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Place dossier plate
SheetIA-INDEPENDENCE-IA · Independence, IA 6,149 pop · income 53rd 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 Independence
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Independence on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Oelwein · lowest
49,821
Oelwein · lowest
49,821 median HH income
27.8% of the leader · rank #1
Independence · this city
72,250
Independence · this city
72,250 median HH income
40.4% of the leader · rank #2
Haines · near
72,250
Haines · near
72,250 median HH income
40.4% of the leader · rank #3
Talkeetna · near
72,250
Talkeetna · near
72,250 median HH income
40.4% of the leader · rank #4
Aroma Park · near
72,250
Aroma Park · near
72,250 median HH income
40.4% of the leader · rank #5
Alum Creek · near
72,250
Alum Creek · near
72,250 median HH income
40.4% of the leader · rank #6
Wesley Hills · highest
179,000
Wesley Hills · highest
179,000 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 Independence 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: 6,149.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Independence - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Independence places in the 53rd percentile for household income and the 71st percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
53rd
percentile, household income
29th
percentile, home value
11th
percentile, median rent
71st
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: Independence, IA
6,149 people live in Independence, Iowa - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $72,250 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 6.6%. Home values in Independence run a median of $156,900, and the median resident age is 41.2 years. 24.0% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 66.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 14 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 59% from five years earlier. Independence reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 819.8 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 47.0°F with 37.4 inches of precipitation per year and 33.9 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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Iowa's average monthly utility costs around $212 (state average). 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 Independence'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 schools and households to climate and hazard context to housing and income to within-city variation to comparison shortlist to population change to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Independence, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, matched public-school count, local building permits, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What can the FBI record say about safety in Independence?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 819.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 64% 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.
What does the education layer cover for Independence?
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 5 public schools within the city match. 24.0% 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.
What can 6 Census tracts reveal inside Independence?
PlainCities matches 6 Census tracts to this city.
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 Independence?
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 Maquoketa (6,105 residents, $56,039 income); Adel (6,259 residents, $96,905 income); Orange City (6,312 residents, $81,667 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Riverside, MD (6,149 residents); Wesley Hills, NY (6,150 residents); Cumberland, IN (6,154 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 Independence?
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 47.0°F, with 37.4 inches of precipitation and 33.9 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
37.4 in
Mean temperature
47.0°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
How far does income reach against housing in Independence?
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 6.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.2×
Home value
$156,900
Household income
$72,250
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Is Independence growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +233 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.8% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 14 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
6,079
2025 estimate
6,312
Period change
+3.8%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the journey to work look like in Independence?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 80.6%. 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.
Drive alone
80.6%
Work from home
5.9%
Public transit
0.6%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 3,270 workers age 16+.
Above median income · poverty 6.6% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
87.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Iowa average
C+
City profile score · Independence, IA
61/100
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.
Violent crime C
161 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate C
6.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income C-
$72,250
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share D
24.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Independence profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 94/100 (A+) · 87.8 index
Violent crime: 56/100 (C) · 161 /100k
Poverty rate: 55/100 (C) · 6.6%
Household income: 52/100 (C-) · $72,250
Bachelor's+ share: 46/100 (D) · 24.0%
Where Independence sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Independence'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 - Independence highlighted among 9 peers.Read the chart values
Independence, IA (this city): home $156,900, crime 820/100k
Cumberland, IN : home $241,200, crime 2,678/100k
Cherryville, NC : home $198,000, crime 3,169/100k
Maquoketa, IA : home $126,800, crime 2,239/100k
Adel, IA : home $320,500, crime 715/100k
Orange City, IA : home $245,300, crime 233/100k
Asbury, IA : home $312,400, crime 199/100k
Oelwein, IA : home $96,800, crime 765/100k
Estherville, IA : home $96,300, crime 585/100k
How does Independence compare to other US cities?
Independence measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income53% higher than other cities
Home value29% pricier than other cities
Median rent11% pricier than other cities
Safety71% 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, Independence ranks #68 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 Independence 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 Independence near the bottom of Iowa's cities
Among the 858 Iowa cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Independence ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Independence only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#291 of 845
66th percentile in Iowa
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 858
0th percentile in Iowa
Median Home Value
#246 of 849
71st percentile in Iowa
Poverty Rate
#385 of 858
54th percentile in Iowa
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#221 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
53rd percentile nationally for median household income · 71st percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Independence's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Independence'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 Independence's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$156,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 71% 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
Independence's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,328 of 15,516
More affordable than 85% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,193 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.2×, Independence sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,328 of 15,516 and #2,193 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
$72,250Independence, IA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Independence, 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 Independence, IA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)24.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)66.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
6,149
Median Income
$72,250
Median Home Value
$156,900
Median Age
41.2
Poverty Rate
6.6%
Labor force participation
66.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
24.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
819.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
160.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
659.1
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
47.0°F
Annual Precipitation
37.4"
Annual Snowfall
33.9"
Schools
Total Schools
5
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Independence's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
6,079 residents
2021
6,135 residents
2022
6,162 residents
2023
6,185 residents
2024
6,255 residents
2025
6,312 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
14
housing units authorized
Single-Family
12
detached homes
Multifamily
2
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2.3
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
34
4
30
$2.5M
2020
40
4
36
$2.8M
2021
10
6
4
$2.3M
2022
36
14
22
$7.0M
2023
49
19
30
$9.9M
2024
14
12
2
$4.7M
Permit volume decreased 59% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
80.6%
Carpool
10.0%
Public Transit
0.6%
Walk
2.5%
Work from Home
5.9%
Based on 3,270 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 Independence. 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 Independence 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 Independence sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Independence 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.