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Place dossier plate
SheetCO-ALAMOSA-CO · Alamosa, CO 9,847 pop · income 15th pct · 5 tracts
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 Alamosa
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Alamosa on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Delta · lowest
46,010
Delta · lowest
46,010 median HH income
27.4% of the leader · rank #1
West Hazleton · near
46,968
West Hazleton · near
46,968 median HH income
28.0% of the leader · rank #2
East Cleveland · near
46,968
East Cleveland · near
46,968 median HH income
28.0% of the leader · rank #3
Alamosa · this city
46,969
Alamosa · this city
46,969 median HH income
28.0% of the leader · rank #4
San Diego · near
46,969
San Diego · near
46,969 median HH income
28.0% of the leader · rank #5
Brattleboro · near
46,972
Brattleboro · near
46,972 median HH income
28.0% of the leader · rank #6
Roxborough Pa… · highest
167,671
Roxborough Pa… · highest
167,671 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 Alamosa 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: 9,847.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Alamosa - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Alamosa places in the 15th percentile for household income and the 3rd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
15th
percentile, household income
43rd
percentile, home value
68th
percentile, median rent
3rd
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: Alamosa, CO
Colorado's Alamosa is a small town, with 9,847 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Alamosa brings in $46,969 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 11.4%. Alamosa's housing stock carries a median value of $200,200, and the median resident age is 29.4 years. Educational attainment runs 29.7% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 60.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 16 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 43% from five years earlier. Alamosa's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 5723.8 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, above the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 42.6°F with 7.3 inches of precipitation per year and 30.0 inches of snowfall.
Colorado carries a cost-of-living premium: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Colorado scores 103.1 (Above Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,429 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $202 across Colorado, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Commute times here average 12.7 minutes, with 76.2% driving alone and 4.4% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 40.7 out of 100 (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Alamosa'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 population change to climate and hazard context to housing and income to reported crime to schools and households to within-city variation to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Alamosa, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Alamosa?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 76.2%. The reported mean trip to work is 12.7 minutes.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +36 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 16 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
Which cities make useful reference points for Alamosa?
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 Colorado, the closest population matches are Glenwood Springs (10,171 residents, $87,000 income); Roxborough Park (9,365 residents, $167,671 income); Severance (9,302 residents, $127,257 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Fairfield, AL (9,846 residents); Ingleside, TX (9,861 residents); Picnic Point, WA (9,833 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.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Alamosa?
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 42.6°F, with 7.3 inches of precipitation and 30.0 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Colorado is 40.7 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
40.7
Annual precipitation
7.3 in
Mean temperature
42.6°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
How far does income reach against housing in Alamosa?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 11.4%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
4.3×
Home value
$200,200
Household income
$46,969
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Alamosa?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 5723.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 151% 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
5723.8
Violent rate
979.2
Property rate
4744.6
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
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 6 public schools within the city match. 29.7% 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.
Poverty estimate
11.4%
Bachelor's degree+
29.7%
Matched public schools
6
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Colorado average
F
City profile score · Alamosa, CO
25/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share C
29.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
11.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Cost of living F
103.1 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
$46,969
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
979 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Alamosa profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 57/100 (C) · 29.7%
Poverty rate: 34/100 (F) · 11.4%
Cost of living: 26/100 (F) · 103.1 index
Household income: 16/100 (F) · $46,969
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 979 /100k
Where Alamosa sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Alamosa'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 - Alamosa highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Alamosa, CO (this city): home $200,200, crime 5,724/100k
Ingleside, TX : home $179,300, crime 2,178/100k
Peru, IL : home $155,600, crime 1,890/100k
Glenwood Springs, CO : home $592,000, crime 4,771/100k
Severance, CO : home $493,800, crime 625/100k
Delta, CO : home $238,100, crime 3,424/100k
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 Alamosa compare to other US cities?
Where Alamosa sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income15% higher than other cities
Home value43% pricier than other cities
Median rent68% pricier than other cities
Safety3% 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 Colorado alone, Alamosa ranks #107 of 116 Colorado 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 Alamosa against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Colorado only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Colorado-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Alamosa near the bottom of Colorado's cities
Among the 408 Colorado cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Alamosa ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Alamosa only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#333 of 379
12th percentile in Colorado
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 408
0th percentile in Colorado
Median Home Value
#312 of 388
20th percentile in Colorado
Poverty Rate
#90 of 408
77th percentile in Colorado
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#221 of 408
46th percentile in Colorado
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 Colorado only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
15th percentile nationally for median household income · 3rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Alamosa's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Alamosa'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 Alamosa's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$200,200Among 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
Alamosa's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,424 of 15,516
More affordable than 26% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,828 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.3×, Alamosa sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,424 of 15,516 and #8,828 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
$46,969Alamosa, CO median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Alamosa, CO median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Alamosa, CO.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)29.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)60.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
9,847
Median Income
$46,969
Median Home Value
$200,200
Median Age
29.4
Poverty Rate
11.4%
Labor force participation
60.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
29.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
5723.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
979.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
4744.6
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
42.6°F
Annual Precipitation
7.3"
Annual Snowfall
30.0"
Schools
Total Schools
6
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Alamosa's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
9,813 residents
2021
9,898 residents
2022
9,867 residents
2023
9,899 residents
2024
9,903 residents
2025
9,849 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
16
housing units authorized
Single-Family
4
detached homes
Multifamily
12
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
28
18
10
$6.0M
2020
34
28
6
$5.7M
2021
64
19
45
$12.7M
2022
63
14
49
$6.6M
2023
35
29
6
$6.3M
2024
16
4
12
$3.0M
Permit volume decreased 43% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
12.7 minutes
Drive Alone
76.2%
Carpool
10.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
7.3%
Work from Home
4.4%
Other
2.0%
Based on 4,318 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Colorado statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $202
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Colorado at $202 (electricity about $90 , water and sewer about $50 ).
These are Colorado statewide averages, not a meter reading for Alamosa. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Colorado's BEA cost-of-living index is 103.1 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Alamosa is $1,429/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Colorado statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 40.7 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Colorado statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Alamosa sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Alamosa compares to similar-size Colorado 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.