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Place dossier plate
SheetIA-ELKHART-IA · Elkhart, IA 680 pop · income 63rd 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 Elkhart
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Elkhart on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Lemannville · lowest
16,181
Lemannville · lowest
16,181 median HH income
16.8% of the leader · rank #1
Enoch · near
81,767
Enoch · near
81,767 median HH income
85.0% of the leader · rank #2
Elkhart · this city
81,771
Elkhart · this city
81,771 median HH income
85.0% of the leader · rank #3
Whaleyville · near
81,771
Whaleyville · near
81,771 median HH income
85.0% of the leader · rank #4
Brighton · near
81,772
Brighton · near
81,772 median HH income
85.0% of the leader · rank #5
Chamblee · near
81,774
Chamblee · near
81,774 median HH income
85.0% of the leader · rank #6
North Brentwo… · highest
96,154
North Brentwo… · highest
96,154 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 Elkhart 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: 680.
Nationally, Elkhart sits in the 63rd percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
63rd
percentile, household income
54th
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: Elkhart, IA
680 people live in Elkhart, Iowa - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Elkhart brings in $81,771 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 5.7%. Elkhart's housing stock carries a median value of $241,700, and the median resident age is 38.7 years. 25.8% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 73.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 9 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 55% from five years earlier.
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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $989 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Iowa's average monthly utility costs around $212 (state average). Commute times here average 24.6 minutes, with 77.9% driving alone and 13.4% working from home, per Census ACS commuting 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 Elkhart'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 comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Elkhart, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Elkhart?
Within Iowa, the closest population matches are Albert City (680 residents, $76,094 income); Lakeside (678 residents, $95,481 income); McGregor (686 residents, $58,750 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Dove Creek, CO (680 residents); Brookport, IL (680 residents); Onaga, KS (680 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Elkhart?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 77.9%. The reported mean trip to work is 24.6 minutes.
How far does income reach against housing in Elkhart?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 5.7%, 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.
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 +200 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +22.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 9 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Above median income · poverty 5.7% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
87.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Iowa average
B-
City profile score · Elkhart, IA
67/100
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+
$81,771
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate C+
5.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C-
25.8%
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).
Elkhart profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 94/100 (A+) · 87.8 index
Household income: 61/100 (C+) · $81,771
Poverty rate: 61/100 (C+) · 5.7%
Bachelor's+ share: 51/100 (C-) · 25.8%
How does Elkhart compare to other US cities?
Where Elkhart sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income63% higher than other cities
Home value54% 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 Elkhart 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 Elkhart near the bottom of Iowa's cities
Among the 858 Iowa cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Elkhart ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Elkhart only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#166 of 845
80th percentile in Iowa
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 858
0th percentile in Iowa
Median Home Value
#81 of 849
90th percentile in Iowa
Poverty Rate
#432 of 858
49th percentile in Iowa
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#183 of 858
79th 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
63rd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Elkhart's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$241,70046th percentilemore affordable than 46% 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
Elkhart's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#6,449 of 15,516
More affordable than 58% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#5,493 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.0×, Elkhart sits in the affordable band:
national rank #6,449 of 15,516 and #5,493 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
$81,771Elkhart, IA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Elkhart, 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 Elkhart, IA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)25.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)5.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)73.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
680
Median Income
$81,771
Median Home Value
$241,700
Median Age
38.7
Poverty Rate
5.7%
Labor force participation
73.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
25.8%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Elkhart's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
897 residents
2021
937 residents
2022
1,002 residents
2023
1,049 residents
2024
1,082 residents
2025
1,097 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
9
housing units authorized
Single-Family
9
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
13.2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
20
20
0
$4.8M
2020
20
20
0
$5.4M
2021
34
34
0
$7.7M
2022
22
10
12
$6.3M
2023
12
12
0
$3.5M
2024
9
9
0
$2.8M
Permit volume decreased 55% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
24.6 minutes
Drive Alone
77.9%
Carpool
8.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
13.4%
Based on 389 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 Elkhart. 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 Elkhart 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 Elkhart sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Elkhart 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 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.