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Place dossier plate
SheetIA-SHELLSBURG-IA · Shellsburg, IA 752 pop · income 49th 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 Shellsburg
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Shellsburg on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Tumbling Shoa… · lowest
39,677
Tumbling Shoa… · lowest
39,677 median HH income
34.3% of the leader · rank #1
Shellsburg · this city
69,750
Shellsburg · this city
69,750 median HH income
60.4% of the leader · rank #2
Wright · near
69,750
Wright · near
69,750 median HH income
60.4% of the leader · rank #3
New Salem · near
69,750
New Salem · near
69,750 median HH income
60.4% of the leader · rank #4
Woodsdale · near
69,750
Woodsdale · near
69,750 median HH income
60.4% of the leader · rank #5
Tower City · near
69,750
Tower City · near
69,750 median HH income
60.4% of the leader · rank #6
Upper Marlboro · highest
115,568
Upper Marlboro · highest
115,568 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 Shellsburg 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: 752.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Shellsburg lands in the 49th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
49th
percentile, household income
38th
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: Shellsburg, IA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 752 residents in Shellsburg, a small town within Iowa. Households in Shellsburg report a median income of $69,750 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 1.6%. Typical homes in Shellsburg are valued around $184,100, and the median resident age is 43.7 years. About 14.1% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 58.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 4 residential building permits were authorized in Shellsburg (Stable), up 0% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data.
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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $989 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $212 across Iowa, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Shellsburg'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 housing and income to schools and households to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Shellsburg, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Shellsburg?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 1.6%, 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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
What does the education layer cover for Shellsburg?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 14.1% 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.
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
Which cities make useful reference points for Shellsburg?
Within Iowa, the closest population matches are Colo (751 residents, $73,125 income); Quasqueton (749 residents, $64,531 income); Early (757 residents, $76,083 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Munds Park, AZ (752 residents); Tumbling Shoals, AR (752 residents); Heritage Bay, FL (752 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Shellsburg?
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 81.1%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Population change
Is Shellsburg growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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 +35 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.6% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 4 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+3.6%
2025 estimate
997
2020 estimate
962
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
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.
Poverty rate A
1.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income D
$69,750
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
14.1%
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).
Shellsburg profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 94/100 (A+) · 87.8 index
Poverty rate: 89/100 (A) · 1.6%
Household income: 49/100 (D) · $69,750
Bachelor's+ share: 18/100 (F) · 14.1%
How does Shellsburg compare to other US cities?
Shellsburg measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income49% higher than other cities
Home value38% 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 Shellsburg 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 Shellsburg near the bottom of Iowa's cities
Among the 858 Iowa cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Shellsburg ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Shellsburg only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#338 of 845
60th percentile in Iowa
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 858
0th percentile in Iowa
Median Home Value
#157 of 849
81st percentile in Iowa
Poverty Rate
#711 of 858
17th percentile in Iowa
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#576 of 858
33rd 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
49th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Shellsburg's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$184,100Among the most affordablemore affordable than 62% 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
Shellsburg's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,721 of 15,516
More affordable than 70% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,176 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.6×, Shellsburg sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,721 of 15,516 and #4,176 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
$69,750Shellsburg, IA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Shellsburg, 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 Shellsburg, IA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)14.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)1.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
752
Median Income
$69,750
Median Home Value
$184,100
Median Age
43.7
Poverty Rate
1.6%
Labor force participation
58.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
14.1%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Shellsburg's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
962 residents
2021
976 residents
2022
979 residents
2023
987 residents
2024
987 residents
2025
997 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
4
housing units authorized
Single-Family
4
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
5.3
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
4
2
2
$0.6M
2020
4
2
2
$0.6M
2021
4
2
2
$0.7M
2022
4
2
2
$0.7M
2023
1
1
0
$0.3M
2024
4
4
0
$1.3M
Permit volume increased 0% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
81.1%
Carpool
7.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.1%
Work from Home
10.0%
Based on 350 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 Shellsburg. 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 Shellsburg 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 Shellsburg sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Shellsburg 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.