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Place dossier plate
SheetIA-ATLANTIC-IA · Atlantic, IA 6,773 pop · income 31st pct · 5 tracts
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 Atlantic
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Atlantic on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Bonne Terre · lowest
39,767
Bonne Terre · lowest
39,767 median HH income
18.1% of the leader · rank #1
Citrus Springs · near
57,477
Citrus Springs · near
57,477 median HH income
26.2% of the leader · rank #2
Watervliet · near
57,477
Watervliet · near
57,477 median HH income
26.2% of the leader · rank #3
Chicago Heigh… · near
57,479
Chicago Heigh… · near
57,479 median HH income
26.2% of the leader · rank #4
Atlantic · this city
57,486
Atlantic · this city
57,486 median HH income
26.2% of the leader · rank #5
Round Lake Pa… · near
57,486
Round Lake Pa… · near
57,486 median HH income
26.2% of the leader · rank #6
Belle Mead · highest
219,215
Belle Mead · highest
219,215 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 Atlantic 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: 6,773.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Atlantic - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Atlantic places in the 31st percentile for household income and the 25th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
31st
percentile, household income
22nd
percentile, home value
11th
percentile, median rent
25th
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: Atlantic, IA
Atlantic is a small town in Iowa, home to 6,773 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $57,486 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 20.1%. Home values in Atlantic run a median of $134,900, and the median resident age is 43.0 years. 24.1% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 64.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 3 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 40% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 2360.6 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, near the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Atlantic's yearly average temperature at 49.3°F with 37.1 inches of precipitation per year and 27.3 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in Iowa run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Iowa scores 87.8 (Well Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $989 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Iowa run around $212, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 39.7 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Atlantic'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 reported crime to work and mobility to climate and hazard context to schools and households to within-city variation to housing and income 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 Atlantic, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What can the FBI record say about safety in Atlantic?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2360.6 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, near the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 4% 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Atlantic?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 80.5%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
Which cities make useful reference points for Atlantic?
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 Iowa, the closest population matches are Eldridge (6,743 residents, $101,089 income); Nevada (6,952 residents, $75,221 income); Hiawatha (7,178 residents, $67,628 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Bonne Terre, MO (6,773 residents); Belle Mead, NJ (6,772 residents); Chestnut Hill, PA (6,774 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.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Atlantic?
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 49.3°F, with 37.1 inches of precipitation and 27.3 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Iowa is 39.7 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)
39.7
Annual precipitation
37.1 in
Mean temperature
49.3°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
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 4 public schools within the city match. 24.1% 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.
Poverty estimate
20.1%
Bachelor's degree+
24.1%
Matched public schools
4
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Atlantic?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 20.1%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.3×
Home value
$134,900
Household income
$57,486
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Is Atlantic growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -105 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 3 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 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.
2020 estimate
6,781
2025 estimate
6,676
Period change
-1.5%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Below median income · poverty 20.1% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
87.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Iowa average
D
City profile score · Atlantic, IA
41/100
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.
Cost of living A+
87.8 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 D
24.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$57,486
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
369 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate F
20.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Atlantic profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 94/100 (A+) · 87.8 index
Bachelor's+ share: 46/100 (D) · 24.1%
Household income: 31/100 (F) · $57,486
Violent crime: 24/100 (F) · 369 /100k
Poverty rate: 13/100 (F) · 20.1%
Where Atlantic sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Atlantic'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 - Atlantic highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
Atlantic, IA (this city): home $134,900, crime 2,361/100k
Bonne Terre, MO : home $120,400, crime 1,014/100k
Eldridge, IA : home $329,400, crime 378/100k
Hiawatha, IA : home $210,200, crime 1,342/100k
Orange City, IA : home $245,300, crime 233/100k
Adel, IA : home $320,500, crime 715/100k
Washington, IA : home $144,500, crime 2,091/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Atlantic compare to other US cities?
Where Atlantic sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income31% higher than other cities
Home value22% pricier than other cities
Median rent11% pricier than other cities
Safety25% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Iowa and the picture shifts: Atlantic ranks #127 of 141 Iowa cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Atlantic against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Iowa only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Iowa-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Atlantic near the bottom of Iowa's cities
Among the 858 Iowa cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Atlantic ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Atlantic only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#595 of 845
30th percentile in Iowa
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 858
0th percentile in Iowa
Median Home Value
#334 of 849
61st percentile in Iowa
Poverty Rate
#42 of 858
95th percentile in Iowa
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#215 of 858
74th percentile in Iowa
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 Iowa only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
31st percentile nationally for median household income · 25th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Atlantic's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Atlantic'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 Atlantic's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$134,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 78% 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
Atlantic's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,203 of 15,516
More affordable than 79% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,942 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.3×, Atlantic sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,203 of 15,516 and #2,942 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
$57,486Atlantic, IA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Atlantic, IA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Atlantic, IA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)24.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)20.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)64.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
6,773
Median Income
$57,486
Median Home Value
$134,900
Median Age
43.0
Poverty Rate
20.1%
Labor force participation
64.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
24.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2360.6
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
368.8
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1991.7
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
49.3°F
Annual Precipitation
37.1"
Annual Snowfall
27.3"
Schools
Total Schools
4
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Atlantic's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
6,781 residents
2021
6,761 residents
2022
6,776 residents
2023
6,771 residents
2024
6,703 residents
2025
6,676 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
3
housing units authorized
Single-Family
3
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.4
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
5
5
0
$1.7M
2020
3
3
0
$0.8M
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
4
4
0
$1.6M
2023
4
4
0
$1.8M
2024
3
3
0
$1.3M
Permit volume decreased 40% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
80.5%
Carpool
5.5%
Public Transit
0.1%
Walk
3.5%
Work from Home
8.3%
Other
2.1%
Based on 3,513 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Iowa statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $212
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Iowa at $212 (electricity about $95 , water and sewer about $42 ).
These are Iowa statewide averages, not a meter reading for Atlantic. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Iowa's BEA cost-of-living index is 87.8 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Atlantic is $989/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Iowa statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 39.7 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Iowa statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Atlantic sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Atlantic compares to similar-size Iowa 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.