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Place dossier plate
SheetIA-JEFFERSON-IA · Jefferson, IA 4,164 pop · income 26th pct · 4 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 Jefferson
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Jefferson on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Capitol View · lowest
47,054
Capitol View · lowest
47,054 median HH income
32.6% of the leader · rank #1
Jefferson · this city
54,286
Jefferson · this city
54,286 median HH income
37.6% of the leader · rank #2
Hartford · near
54,286
Hartford · near
54,286 median HH income
37.6% of the leader · rank #3
Winchester · near
54,286
Winchester · near
54,286 median HH income
37.6% of the leader · rank #4
Copper Harbor · near
54,286
Copper Harbor · near
54,286 median HH income
37.6% of the leader · rank #5
Hazelton · near
54,286
Hazelton · near
54,286 median HH income
37.6% of the leader · rank #6
Shrewsbury · highest
144,500
Shrewsbury · highest
144,500 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 Jefferson 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: 4,164.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Jefferson - the verdict
Nationally, Jefferson sits in the 26th percentile for household income and the 49th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
26th
percentile, household income
20th
percentile, home value
11th
percentile, median rent
49th
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: Jefferson, IA
Jefferson is a small town in Iowa, home to 4,164 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Jefferson brings in $54,286 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 6.1%. Typical homes in Jefferson are valued around $126,900, and the median resident age is 51.5 years. About 21.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 53.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 2 residential building permits were authorized in Jefferson (Construction Slowdown), down 90% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Jefferson reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 1399.1 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Jefferson's yearly average temperature at 47.8°F with 35.3 inches of precipitation per year and 31.7 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in Iowa run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Iowa at 87.8 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Below Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $989 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Iowa run around $212, per EIA 2023 residential energy 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 Jefferson'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 climate and hazard context to schools and households to within-city variation to housing and income to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Jefferson, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, local building permits.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What can the FBI record say about safety in Jefferson?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1399.1 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 39% 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.
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 47.8°F, with 35.3 inches of precipitation and 31.7 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.
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 Jefferson?
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 Carlisle (4,187 residents, $98,333 income); Chariton (4,235 residents, $52,109 income); Rock Valley (4,061 residents, $67,012 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Shackle Island, TN (4,164 residents); Pipestone, MN (4,165 residents); Northfield, VT (4,165 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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Jefferson?
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 3 public schools within the city match. 21.7% 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
6.1%
Bachelor's degree+
21.7%
Matched public schools
3
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Jefferson?
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 6.1%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.3×
Home value
$126,900
Household income
$54,286
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the journey to work look like in Jefferson?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 73.1%. 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
73.1%
Work from home
7.4%
Public transit
0.1%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,880 workers age 16+.
Is Jefferson growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -30 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 2 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
2020 estimate
4,180
2025 estimate
4,150
Period change
-0.7%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Below median income · poverty 6.1% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
87.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Iowa average
C
City profile score · Jefferson, IA
57/100
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 B
98 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate C
6.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
21.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$54,286
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Jefferson profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 94/100 (A+) · 87.8 index
Violent crime: 71/100 (B) · 98 /100k
Poverty rate: 58/100 (C) · 6.1%
Bachelor's+ share: 39/100 (F) · 21.7%
Household income: 26/100 (F) · $54,286
Where Jefferson sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Jefferson'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 - Jefferson highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
Jefferson, IA (this city): home $126,900, crime 1,399/100k
Northfield, VT : home $233,700, crime 101/100k
Shrewsbury, NJ : home $735,900, crime 2,029/100k
Carlisle, IA : home $208,100, crime 639/100k
Rock Valley, IA : home $225,800, crime 223/100k
Monticello, IA : home $160,500, crime 739/100k
Hampton, IA : home $91,900, crime 611/100k
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 Jefferson compare to other US cities?
Jefferson measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income26% higher than other cities
Home value20% pricier than other cities
Median rent11% pricier than other cities
Safety49% 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, Jefferson ranks #100 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 Jefferson 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 Jefferson near the bottom of Iowa's cities
Among the 858 Iowa cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Jefferson ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Jefferson only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#671 of 845
21st percentile in Iowa
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 858
0th percentile in Iowa
Median Home Value
#373 of 849
56th percentile in Iowa
Poverty Rate
#407 of 858
52nd percentile in Iowa
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#272 of 858
68th 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
26th percentile nationally for median household income · 49th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Jefferson's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Jefferson'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 Jefferson's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$126,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 80% 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
Jefferson's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,162 of 15,516
More affordable than 80% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,907 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.3×, Jefferson sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,162 of 15,516 and #2,907 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
$54,286Jefferson, IA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Jefferson, 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 Jefferson, IA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)21.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)53.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
4,164
Median Income
$54,286
Median Home Value
$126,900
Median Age
51.5
Poverty Rate
6.1%
Labor force participation
53.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
21.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1399.1
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
98.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1300.9
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
47.8°F
Annual Precipitation
35.3"
Annual Snowfall
31.7"
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Jefferson's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
4,180 residents
2021
4,167 residents
2022
4,154 residents
2023
4,109 residents
2024
4,146 residents
2025
4,150 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
2
housing units authorized
Single-Family
2
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
20
8
12
$2.8M
2020
4
4
0
$1.5M
2021
5
2
3
$0.9M
2022
3
3
0
$0.8M
2023
14
2
12
$1.5M
2024
2
2
0
$0.9M
Permit volume decreased 90% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
73.1%
Carpool
14.4%
Public Transit
0.1%
Walk
3.4%
Work from Home
7.4%
Other
1.6%
Based on 1,880 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 Jefferson. 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 Jefferson 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 Jefferson sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Jefferson 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.