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Place dossier plate
SheetCO-BASALT-CO · Basalt, CO 3,995 pop · income 81st 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 Basalt
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Basalt on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Brownsville · lowest
26,971
Brownsville · lowest
26,971 median HH income
15.6% of the leader · rank #1
Basalt · this city
106,000
Basalt · this city
106,000 median HH income
61.4% of the leader · rank #2
Croweburg · near
106,000
Croweburg · near
106,000 median HH income
61.4% of the leader · rank #3
Remy · near
106,000
Remy · near
106,000 median HH income
61.4% of the leader · rank #4
Cathcart · near
106,000
Cathcart · near
106,000 median HH income
61.4% of the leader · rank #5
Gahanna · near
106,004
Gahanna · near
106,004 median HH income
61.4% of the leader · rank #6
Genesee · highest
172,692
Genesee · highest
172,692 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 Basalt 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: 3,995.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Basalt - the verdict
Nationally, Basalt sits in the 81st percentile for household income and the 46th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
81st
percentile, household income
98th
percentile, home value
68th
percentile, median rent
46th
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: Basalt, CO
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 3,995 residents in Basalt, a small town within Colorado. Basalt households earn a median of $106,000 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 2.0%. Basalt's housing stock carries a median value of $1,148,100, and the median resident age is 43.6 years. Educational attainment runs 59.3% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 76.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 4 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 83% from five years earlier. Basalt reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 1495.5 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 40.7 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Basalt'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 population change to reported crime to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to schools and households to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Basalt, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, annual population history, local building permits, commute-mode shares.
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. Population change
Is Basalt 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 +43 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.1% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 4 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Basalt?
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 1495.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 34% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
What does the journey to work look like in Basalt?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 68.5%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for Basalt?
Within Colorado, the closest population matches are Penrose (3,978 residents, $75,109 income); El Jebel (3,935 residents, $100,518 income); Florence (3,870 residents, $57,239 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Trappe, PA (3,995 residents); Brownsville, LA (3,996 residents); Falmouth, MA (3,996 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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Basalt?
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 59.3% 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.
Matched public schools
3
Bachelor's degree+
59.3%
Poverty estimate
2.0%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Basalt?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 10.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.0%, 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.
Household income
$106,000
Home value
$1,148,100
Value / income
10.8×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Colorado average
B-
City profile score · Basalt, CO
66/100
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 A+
59.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate A
2.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income A-
$106,000
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime C-
175 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger 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.
Basalt profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 91/100 (A+) · 59.3%
Poverty rate: 86/100 (A) · 2.0%
Household income: 80/100 (A-) · $106,000
Violent crime: 52/100 (C-) · 175 /100k
Cost of living: 26/100 (F) · 103.1 index
Where Basalt sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Basalt'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 - Basalt highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Basalt, CO (this city): home $1,148,100, crime 1,496/100k
Falmouth, MA : home $745,900, crime 1,125/100k
South Haven, MI : home $372,200, crime 5,632/100k
Indian Head Park, IL : home $337,700, crime 312/100k
St. Bernard, OH : home $139,500, crime 3,351/100k
Florence, CO : home $228,300, crime 1,292/100k
Rocky Ford, CO : home $126,100, crime 894/100k
Monte Vista, CO : home $204,500, crime 5,360/100k
How does Basalt compare to other US cities?
Where Basalt sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income81% higher than other cities
Home value98% pricier than other cities
Median rent68% pricier than other cities
Safety46% 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 Colorado, Basalt ranks #54 of 116 Colorado 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 Basalt 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 Basalt near the bottom of Colorado's cities
Among the 408 Colorado cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Basalt ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Basalt only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#107 of 379
72nd percentile in Colorado
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 408
0th percentile in Colorado
Median Home Value
#17 of 388
96th percentile in Colorado
Poverty Rate
#272 of 408
32nd percentile in Colorado
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#75 of 408
82nd 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
81st percentile nationally for median household income · 46th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Basalt's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Basalt'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 Basalt's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$1,148,1002nd percentilemore affordable than 2% 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
Basalt's home-value-to-income ratio: 10.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#15,412 of 15,516
More affordable than 1% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#11,252 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 10.8×, Basalt sits in the pressured band:
national rank #15,412 of 15,516 and #11,252 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
$106,000Basalt, CO median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Basalt, 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 Basalt, CO.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)59.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)76.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,995
Median Income
$106,000
Median Home Value
$1,148,100
Median Age
43.6
Poverty Rate
2.0%
Labor force participation
76.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
59.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1495.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
174.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1321.0
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
Basalt's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,966 residents
2021
4,036 residents
2022
4,029 residents
2023
3,999 residents
2024
4,010 residents
2025
4,009 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
4
housing units authorized
Single-Family
4
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
24
7
17
$8.4M
2020
25
8
17
$8.8M
2021
30
10
20
$11.0M
2022
25
10
15
$9.2M
2023
26
6
20
$9.6M
2024
4
4
0
$1.4M
Permit volume decreased 83% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
68.5%
Carpool
9.1%
Public Transit
7.7%
Walk
5.2%
Work from Home
8.4%
Other
1.1%
Based on 2,595 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 Basalt. 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 Basalt 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 Basalt sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Basalt 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, 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.