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Place dossier plate
SheetCT-LAKE-CHAFFEE-CT · Lake Chaffee, CT 299 pop · income 76th 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 Lake Chaffee
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Lake Chaffee on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Cornwall Brid… · lowest
30,357
Cornwall Brid… · lowest
30,357 median HH income
12.1% of the leader · rank #1
Wrenshall · near
97,798
Wrenshall · near
97,798 median HH income
39.1% of the leader · rank #2
Lake Chaffee · this city
97,813
Lake Chaffee · this city
97,813 median HH income
39.1% of the leader · rank #3
Winona Lake · near
97,813
Winona Lake · near
97,813 median HH income
39.1% of the leader · rank #4
Folly Beach · near
97,813
Folly Beach · near
97,813 median HH income
39.1% of the leader · rank #5
Troy · near
97,825
Troy · near
97,825 median HH income
39.1% of the leader · rank #6
Candlewood La… · highest
250,001
Candlewood La… · 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 Lake Chaffee 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: 299.
Lake Chaffee ranks in the 76th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
76th
percentile, household income
56th
percentile, home value
86th
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: Lake Chaffee, CT
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 299 residents in Lake Chaffee, a small town within Connecticut. Median household income here is $97,813 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Typical homes in Lake Chaffee are valued around $252,800, and the median resident age is 48.6 years. About 45.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 68.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Connecticut carries a cost-of-living premium: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Connecticut at 103.6 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Above Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,955 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $345 across Connecticut, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 87.6 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Very High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Lake Chaffee'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 Lake Chaffee, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Lake Chaffee?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.6 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. 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Lake Chaffee?
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 82.1%. 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 Lake Chaffee?
Within Connecticut, the closest population matches are Knollcrest (277 residents); Riverton (342 residents, $118,708 income); Pleasant Valley (343 residents, $59,135 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are McCook, IL (299 residents); Sauget, IL (299 residents); Burns, KS (299 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.
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.
Bachelor's+ share A-
45.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income B+
$97,813
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Cost of living F
103.6 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Lake Chaffee profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Bachelor's+ share: 80/100 (A-) · 45.7%
Household income: 76/100 (B+) · $97,813
Cost of living: 24/100 (F) · 103.6 index
How does Lake Chaffee compare to other US cities?
Where Lake Chaffee sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income76% higher than other cities
Home value56% pricier than other cities
Median rent86% 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 Lake Chaffee against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Connecticut only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Connecticut-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Lake Chaffee near the bottom of Connecticut's cities
Among the 207 Connecticut cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Lake Chaffee ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Lake Chaffee only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#108 of 198
45th percentile in Connecticut
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 207
0th percentile in Connecticut
Median Home Value
#153 of 201
24th percentile in Connecticut
Poverty Rate
#141 of 204
0th percentile in Connecticut
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#109 of 207
47th percentile in Connecticut
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 Connecticut only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
76th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Lake Chaffee's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$252,80044th percentilemore affordable than 44% 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
Lake Chaffee's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,430 of 15,516
More affordable than 71% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,956 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.6×, Lake Chaffee sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,430 of 15,516 and #3,956 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
$97,813Lake Chaffee, CT median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Lake Chaffee, CT median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Lake Chaffee, CT.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)45.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)68.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
299
Median Income
$97,813
Median Home Value
$252,800
Median Age
48.6
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
68.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
45.7%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
82.1%
Carpool
2.4%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
15.5%
Based on 168 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Connecticut statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $345
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Connecticut at $345 (electricity about $175 , water and sewer about $60 ).
These are Connecticut statewide averages, not a meter reading for Lake Chaffee. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Connecticut's BEA cost-of-living index is 103.6 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Lake Chaffee is $1,955/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Connecticut statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 87.6 / 100 (Very High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Connecticut statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Lake Chaffee sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Lake Chaffee compares to similar-size Connecticut 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.