Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetAZ-WILLOW-VALLEY-AZ · Willow Valley, AZ 817 pop · income 5th 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 Willow Valley
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Willow Valley on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Houck · lowest
27,885
Houck · lowest
27,885 median HH income
11.2% of the leader · rank #1
Alger · near
36,131
Alger · near
36,131 median HH income
14.5% of the leader · rank #2
Willow Valley · this city
36,136
Willow Valley · this city
36,136 median HH income
14.5% of the leader · rank #3
Century · near
36,136
Century · near
36,136 median HH income
14.5% of the leader · rank #4
Higbee · near
36,146
Higbee · near
36,146 median HH income
14.5% of the leader · rank #5
Terry · near
36,154
Terry · near
36,154 median HH income
14.5% of the leader · rank #6
Chenequa · highest
250,001
Chenequa · 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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Willow Valley 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: 817.
Nationally, Willow Valley sits in the 5th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
5th
percentile, household income
57th
percentile, home value
64th
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: Willow Valley, AZ
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 817 residents in Willow Valley, a small town within Arizona. Households in Willow Valley report a median income of $36,136 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Home values in Willow Valley run a median of $257,800, and the median resident age is 56.8 years. 1.7% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 31.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Arizona tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Arizona at 100.7 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Near Average). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,419 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Arizona run around $215, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Commute times here average 12.1 minutes, with 81.0% driving alone and 19.0% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. Natural-hazard exposure scores 84.5 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Willow Valley'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 work and mobility to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Willow Valley, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, matched public-school count, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Willow Valley?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 7.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, 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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
What does the journey to work look like in Willow Valley?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 81.0%. The reported mean trip to work is 12.1 minutes.
Which cities make useful reference points for Willow Valley?
Within Arizona, the closest population matches are Komatke (824 residents, $37,768 income); Houck (809 residents, $27,885 income); Bluewater (804 residents, $61,818 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Schaller, IA (817 residents); Pembroke, KY (817 residents); Bernville, PA (817 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.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 0.0% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
100.7 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Arizona average
F
City profile score · Willow Valley, AZ
35/100
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.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Cost of living F
100.7 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Household income F
$36,136
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
1.7%
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).
Willow Valley profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Cost of living: 37/100 (F) · 100.7 index
Household income: 2/100 (F) · $36,136
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 1.7%
How does Willow Valley compare to other US cities?
Here's how Willow Valley stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income5% higher than other cities
Home value57% pricier than other cities
Median rent64% 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 Willow Valley against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Arizona only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Arizona-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Willow Valley near the bottom of Arizona's cities
Among the 394 Arizona cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Willow Valley ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Willow Valley only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#288 of 333
14th percentile in Arizona
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 394
0th percentile in Arizona
Median Home Value
#117 of 327
64th percentile in Arizona
Poverty Rate
#310 of 393
0th percentile in Arizona
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#352 of 394
10th percentile in Arizona
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 Arizona only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
5th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Willow Valley's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$257,80043rd percentilemore affordable than 43% 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
Willow Valley's home-value-to-income ratio: 7.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,726 of 15,516
More affordable than 5% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,831 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 7.1×, Willow Valley sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,726 of 15,516 and #10,831 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
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
$36,136Willow Valley, AZ median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Willow Valley, AZ median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Willow Valley, AZ.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)1.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)31.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
817
Median Income
$36,136
Median Home Value
$257,800
Median Age
56.8
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
31.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
1.7%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
12.1 minutes
Drive Alone
81.0%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
19.0%
Based on 174 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Arizona statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $215
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Arizona at $215 (electricity about $131 , water and sewer about $50 ).
These are Arizona statewide averages, not a meter reading for Willow Valley. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Arizona's BEA cost-of-living index is 100.7 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Willow Valley is $1,419/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Arizona statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 84.5 / 100 (High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Arizona statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Willow Valley sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Willow Valley compares to similar-size Arizona 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.