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Place dossier plate
SheetIA-ORCHARD-IA · Orchard, IA 106 pop · income 23rd 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 Orchard
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Orchard on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Clio · lowest
32,625
Clio · lowest
32,625 median HH income
27.9% of the leader · rank #1
Orchard · this city
52,500
Orchard · this city
52,500 median HH income
44.8% of the leader · rank #2
Avon · near
52,500
Avon · near
52,500 median HH income
44.8% of the leader · rank #3
Malvern · near
52,500
Malvern · near
52,500 median HH income
44.8% of the leader · rank #4
McIntyre · near
52,500
McIntyre · near
52,500 median HH income
44.8% of the leader · rank #5
Waleska · near
52,500
Waleska · near
52,500 median HH income
44.8% of the leader · rank #6
Westwood · highest
117,083
Westwood · highest
117,083 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 Orchard 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: 106.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Orchard lands in the 23rd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
23rd
percentile, household income
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: Orchard, IA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 106 residents in Orchard, a small town within Iowa. Orchard households earn a median of $52,500 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. The median resident age is 41.1 years. 12.1% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 55.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Iowa's average monthly utility costs around $212 (state average). FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 39.7 out of 100 (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Orchard'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 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 Orchard, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Orchard?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 89.7%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for Orchard?
Within Iowa, the closest population matches are Derby (106 residents, $58,750 income); Keomah (106 residents); Green Mountain (105 residents, $50,227 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Nelchina, AK (106 residents); Lawson, AR (106 residents); Smithville, AR (106 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.
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 +3 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +4.8% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
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 F
$52,500
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
12.1%
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).
Orchard profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Cost of living: 94/100 (A+) · 87.8 index
Household income: 24/100 (F) · $52,500
Bachelor's+ share: 12/100 (F) · 12.1%
How does Orchard compare to other US cities?
Here's how Orchard stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income23% higher 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 Orchard 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 Orchard near the bottom of Iowa's cities
Among the 858 Iowa cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Orchard ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Orchard only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#699 of 845
17th percentile in Iowa
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 858
0th percentile in Iowa
Poverty Rate
#764 of 858
0th percentile in Iowa
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#645 of 858
25th 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
23rd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$52,500Orchard, IA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Orchard, 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 Orchard, IA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)12.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)55.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
106
Median Income
$52,500
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
41.1
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
55.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
12.1%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Orchard's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
62 residents
2021
63 residents
2022
62 residents
2023
64 residents
2024
64 residents
2025
65 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
89.7%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
5.1%
Other
5.2%
Based on 39 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 Orchard. 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 Orchard 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 Orchard sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Orchard 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 ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.