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Place dossier plate
SheetIA-MOUNT-VERNON-IA · Mount Vernon, IA 4,551 pop · income 81st 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 Mount Vernon
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Mount Vernon on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Waynesboro · lowest
30,910
Waynesboro · lowest
30,910 median HH income
25.2% of the leader · rank #1
Mount Vernon · this city
106,356
Mount Vernon · this city
106,356 median HH income
86.7% of the leader · rank #2
Eudora · near
106,356
Eudora · near
106,356 median HH income
86.7% of the leader · rank #3
Winthrop · near
106,357
Winthrop · near
106,357 median HH income
86.7% of the leader · rank #4
Winter Garden · near
106,371
Winter Garden · near
106,371 median HH income
86.7% of the leader · rank #5
Crestview Hil… · near
106,375
Crestview Hil… · near
106,375 median HH income
86.7% of the leader · rank #6
Huxley · highest
122,716
Huxley · highest
122,716 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 Mount Vernon 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: 4,551.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Mount Vernon lands in the 81st percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
81st
percentile, household income
57th
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: Mount Vernon, IA
Mount Vernon is a small town in Iowa, home to 4,551 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Mount Vernon brings in $106,356 a year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 4.7%. Typical homes in Mount Vernon are valued around $256,900, and the median resident age is 23.7 years. About 49.5% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 58.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 0 residential units were authorized in 2024 (No Permits), down 100% from five years earlier.
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. 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 Mount Vernon'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 schools and households to population change to work and mobility to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Mount Vernon, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, annual population history, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Mount Vernon?
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.
Within Iowa, the closest population matches are Camanche (4,562 residents, $68,727 income); Evansdale (4,530 residents, $57,415 income); Huxley (4,440 residents, $122,716 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Waynesboro, MS (4,552 residents); Post, TX (4,552 residents); Ada, OH (4,553 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.
What does the education layer cover for Mount Vernon?
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. 49.5% 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.
Is Mount Vernon growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -27 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.6% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Mount Vernon?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 64.0%. 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. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Mount Vernon?
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 2.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.7%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.4×
Home value
$256,900
Household income
$106,356
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
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.
Bachelor's+ share A-
49.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income A-
$106,356
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate B-
4.7%
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).
Mount Vernon profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 94/100 (A+) · 87.8 index
Bachelor's+ share: 83/100 (A-) · 49.5%
Household income: 80/100 (A-) · $106,356
Poverty rate: 67/100 (B-) · 4.7%
How does Mount Vernon compare to other US cities?
Mount Vernon measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income81% higher than other cities
Home value57% 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 Mount Vernon 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 Mount Vernon near the bottom of Iowa's cities
Among the 858 Iowa cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Mount Vernon ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Mount Vernon only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#43 of 845
95th percentile in Iowa
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 858
0th percentile in Iowa
Median Home Value
#66 of 849
92nd percentile in Iowa
Poverty Rate
#500 of 858
41st percentile in Iowa
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#33 of 858
96th 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
81st percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Mount Vernon's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$256,90043rd percentilemore affordable than 43% 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
Mount Vernon's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,570 of 15,516
More affordable than 77% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,245 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.4×, Mount Vernon sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,570 of 15,516 and #3,245 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
$106,356Mount Vernon, IA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Mount Vernon, 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 Mount Vernon, IA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)49.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
4,551
Median Income
$106,356
Median Home Value
$256,900
Median Age
23.7
Poverty Rate
4.7%
Labor force participation
58.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
49.5%
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
Mount Vernon's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
4,541 residents
2021
4,509 residents
2022
4,543 residents
2023
4,465 residents
2024
4,495 residents
2025
4,514 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
17
13
4
$1.6M
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
Permit volume decreased 100% from 2019 to 2021.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
64.0%
Carpool
4.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
10.6%
Work from Home
20.6%
Based on 1,985 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 Mount Vernon. 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 Mount Vernon 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 Mount Vernon sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Mount Vernon 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, 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.