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Place dossier plate
SheetCO-OTIS-CO · Otis, CO 582 pop · income 23rd 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 Otis
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Otis on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
San Luis · lowest
30,481
San Luis · lowest
30,481 median HH income
12.2% of the leader · rank #1
Houlton · near
52,227
Houlton · near
52,227 median HH income
20.9% of the leader · rank #2
Reynolds Heig… · near
52,233
Reynolds Heig… · near
52,233 median HH income
20.9% of the leader · rank #3
Victory Garde… · near
52,235
Victory Garde… · near
52,235 median HH income
20.9% of the leader · rank #4
Otis · this city
52,237
Otis · this city
52,237 median HH income
20.9% of the leader · rank #5
West Swanzey · near
52,241
West Swanzey · near
52,241 median HH income
20.9% of the leader · rank #6
Upper Witter… · highest
250,001
Upper Witter… · 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 Otis 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: 582.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Otis lands in the 23rd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
23rd
percentile, household income
27th
percentile, home value
68th
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: Otis, CO
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 582 residents in Otis, a small town within Colorado. Otis households earn a median of $52,237 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 18.8%. Otis's housing stock carries a median value of $151,400, and the median resident age is 33.6 years. About 19.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 50.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 5 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
Colorado carries a cost-of-living premium: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Colorado at 103.1 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Above Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,429 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Colorado's average monthly utility costs around $202 (state average). Natural-hazard exposure scores 40.7 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Otis'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 schools and households to housing and income to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Otis, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, 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 Otis?
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 79.6%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -12 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.3% 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.
The NCES join finds 5 public schools within the city match. 19.3% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Otis?
Within Colorado, the closest population matches are San Luis (582 residents, $30,481 income); Central (576 residents, $62,094 income); Simla (576 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Bergman, AR (582 residents); Kirby, AR (582 residents); Ohio, IL (582 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.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Otis?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 18.8%, 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
$52,237
Home value
$151,400
Value / income
2.9×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Colorado average
F
City profile score · Otis, CO
24/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share F
19.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
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
$52,237
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
18.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Otis profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 32/100 (F) · 19.3%
Cost of living: 26/100 (F) · 103.1 index
Household income: 23/100 (F) · $52,237
Poverty rate: 16/100 (F) · 18.8%
How does Otis compare to other US cities?
Here's how Otis stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income23% higher than other cities
Home value27% pricier than other cities
Median rent68% 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 Otis 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 Otis near the bottom of Colorado's cities
Among the 408 Colorado cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Otis ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Otis only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#303 of 379
20th percentile in Colorado
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 408
0th percentile in Colorado
Median Home Value
#337 of 388
13th percentile in Colorado
Poverty Rate
#38 of 408
90th percentile in Colorado
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#306 of 408
25th 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
23rd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Otis's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$151,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 73% 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
Otis's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#6,127 of 15,516
More affordable than 61% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#5,256 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.9×, Otis sits in the affordable band:
national rank #6,127 of 15,516 and #5,256 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$52,237Otis, CO median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Otis, 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 Otis, CO.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)19.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)18.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)50.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
582
Median Income
$52,237
Median Home Value
$151,400
Median Age
33.6
Poverty Rate
18.8%
Labor force participation
50.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
19.3%
Schools
Total Schools
5
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Otis's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
514 residents
2021
520 residents
2022
517 residents
2023
519 residents
2024
505 residents
2025
502 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
79.6%
Carpool
16.1%
Public Transit
0.9%
Walk
1.9%
Work from Home
0.9%
Other
0.6%
Based on 211 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 Otis. 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 Otis 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 Otis sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Otis 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, NCES CCD, 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.