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Place dossier plate
SheetGA-ALSTON-GA · Alston, GA 158 pop · income 52nd 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 Alston
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Alston on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Vidette · lowest
24,070
Vidette · lowest
24,070 median HH income
20.4% of the leader · rank #1
Alston · this city
71,875
Alston · this city
71,875 median HH income
60.8% of the leader · rank #2
Layton · near
71,875
Layton · near
71,875 median HH income
60.8% of the leader · rank #3
Hoyleton · near
71,875
Hoyleton · near
71,875 median HH income
60.8% of the leader · rank #4
Mackinaw · near
71,875
Mackinaw · near
71,875 median HH income
60.8% of the leader · rank #5
Old Mill Creek · near
71,875
Old Mill Creek · near
71,875 median HH income
60.8% of the leader · rank #6
Godfrey · highest
118,164
Godfrey · highest
118,164 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 Alston 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: 158.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Alston places in the 52nd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
52nd
percentile, household income
21st
percentile, home value
51st
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: Alston, GA
158 people live in Alston, Georgia - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $71,875 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 15.0%. Typical homes in Alston are valued around $130,600, and the median resident age is 55.7 years. Educational attainment runs 11.5% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 42.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Living costs in Georgia run below the national norm: the state registers 96.3 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,203 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $225 across Georgia, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 39.5 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Alston'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 population change to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Alston, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Alston?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 15.0%, 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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
What does the journey to work look like in Alston?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 98.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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 +2 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.2% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Alston?
Within Georgia, the closest population matches are Vidette (153 residents, $24,070 income); Orchard Hill (150 residents, $34,375 income); Bellville (149 residents, $96,140 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Daphnedale Park, CA (158 residents); Pine Island, FL (158 residents); Netawaka, KS (158 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.
Above median income · poverty 15.0% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
96.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Georgia average
F
City profile score · Alston, GA
38/100
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.
Cost of living C
96.3 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 C-
$71,875
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
15.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
11.5%
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).
Alston profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.3 index
Household income: 51/100 (C-) · $71,875
Poverty rate: 23/100 (F) · 15.0%
Bachelor's+ share: 11/100 (F) · 11.5%
How does Alston compare to other US cities?
Here's how Alston stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income52% higher than other cities
Home value21% pricier than other cities
Median rent51% 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 Alston against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Georgia only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Georgia-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Alston near the bottom of Georgia's cities
Among the 638 Georgia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Alston ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Alston only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#168 of 610
72nd percentile in Georgia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 638
0th percentile in Georgia
Median Home Value
#374 of 577
35th percentile in Georgia
Poverty Rate
#263 of 637
59th percentile in Georgia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#444 of 638
29th percentile in Georgia
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 Georgia only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
52nd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Alston's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$130,600Among the most affordablemore affordable than 79% 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
Alston's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#1,047 of 15,516
More affordable than 93% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,014 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.8×, Alston sits in the affordable band:
national rank #1,047 of 15,516 and #1,014 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
$71,875Alston, GA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Alston, GA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Alston, GA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)11.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)15.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)42.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
158
Median Income
$71,875
Median Home Value
$130,600
Median Age
55.7
Poverty Rate
15.0%
Labor force participation
42.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
11.5%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Alston's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
173 residents
2021
176 residents
2022
174 residents
2023
178 residents
2024
175 residents
2025
175 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
98.4%
Carpool
1.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 63 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Georgia statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $225
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Georgia at $225 (electricity about $125 , water and sewer about $45 ).
These are Georgia statewide averages, not a meter reading for Alston. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Georgia's BEA cost-of-living index is 96.3 (Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Alston is $1,203/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Georgia statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 39.5 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Georgia statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Alston sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Alston compares to similar-size Georgia 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.