comparison shortlist to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Epes, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Epes?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 100.0%. The reported mean trip to work is 21.5 minutes.
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 Epes?
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 47.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Epes?
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 Mentone (360 residents, $42,500 income); Hatton (365 residents); Twin (366 residents, $58,333 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Woodville Farm Labor Camp, CA (361 residents); Talmo, GA (361 residents); Ringsted, IA (361 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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -1 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.4% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 47.5% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
88.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Alabama average
F
City profile score · Epes, AL
30/100
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 D
22.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$15,156
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
47.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Epes profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 90/100 (A+) · 88.8 index
Bachelor's+ share: 42/100 (D) · 22.7%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $15,156
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 47.5%
How does Epes compare to other US cities?
Here's how Epes stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income0% higher than other cities
Home value1% 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 Epes 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 Epes near the bottom of Alabama's cities
Among the 556 Alabama cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Epes ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Epes only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#529 of 530
0th percentile in Alabama
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 556
0th percentile in Alabama
Median Home Value
#506 of 517
2nd percentile in Alabama
Poverty Rate
#9 of 556
98th percentile in Alabama
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#154 of 556
72nd 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
0th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Epes's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$54,800Among the most affordablemore affordable than 99% 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
Epes'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
#9,418 of 15,516
More affordable than 39% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,547 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.6×, Epes sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,418 of 15,516 and #7,547 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
$15,156Epes, AL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Epes, 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 Epes, AL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)22.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)47.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)41.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
361
Median Income
$15,156
Median Home Value
$54,800
Median Age
36.6
Poverty Rate
47.5%
Labor force participation
41.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
22.7%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Epes's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
269 residents
2021
270 residents
2022
271 residents
2023
271 residents
2024
271 residents
2025
268 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
21.5 minutes
Drive Alone
100.0%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 98 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 Epes. 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 Epes 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 Epes sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Epes 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, 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.