Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetIA-PALMER-IA · Palmer, IA 114 pop · income 36th 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 Palmer
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Palmer on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Burr Oak · lowest
31,667
Burr Oak · lowest
31,667 median HH income
31.9% of the leader · rank #1
Palmer · this city
60,625
Palmer · this city
60,625 median HH income
61.0% of the leader · rank #2
Seba Dalkai · near
60,625
Seba Dalkai · near
60,625 median HH income
61.0% of the leader · rank #3
Lead Hill · near
60,625
Lead Hill · near
60,625 median HH income
61.0% of the leader · rank #4
Magalia · near
60,625
Magalia · near
60,625 median HH income
61.0% of the leader · rank #5
Whitmore · near
60,625
Whitmore · near
60,625 median HH income
61.0% of the leader · rank #6
Mineola · highest
99,375
Mineola · highest
99,375 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 Palmer 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: 114.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Palmer lands in the 36th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
36th
percentile, household income
0th
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: Palmer, IA
Iowa's Palmer is a small town, with 114 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Palmer report a median income of $60,625 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 38.1%. Home values in Palmer run a median of $36,500, and the median resident age is 52.8 years. About 12.0% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 49.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 0 residential units authorized here in 2024 (No Permits).
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. Monthly utility costs average around $212 across Iowa, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Palmer'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 housing and income to population change to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Palmer, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, local building permits, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for 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 Palmer?
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 77.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
How far does income reach against housing in Palmer?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 0.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 38.1%, 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. 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.
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -6 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -4.3% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Palmer?
Within Iowa, the closest population matches are Ledyard (114 residents, $34,000 income); Shambaugh (114 residents, $75,313 income); Mineola (115 residents, $99,375 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Comptche, CA (114 residents); Hartland, IL (114 residents); Nelson, IL (114 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.
Below median income · poverty 38.1% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
87.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Iowa average
F
City profile score · Palmer, IA
37/100
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 F
$60,625
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
12.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
38.1%
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).
Palmer profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 94/100 (A+) · 87.8 index
Household income: 35/100 (F) · $60,625
Bachelor's+ share: 12/100 (F) · 12.0%
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 38.1%
How does Palmer compare to other US cities?
Here's how Palmer stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income36% higher than other cities
Home value0% 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 Palmer 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 Palmer near the bottom of Iowa's cities
Among the 858 Iowa cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Palmer ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Palmer only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#522 of 845
38th percentile in Iowa
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 858
0th percentile in Iowa
Median Home Value
#843 of 849
1st percentile in Iowa
Poverty Rate
#6 of 858
99th percentile in Iowa
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#646 of 858
24th 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
36th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Palmer's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$36,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 100% 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
Palmer's home-value-to-income ratio: 0.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#6 of 15,516
More affordable than 100% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 0.6×, Palmer sits in the affordable band:
national rank #6 of 15,516 and #6 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
$60,625Palmer, IA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Palmer, 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 Palmer, IA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)12.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)38.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)49.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
114
Median Income
$60,625
Median Home Value
$36,500
Median Age
52.8
Poverty Rate
38.1%
Labor force participation
49.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
12.0%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Palmer's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
139 residents
2021
138 residents
2022
139 residents
2023
136 residents
2024
135 residents
2025
133 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
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
0
0
0
-
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
77.4%
Carpool
11.3%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
3.8%
Work from Home
3.8%
Other
3.7%
Based on 53 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 Palmer. 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 Palmer 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 Palmer sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Palmer 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.