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Place dossier plate
SheetAL-SAND-ROCK-AL · Sand Rock, AL 815 pop · income 63rd 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 Sand Rock
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Sand Rock on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Lumpkin · lowest
24,107
Lumpkin · lowest
24,107 median HH income
14.7% of the leader · rank #1
Caledonia · near
81,741
Caledonia · near
81,741 median HH income
49.7% of the leader · rank #2
Sand Rock · this city
81,750
Sand Rock · this city
81,750 median HH income
49.7% of the leader · rank #3
District Heig… · near
81,750
District Heig… · near
81,750 median HH income
49.7% of the leader · rank #4
Argyle · near
81,750
Argyle · near
81,750 median HH income
49.7% of the leader · rank #5
Hughestown · near
81,750
Hughestown · near
81,750 median HH income
49.7% of the leader · rank #6
Loch Lloyd · highest
164,464
Loch Lloyd · highest
164,464 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 Sand Rock 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: 815.
Sand Rock ranks in the 63rd percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
63rd
percentile, household income
43rd
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: Sand Rock, AL
815 people live in Sand Rock, Alabama - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Sand Rock households earn a median of $81,750 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 3.6%. Typical homes in Sand Rock are valued around $201,300, and the median resident age is 40.8 years. Educational attainment runs 19.8% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 52.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 1 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
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. 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 Sand Rock'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 housing and income to comparison shortlist to schools and households to population change to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Sand Rock, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Sand Rock?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 3.6%, 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Sand Rock?
Within Alabama, the closest population matches are Holly Pond (816 residents, $45,221 income); Leesburg (813 residents, $53,472 income); Maplesville (813 residents, $38,083 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Petaluma Center, CA (815 residents); Thornton, CA (815 residents); Lumpkin, GA (815 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.
What does the education layer cover for Sand Rock?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 19.8% 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 matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
Is Sand Rock growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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 +5.1% 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.
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 Sand Rock?
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 87.3%. 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
1.2%
Drive alone
87.3%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 339 workers age 16+.
Above median income · poverty 3.6% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
88.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Alabama average
B-
City profile score · Sand Rock, AL
66/100
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.
Poverty rate B
3.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income C+
$81,750
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
19.8%
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).
Sand Rock profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 90/100 (A+) · 88.8 index
Poverty rate: 74/100 (B) · 3.6%
Household income: 61/100 (C+) · $81,750
Bachelor's+ share: 34/100 (F) · 19.8%
How does Sand Rock compare to other US cities?
Here's how Sand Rock stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income63% higher than other cities
Home value43% 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 Sand Rock 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 Sand Rock near the bottom of Alabama's cities
Among the 556 Alabama cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Sand Rock ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Sand Rock only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#72 of 530
86th percentile in Alabama
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 556
0th percentile in Alabama
Median Home Value
#116 of 517
78th percentile in Alabama
Poverty Rate
#456 of 556
18th percentile in Alabama
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#191 of 556
65th 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
63rd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Sand Rock's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$201,300Among the most affordablemore affordable than 57% 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
Sand Rock's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,808 of 15,516
More affordable than 75% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,444 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.5×, Sand Rock sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,808 of 15,516 and #3,444 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
$81,750Sand Rock, AL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Sand Rock, 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 Sand Rock, AL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)19.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)3.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)52.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
815
Median Income
$81,750
Median Home Value
$201,300
Median Age
40.8
Poverty Rate
3.6%
Labor force participation
52.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
19.8%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Sand Rock's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
590 residents
2021
592 residents
2022
598 residents
2023
602 residents
2024
614 residents
2025
620 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
87.3%
Carpool
10.9%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
1.2%
Other
0.6%
Based on 339 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 Sand Rock. 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 Sand Rock 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 Sand Rock sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Sand Rock 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 ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.