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Place dossier plate
SheetAL-LINCOLN-AL · Lincoln, AL 7,135 pop · income 36th 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 Lincoln
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Lincoln on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Greenville · lowest
40,744
Greenville · lowest
40,744 median HH income
17.0% of the leader · rank #1
Yonah · near
60,791
Yonah · near
60,791 median HH income
25.4% of the leader · rank #2
Fairmont · near
60,791
Fairmont · near
60,791 median HH income
25.4% of the leader · rank #3
Lincoln · this city
60,793
Lincoln · this city
60,793 median HH income
25.4% of the leader · rank #4
Youngwood · near
60,795
Youngwood · near
60,795 median HH income
25.4% of the leader · rank #5
Fort Scott · near
60,799
Fort Scott · near
60,799 median HH income
25.4% of the leader · rank #6
Floris · highest
239,457
Floris · highest
239,457 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 Lincoln 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: 7,135.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Lincoln - the verdict
Lincoln ranks in the 36th percentile for household income and the 20th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
36th
percentile, household income
37th
percentile, home value
1st
percentile, median rent
20th
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: Lincoln, AL
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 7,135 residents in Lincoln, a small town within Alabama. Lincoln households earn a median of $60,793 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 10.5%. Typical homes in Lincoln are valued around $181,900, and the median resident age is 41.2 years. 19.2% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 58.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 183 residential building permits were authorized in Lincoln (Rapid Growth), up 40% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 2666.7 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, near the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $936 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Alabama run around $245, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Lincoln'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 population change to schools and households to housing and income to reported crime to comparison shortlist to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Lincoln, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, local building permits.
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.
Question 1
Is Lincoln growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +1,205 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +17.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 183 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 3 public schools within the city match. 19.2% 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Lincoln?
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 3.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 10.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Lincoln?
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 Wetumpka (7,182 residents, $54,945 income); Greenville (7,229 residents, $40,744 income); Demopolis (7,010 residents, $41,457 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Dacula, GA (7,135 residents); Floris, VA (7,135 residents); Wailua Homesteads, HI (7,136 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.
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.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Lincoln?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2666.7 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 17% higher 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.
Total reported rate
2666.7
Violent rate
388.3
Property rate
2278.3
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the journey to work look like in Lincoln?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 88.5%. 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. 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.
Drive alone
88.5%
Work from home
1.2%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 3,045 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 10.5% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
88.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Alabama average
D
City profile score · Lincoln, AL
44/100
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.
Poverty rate F
10.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$60,793
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
19.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime F
388 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Lincoln profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 90/100 (A+) · 88.8 index
Poverty rate: 38/100 (F) · 10.5%
Household income: 36/100 (F) · $60,793
Bachelor's+ share: 32/100 (F) · 19.2%
Violent crime: 23/100 (F) · 388 /100k
Where Lincoln sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Lincoln'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 - Lincoln highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Lincoln, AL (this city): home $181,900, crime 2,667/100k
Northlake, TX : home $482,700, crime 1,585/100k
Wetumpka, AL : home $184,100, crime 1,476/100k
Greenville, AL : home $117,800, crime 4,420/100k
Demopolis, AL : home $198,900, crime 3,683/100k
Robertsdale, AL : home $198,200, crime 2,912/100k
Oneonta, AL : home $195,600, crime 3,465/100k
Hamilton, AL : home $103,500, crime 1,925/100k
How does Lincoln compare to other US cities?
Here's how Lincoln stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income36% higher than other cities
Home value37% pricier than other cities
Median rent1% pricier than other cities
Safety20% 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, Lincoln ranks #151 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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln near the bottom of Alabama's cities
Among the 556 Alabama cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Lincoln ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Lincoln only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#196 of 530
63rd percentile in Alabama
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 556
0th percentile in Alabama
Median Home Value
#157 of 517
69th percentile in Alabama
Poverty Rate
#308 of 556
44th percentile in Alabama
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#200 of 556
64th 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
36th percentile nationally for median household income · 20th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Lincoln's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Lincoln'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 Lincoln's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$181,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 63% 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
Lincoln's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#6,637 of 15,516
More affordable than 57% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#5,627 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.0×, Lincoln sits in the affordable band:
national rank #6,637 of 15,516 and #5,627 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
$60,793Lincoln, AL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Lincoln, 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 Lincoln, AL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)19.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)10.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
7,135
Median Income
$60,793
Median Home Value
$181,900
Median Age
41.2
Poverty Rate
10.5%
Labor force participation
58.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
19.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2666.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
388.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2278.3
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
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Lincoln's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
6,905 residents
2021
7,057 residents
2022
7,232 residents
2023
7,472 residents
2024
7,788 residents
2025
8,110 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Rapid Growth
Total Permits (2024)
183
housing units authorized
Single-Family
177
detached homes
Multifamily
6
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
25.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
131
117
14
$20.2M
2020
113
113
0
$18.2M
2021
109
109
0
$18.8M
2022
122
122
0
$21.1M
2023
167
167
0
$28.9M
2024
183
177
6
$35.6M
Permit volume increased 40% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
88.5%
Carpool
8.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.6%
Work from Home
1.2%
Other
1.5%
Based on 3,045 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 Lincoln. 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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Lincoln 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.