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Place dossier plate
SheetGA-MCDONOUGH-GA · McDonough, GA 30,056 pop · income 59th 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 McDonough
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest McDonough on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
LaGrange · lowest
41,491
LaGrange · lowest
41,491 median HH income
36.6% of the leader · rank #1
Spring Arbor · near
77,721
Spring Arbor · near
77,721 median HH income
68.6% of the leader · rank #2
Shamokin Dam · near
77,721
Shamokin Dam · near
77,721 median HH income
68.6% of the leader · rank #3
Coldwater · near
77,730
Coldwater · near
77,730 median HH income
68.6% of the leader · rank #4
McDonough · this city
77,734
McDonough · this city
77,734 median HH income
68.6% of the leader · rank #5
McPherson · near
77,746
McPherson · near
77,746 median HH income
68.6% of the leader · rank #6
Summerlin Sou… · highest
113,301
Summerlin Sou… · highest
113,301 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 McDonough 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: 30,056.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
McDonough - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, McDonough places in the 59th percentile for household income and the 16th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
59th
percentile, household income
63rd
percentile, home value
51st
percentile, median rent
16th
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: McDonough, GA
McDonough is a small city in Georgia, home to 30,056 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in McDonough report a median income of $77,734 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 10.3%. McDonough's housing stock carries a median value of $285,800, and the median resident age is 31.2 years. About 27.4% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 65.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 184 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 59% from five years earlier. McDonough's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 2960.2 crimes per 100,000 residents, above the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 62.0°F with 51.1 inches of precipitation per year.
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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Georgia's average monthly utility costs around $225 (state average). The average commute for McDonough workers runs 27.9 minutes, with 77.6% driving alone and 12.9% working from home. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 39.5 out of 100 (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of McDonough'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 schools and households to population change to comparison shortlist to climate and hazard context to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For McDonough, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, annual population history, local building permits, matched public-school count.
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. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in McDonough?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 10.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What does the journey to work look like in McDonough?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 77.6%. The reported mean trip to work is 27.9 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.
What does the education layer cover for McDonough?
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 19 public schools within the city match. 27.4% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for McDonough?
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 Georgia, the closest population matches are Chamblee (30,369 residents, $81,774 income); Redan (30,426 residents, $63,226 income); Lawrenceville (30,626 residents, $58,606 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Bowling Green, OH (30,051 residents); Ruskin, FL (30,074 residents); Summerlin South, NV (30,075 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.
Population change
Is McDonough growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +3,942 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +13.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 184 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
2020 estimate
29,453
2025 estimate
33,395
Period change
+13.4%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
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 62.0°F, with 51.1 inches of precipitation. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Georgia is 39.5 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)
39.5
Annual precipitation
51.1 in
Mean temperature
62.0°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
What can the FBI record say about safety in McDonough?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2960.2 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 30% 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
2960.2
Violent rate
334.9
Property rate
2625.2
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Above median income · poverty 10.3% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
96.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Georgia average
D
City profile score · McDonough, GA
47/100
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.
Household income C
$77,734
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
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.
Bachelor's+ share C-
27.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
10.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
335 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
McDonough profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 57/100 (C) · $77,734
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.3 index
Bachelor's+ share: 53/100 (C-) · 27.4%
Poverty rate: 38/100 (F) · 10.3%
Violent crime: 28/100 (F) · 335 /100k
Where McDonough sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
McDonough'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 - McDonough highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
McDonough, GA (this city): home $285,800, crime 2,960/100k
Bowling Green, OH : home $217,300, crime 1,027/100k
Matthews, NC : home $406,800, crime 2,839/100k
Fridley, MN : home $277,100, crime 3,327/100k
Chamblee, GA : home $407,900, crime 4,179/100k
Lawrenceville, GA : home $335,100, crime 2,497/100k
LaGrange, GA : home $175,600, crime 5,111/100k
Duluth, GA : home $366,000, crime 1,363/100k
How does McDonough compare to other US cities?
McDonough measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income59% higher than other cities
Home value63% pricier than other cities
Median rent51% pricier than other cities
Safety16% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Georgia and the picture shifts: McDonough ranks #124 of 166 Georgia cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares McDonough 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 McDonough near the bottom of Georgia's cities
Among the 638 Georgia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, McDonough ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares McDonough only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#139 of 610
77th percentile in Georgia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 638
0th percentile in Georgia
Median Home Value
#100 of 577
83rd percentile in Georgia
Poverty Rate
#354 of 637
44th percentile in Georgia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#169 of 638
73rd 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
59th percentile nationally for median household income · 16th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
McDonough's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
McDonough'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 McDonough's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$285,80037th percentilemore affordable than 37% 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
McDonough's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,638 of 15,516
More affordable than 38% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,664 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.7×, McDonough sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,638 of 15,516 and #1,664 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$77,734McDonough, GA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context McDonough, 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 McDonough, GA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)27.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)10.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)65.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
30,056
Median Income
$77,734
Median Home Value
$285,800
Median Age
31.2
Poverty Rate
10.3%
Labor force participation
65.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
27.4%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2960.2
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
334.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2625.2
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
62.0°F
Annual Precipitation
51.1"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
19
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
McDonough's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
29,453 residents
2021
30,066 residents
2022
30,515 residents
2023
32,368 residents
2024
32,990 residents
2025
33,395 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
184
housing units authorized
Single-Family
184
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
6.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
446
446
0
$68.2M
2020
441
441
0
$84.4M
2021
239
239
0
$46.2M
2022
566
188
378
$105.2M
2023
536
158
378
$112.1M
2024
184
184
0
$52.9M
Permit volume decreased 59% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
27.9 minutes
Drive Alone
77.6%
Carpool
6.9%
Public Transit
0.4%
Walk
1.5%
Work from Home
12.9%
Other
0.7%
Based on 14,418 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 McDonough. 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 McDonough 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 McDonough sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How McDonough 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, 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.