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Place dossier plate
SheetAR-DECATUR-AR · Decatur, AR 1,516 pop · income 11th 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 Decatur
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Decatur on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
McAlmont · lowest
32,231
McAlmont · lowest
32,231 median HH income
13.2% of the leader · rank #1
Moberly · near
43,231
Moberly · near
43,231 median HH income
17.7% of the leader · rank #2
Lancaster · near
43,234
Lancaster · near
43,234 median HH income
17.7% of the leader · rank #3
Jackson · near
43,238
Jackson · near
43,238 median HH income
17.7% of the leader · rank #4
Decatur · this city
43,239
Decatur · this city
43,239 median HH income
17.7% of the leader · rank #5
Barnwell · near
43,239
Barnwell · near
43,239 median HH income
17.7% of the leader · rank #6
Lake Sherwood · highest
244,239
Lake Sherwood · highest
244,239 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 Decatur 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: 1,516.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Decatur - the verdict
Nationally, Decatur sits in the 11th percentile for household income and the 35th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
11th
percentile, household income
24th
percentile, home value
3rd
percentile, median rent
35th
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: Decatur, AR
1,516 people live in Decatur, Arkansas - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Decatur brings in $43,239 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 15.3%. Decatur's housing stock carries a median value of $141,800, and the median resident age is 36.8 years. About 13.8% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 48.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 67 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 6600% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 1874.6 crimes per 100,000 residents, near the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
Living costs in Arkansas run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Arkansas scores 86.9 (Well Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $944 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $210 across Arkansas, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Workers in Decatur report an average commute of 21.9 minutes, with 93.1% driving alone and 3.5% working from home. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 55.5 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Decatur'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 reported crime to schools and households to population change to comparison shortlist to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Decatur, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, local building permits, annual population history.
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.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Decatur?
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 93.1%. The reported mean trip to work is 21.9 minutes.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Decatur?
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 1874.6 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 18% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 13.8% 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 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Decatur?
Within Arkansas, the closest population matches are Newark (1,522 residents, $34,770 income); Stamps (1,510 residents, $33,152 income); Avilla (1,549 residents, $118,171 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Smethport, PA (1,516 residents); Weissport East, PA (1,516 residents); Lake Sherwood, CA (1,515 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.
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.
Population change
Is Decatur 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 +104 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +5.8% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 67 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+5.8%
2025 estimate
1,893
2020 estimate
1,789
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
How far does income reach against housing in Decatur?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 15.3%, 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. 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.
Household income
$43,239
Home value
$141,800
Value / income
3.3×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
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+
86.9 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
15.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
13.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$43,239
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
644 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Decatur profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 97/100 (A+) · 86.9 index
Poverty rate: 22/100 (F) · 15.3%
Bachelor's+ share: 17/100 (F) · 13.8%
Household income: 11/100 (F) · $43,239
Violent crime: 8/100 (F) · 644 /100k
Where Decatur sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Decatur'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 - Decatur highlighted among 25 peers.Read the chart values
Decatur, AR (this city): home $141,800, crime 1,875/100k
Grayville, IL : home $76,000, crime 1,013/100k
Mount Carroll, IL : home $88,800, crime 699/100k
Salem, AR : home $88,200, crime 1,540/100k
Clarendon, AR : home $72,400, crime 2,219/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Decatur compare to other US cities?
Decatur measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income11% higher than other cities
Home value24% pricier than other cities
Median rent3% pricier than other cities
Safety35% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Arkansas, Decatur ranks #86 of 160 Arkansas cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Decatur against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Arkansas only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Arkansas-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Decatur near the bottom of Arkansas's cities
Among the 524 Arkansas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Decatur ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Decatur only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#304 of 495
39th percentile in Arkansas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 524
0th percentile in Arkansas
Median Home Value
#146 of 482
70th percentile in Arkansas
Poverty Rate
#219 of 524
58th percentile in Arkansas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#255 of 524
51st percentile in Arkansas
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 Arkansas only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
11th percentile nationally for median household income · 35th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Decatur's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Decatur'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 Decatur's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$141,800Among the most affordablemore affordable than 76% 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
Decatur's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#8,025 of 15,516
More affordable than 48% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,578 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.3×, Decatur sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,025 of 15,516 and #6,578 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
$43,239Decatur, AR median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Decatur, AR median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Decatur, AR.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)13.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)15.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)48.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,516
Median Income
$43,239
Median Home Value
$141,800
Median Age
36.8
Poverty Rate
15.3%
Labor force participation
48.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
13.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1874.6
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
644.4
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1230.2
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
Decatur's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,789 residents
2021
1,773 residents
2022
1,762 residents
2023
1,739 residents
2024
1,731 residents
2025
1,893 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
67
housing units authorized
Single-Family
67
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
44.2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
1
1
0
$0.1M
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
67
67
0
$11.7M
Permit volume increased 6600% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
21.9 minutes
Drive Alone
93.1%
Carpool
3.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
3.5%
Based on 579 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Arkansas statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $210
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Arkansas at $210 (electricity about $110 , water and sewer about $42 ).
These are Arkansas statewide averages, not a meter reading for Decatur. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Arkansas's BEA cost-of-living index is 86.9 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Decatur is $944/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Arkansas statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 55.5 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Arkansas statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Decatur sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Decatur compares to similar-size Arkansas 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.