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Place dossier plate
SheetAL-HAMILTON-AL · Hamilton, AL 6,907 pop · income 25th pct · 11 tracts
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 Hamilton
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Hamilton on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Opp · lowest
41,346
Opp · lowest
41,346 median HH income
16.5% of the leader · rank #1
New Salisbury · near
53,711
New Salisbury · near
53,711 median HH income
21.5% of the leader · rank #2
Atkinson · near
53,712
Atkinson · near
53,712 median HH income
21.5% of the leader · rank #3
Hamilton · this city
53,714
Hamilton · this city
53,714 median HH income
21.5% of the leader · rank #4
Cajah's Mount… · near
53,714
Cajah's Mount… · near
53,714 median HH income
21.5% of the leader · rank #5
Mexican Colony · near
53,715
Mexican Colony · near
53,715 median HH income
21.5% of the leader · rank #6
Old Greenwich · highest
250,001
Old Greenwich · highest
250,001 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 Hamilton 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: 6,907.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Hamilton - the verdict
Nationally, Hamilton sits in the 25th percentile for household income and the 34th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
25th
percentile, household income
11th
percentile, home value
1st
percentile, median rent
34th
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: Hamilton, AL
Alabama's Hamilton is a small town, with 6,907 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Hamilton households earn a median of $53,714 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 10.1%. Hamilton's housing stock carries a median value of $103,500, and the median resident age is 42.6 years. About 14.2% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 42.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 1924.5 incidents per 100,000 residents, near the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 60.7°F with 61.7 inches of precipitation per year and 1.3 inches of snowfall.
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. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Alabama run around $245, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Workers in Hamilton report an average commute of 24.1 minutes, with 88.9% driving alone and 6.5% working from home. 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 Hamilton'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 within-city variation to housing and income to climate and hazard context to population change to schools and households to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Hamilton, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Hamilton?
Within Alabama, the closest population matches are Oneonta (6,943 residents, $47,719 income); Lanett (6,854 residents, $42,415 income); Robertsdale (6,985 residents, $55,707 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Catalina, AZ (6,908 residents); Clinton, MA (6,908 residents); Wollochet, WA (6,905 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 Hamilton?
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 1924.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 16% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
PlainCities matches 11 Census tracts to this city.
How far does income reach against housing in Hamilton?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 10.1%, 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.
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.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Hamilton?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 60.7°F, with 61.7 inches of precipitation and 1.3 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Alabama is 61.5 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
Mean temperature
60.7°F
Annual precipitation
61.7 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
61.5
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Is Hamilton growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -173 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.5% 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.
Period change
-2.5%
2025 estimate
6,769
2020 estimate
6,942
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
The NCES join finds 4 public schools within the city match. 14.2% 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.
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.
Matched public schools
4
Bachelor's degree+
14.2%
Poverty estimate
10.1%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in Hamilton?
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 88.9%. The reported mean trip to work is 24.1 minutes.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
6.5%
Drive alone
88.9%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 2,155 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 10.1% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
88.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Alabama average
D
City profile score · Hamilton, 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.
Violent crime C-
187 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate F
10.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$53,714
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
14.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Hamilton profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 90/100 (A+) · 88.8 index
Violent crime: 50/100 (C-) · 187 /100k
Poverty rate: 39/100 (F) · 10.1%
Household income: 25/100 (F) · $53,714
Bachelor's+ share: 18/100 (F) · 14.2%
Where Hamilton sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Hamilton'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 - Hamilton highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Hamilton, AL (this city): home $103,500, crime 1,925/100k
Clinton, MA : home $328,600, crime 101/100k
St. Albans, VT : home $245,600, crime 13,395/100k
Ambridge, PA : home $94,000, crime 2,686/100k
Oneonta, AL : home $195,600, crime 3,465/100k
Lanett, AL : home $98,700, crime 3,871/100k
Robertsdale, AL : home $198,200, crime 2,912/100k
Demopolis, AL : home $198,900, crime 3,683/100k
Satsuma, AL : home $199,800, crime 829/100k
Opp, AL : home $117,000, crime 2,263/100k
How does Hamilton compare to other US cities?
Where Hamilton sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income25% higher than other cities
Home value11% pricier than other cities
Median rent1% pricier than other cities
Safety34% 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, Hamilton ranks #112 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 Hamilton 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 Hamilton near the bottom of Alabama's cities
Among the 556 Alabama cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Hamilton ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Hamilton only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#260 of 530
51st percentile in Alabama
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 556
0th percentile in Alabama
Median Home Value
#380 of 517
26th percentile in Alabama
Poverty Rate
#318 of 556
42nd percentile in Alabama
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#313 of 556
43rd 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
25th percentile nationally for median household income · 34th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Hamilton's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Hamilton'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 Hamilton's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$103,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 89% 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
Hamilton's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#1,396 of 15,516
More affordable than 91% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,344 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.9×, Hamilton sits in the affordable band:
national rank #1,396 of 15,516 and #1,344 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
$53,714Hamilton, AL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Hamilton, 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 Hamilton, AL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)14.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)10.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)42.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
6,907
Median Income
$53,714
Median Home Value
$103,500
Median Age
42.6
Poverty Rate
10.1%
Labor force participation
42.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
14.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1924.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
186.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1737.8
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
60.7°F
Annual Precipitation
61.7"
Annual Snowfall
1.3"
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
Hamilton's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
6,942 residents
2021
6,810 residents
2022
6,976 residents
2023
6,975 residents
2024
6,976 residents
2025
6,769 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
24.1 minutes
Drive Alone
88.9%
Carpool
4.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
6.5%
Based on 2,155 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 Hamilton. 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 Hamilton 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 Hamilton sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Hamilton 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, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, 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.