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Place dossier plate
SheetIA-CENTRALIA-IA · Centralia, IA 125 pop · income 55th 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 Centralia
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Centralia on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Kobuk · lowest
31,429
Kobuk · lowest
31,429 median HH income
35.4% of the leader · rank #1
Centralia · this city
73,750
Centralia · this city
73,750 median HH income
83.1% of the leader · rank #2
Ranburne · near
73,750
Ranburne · near
73,750 median HH income
83.1% of the leader · rank #3
Stewartville · near
73,750
Stewartville · near
73,750 median HH income
83.1% of the leader · rank #4
Salamatof · near
73,750
Salamatof · near
73,750 median HH income
83.1% of the leader · rank #5
Higden · near
73,750
Higden · near
73,750 median HH income
83.1% of the leader · rank #6
Port Graham · highest
88,750
Port Graham · highest
88,750 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 Centralia 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: 125.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Centralia lands in the 55th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
55th
percentile, household income
51st
percentile, home value
11th
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: Centralia, IA
Centralia is a small town in Iowa, home to 125 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $73,750 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 15.2%. Typical homes in Centralia are valued around $230,000, and the median resident age is 37.4 years. Educational attainment runs 20.3% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 84.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Living costs in Iowa run below the national norm: the state registers 87.8 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Well Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $989 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $212 across Iowa, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Natural-hazard exposure scores 39.7 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Centralia'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 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 Centralia, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count; 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 Centralia?
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 88.7%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Is Centralia growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
Census PEP estimates show the population was unchanged by +0 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.0% 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Centralia?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 15.2%, 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Centralia?
Within Iowa, the closest population matches are Center Junction (125 residents, $32,679 income); Morrison (125 residents, $88,750 income); Rock Falls (125 residents, $66,875 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Kobuk, AK (125 residents); Port Graham, AK (125 residents); Primrose, AK (125 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 15.2% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
87.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Iowa average
C-
City profile score · Centralia, IA
52/100
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 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.
Household income C-
$73,750
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
20.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
15.2%
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).
Centralia profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 94/100 (A+) · 87.8 index
Household income: 53/100 (C-) · $73,750
Bachelor's+ share: 35/100 (F) · 20.3%
Poverty rate: 22/100 (F) · 15.2%
How does Centralia compare to other US cities?
Here's how Centralia stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income55% higher than other cities
Home value51% pricier than other cities
Median rent11% 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 Centralia 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 Centralia near the bottom of Iowa's cities
Among the 858 Iowa cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Centralia ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Centralia only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#260 of 845
69th percentile in Iowa
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 858
0th percentile in Iowa
Median Home Value
#89 of 849
90th percentile in Iowa
Poverty Rate
#98 of 858
89th percentile in Iowa
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#329 of 858
61st 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
55th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Centralia's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$230,00049th percentilemore affordable than 49% 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
Centralia's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,277 of 15,516
More affordable than 53% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,059 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.1×, Centralia sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,277 of 15,516 and #6,059 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$73,750Centralia, IA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Centralia, 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 Centralia, IA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)20.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)15.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)84.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
125
Median Income
$73,750
Median Home Value
$230,000
Median Age
37.4
Poverty Rate
15.2%
Labor force participation
84.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
20.3%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Centralia's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
116 residents
2021
115 residents
2022
115 residents
2023
117 residents
2024
117 residents
2025
116 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
88.7%
Carpool
7.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
1.4%
Other
2.9%
Based on 71 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 Centralia. 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 Centralia 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 Centralia sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Centralia 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, 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.