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Place dossier plate
SheetAL-SIPSEY-AL · Sipsey, AL 283 pop · income 2nd 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 Sipsey
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Sipsey on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Castleberry · lowest
21,111
Castleberry · lowest
21,111 median HH income
22.2% of the leader · rank #1
Robinette · near
25,110
Robinette · near
25,110 median HH income
26.4% of the leader · rank #2
Sipsey · this city
25,179
Sipsey · this city
25,179 median HH income
26.5% of the leader · rank #3
Artemus · near
25,179
Artemus · near
25,179 median HH income
26.5% of the leader · rank #4
Hormigueros z… · near
25,197
Hormigueros z… · near
25,197 median HH income
26.5% of the leader · rank #5
Calumet · near
25,234
Calumet · near
25,234 median HH income
26.6% of the leader · rank #6
Oakdale · highest
95,000
Oakdale · highest
95,000 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 Sipsey 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: 283.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Sipsey places in the 2nd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
2nd
percentile, household income
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: Sipsey, AL
283 people live in Sipsey, Alabama - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Sipsey report a median income of $25,179 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 11.9%. The median resident age is 42.2 years. Educational attainment runs 2.4% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 36.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $936 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $245 across Alabama, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Sipsey'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 comparison shortlist to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Sipsey, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, local building permits, 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 Sipsey?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 89.9%. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Sipsey?
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 Waldo (282 residents, $33,125 income); Whatley (285 residents, $71,250 income); Bakerhill (280 residents, $54,327 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Carrizo, AZ (283 residents); Lead Hill, AR (283 residents); Red Cliff, CO (283 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 -5 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.4% 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.
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.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 11.9% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
88.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Alabama average
F
City profile score · Sipsey, 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.
Poverty rate F
11.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$25,179
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
2.4%
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).
Sipsey profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 90/100 (A+) · 88.8 index
Poverty rate: 32/100 (F) · 11.9%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $25,179
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 2.4%
How does Sipsey compare to other US cities?
Where Sipsey sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income2% higher 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 Sipsey 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 Sipsey near the bottom of Alabama's cities
Among the 556 Alabama cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Sipsey ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Sipsey only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#516 of 530
3rd percentile in Alabama
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 556
0th percentile in Alabama
Poverty Rate
#267 of 556
52nd percentile in Alabama
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#537 of 556
3rd 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
2nd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$25,179Sipsey, AL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Sipsey, 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 Sipsey, AL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)2.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)36.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
283
Median Income
$25,179
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
42.2
Poverty Rate
11.9%
Labor force participation
36.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
2.4%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Sipsey's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
367 residents
2021
362 residents
2022
360 residents
2023
362 residents
2024
362 residents
2025
362 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
89.9%
Carpool
10.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 89 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 Sipsey. 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 Sipsey 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 Sipsey sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Sipsey 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.