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Place dossier plate
SheetIA-CLARINDA-IA · Clarinda, IA 5,366 pop · income 20th pct · 6 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 Clarinda
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Clarinda on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
St. Martinvil… · lowest
33,132
St. Martinvil… · lowest
33,132 median HH income
31.2% of the leader · rank #1
Gallipolis · near
50,631
Gallipolis · near
50,631 median HH income
47.7% of the leader · rank #2
Clarinda · this city
50,644
Clarinda · this city
50,644 median HH income
47.8% of the leader · rank #3
St. James · near
50,644
St. James · near
50,644 median HH income
47.8% of the leader · rank #4
Trenton · near
50,645
Trenton · near
50,645 median HH income
47.8% of the leader · rank #5
La Joya · near
50,652
La Joya · near
50,652 median HH income
47.8% of the leader · rank #6
Tiffin · highest
106,034
Tiffin · highest
106,034 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 Clarinda 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: 5,366.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Clarinda - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Clarinda lands in the 20th percentile for household income and the 52nd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
20th
percentile, household income
14th
percentile, home value
11th
percentile, median rent
52nd
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: Clarinda, IA
Clarinda is a small town in Iowa, home to 5,366 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Clarinda brings in $50,644 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 8.2%. Clarinda's housing stock carries a median value of $112,200, and the median resident age is 40.9 years. Educational attainment runs 13.7% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 41.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 4 residential building permits were authorized in Clarinda (Slowing), down 20% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Clarinda reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 1305.3 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Clarinda's yearly average temperature at 50.3°F with 36.6 inches of precipitation per year and 22.8 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. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $989 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $212 across Iowa, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Commute times here average 15.7 minutes, with 74.1% driving alone and 5.3% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. 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 Clarinda'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 comparison shortlist to population change to schools and households to climate and hazard context to work and mobility to reported crime to within-city variation; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Clarinda, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, local building permits, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Clarinda?
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 2.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.2%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Clarinda?
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 Centerville (5,377 residents, $41,472 income); Winterset (5,384 residents, $69,268 income); Sheldon (5,386 residents, $68,448 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are St. Martinville, LA (5,367 residents); Oak Hill, ME (5,365 residents); Forest, MS (5,365 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.
Is Clarinda growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -100 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.9% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 4 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.
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.
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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Clarinda?
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 13.7% 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
8.2%
Bachelor's degree+
13.7%
Matched public schools
2
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
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 50.3°F, with 36.6 inches of precipitation and 22.8 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
36.6 in
Mean temperature
50.3°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
What does the journey to work look like in Clarinda?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 74.1%. The reported mean trip to work is 15.7 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.
Drive alone
74.1%
Work from home
5.3%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,809 workers age 16+.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Clarinda?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1305.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 43% lower 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
1305.3
Violent rate
283.8
Property rate
1021.6
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
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.
Poverty rate D
8.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
284 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income F
$50,644
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
13.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Clarinda profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 94/100 (A+) · 87.8 index
Poverty rate: 47/100 (D) · 8.2%
Violent crime: 35/100 (F) · 284 /100k
Household income: 21/100 (F) · $50,644
Bachelor's+ share: 17/100 (F) · 13.7%
Where Clarinda sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Clarinda'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 - Clarinda highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Clarinda, IA (this city): home $112,200, crime 1,305/100k
Forest, MS : home $129,100, crime 1,586/100k
Iola, KS : home $78,100, crime 2,494/100k
Centerville, IA : home $99,000, crime 1,315/100k
Winterset, IA : home $181,500, crime 912/100k
Sheldon, IA : home $173,600, crime 982/100k
Algona, IA : home $156,200, crime 227/100k
Spirit Lake, IA : home $218,400, crime 1,728/100k
How does Clarinda compare to other US cities?
Where Clarinda sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income20% higher than other cities
Home value14% pricier than other cities
Median rent11% pricier than other cities
Safety52% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Iowa alone, Clarinda ranks #95 of 141 Iowa cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Clarinda 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 Clarinda near the bottom of Iowa's cities
Among the 858 Iowa cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Clarinda ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Clarinda only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#736 of 845
13th percentile in Iowa
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 858
0th percentile in Iowa
Median Home Value
#457 of 849
46th percentile in Iowa
Poverty Rate
#304 of 858
64th percentile in Iowa
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#588 of 858
31st 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
20th percentile nationally for median household income · 52nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Clarinda's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Clarinda'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 Clarinda's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$112,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 86% 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
Clarinda's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,531 of 15,516
More affordable than 84% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,369 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.2×, Clarinda sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,531 of 15,516 and #2,369 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
$50,644Clarinda, IA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Clarinda, 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 Clarinda, IA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)13.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)41.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
5,366
Median Income
$50,644
Median Home Value
$112,200
Median Age
40.9
Poverty Rate
8.2%
Labor force participation
41.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
13.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1305.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
283.8
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1021.6
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
50.3°F
Annual Precipitation
36.6"
Annual Snowfall
22.8"
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Clarinda's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
5,373 residents
2021
5,382 residents
2022
5,392 residents
2023
5,302 residents
2024
5,331 residents
2025
5,273 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Slowing
Total Permits (2024)
4
housing units authorized
Single-Family
4
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.7
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
5
5
0
$1.3M
2020
3
3
0
$1.1M
2021
4
4
0
$1.2M
2022
12
6
6
$3.6M
2023
8
8
0
$1.8M
2024
4
4
0
$1.1M
Permit volume decreased 20% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
15.7 minutes
Drive Alone
74.1%
Carpool
12.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
2.9%
Work from Home
5.3%
Other
5.2%
Based on 1,809 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 Clarinda. 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 Clarinda 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 Clarinda sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Clarinda 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.