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Place dossier plate
SheetIA-SUN-VALLEY-LAKE-IA · Sun Valley Lake, IA 162 pop · income 89th 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 Sun Valley Lake
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Sun Valley Lake on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Decatur · lowest
33,750
Decatur · lowest
33,750 median HH income
26.5% of the leader · rank #1
Sun Valley La… · this city
127,188
Sun Valley La… · this city
127,188 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #2
Morgan Hill · near
127,188
Morgan Hill · near
127,188 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #3
Forest Glen · near
127,196
Forest Glen · near
127,196 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #4
Otsego · near
127,219
Otsego · near
127,219 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #5
Dana Point · near
127,246
Dana Point · near
127,246 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
Severance · highest
127,257
Severance · highest
127,257 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 Sun Valley Lake 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: 162.
Sun Valley Lake ranks in the 89th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
89th
percentile, household income
84th
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: Sun Valley Lake, IA
Iowa's Sun Valley Lake is a small town, with 162 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Sun Valley Lake brings in $127,188 a year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Typical homes in Sun Valley Lake are valued around $485,300, and the median resident age is 69.7 years. About 67.1% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 42.6% 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. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Iowa run around $212, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Commute times here average 24.6 minutes, with 71.0% driving alone and 29.0% working from home, per Census ACS commuting 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 Sun Valley Lake'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 comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Sun Valley Lake, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Sun Valley Lake?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 71.0%. The reported mean trip to work is 24.6 minutes.
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.
How far does income reach against housing in Sun Valley Lake?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Sun Valley Lake?
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 Elberon (162 residents, $58,750 income); Baldwin (161 residents, $49,583 income); Blairsburg (163 residents, $83,000 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Five Points, AL (162 residents); Tumacacori-Carmen, AZ (162 residents); Cokedale, CO (162 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.
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.
Bachelor's+ share A+
67.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
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 A
$127,188
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Sun Valley Lake profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Bachelor's+ share: 96/100 (A+) · 67.1%
Cost of living: 94/100 (A+) · 87.8 index
Household income: 89/100 (A) · $127,188
How does Sun Valley Lake compare to other US cities?
Where Sun Valley Lake sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income89% higher than other cities
Home value84% 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 Sun Valley Lake 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 Sun Valley Lake near the bottom of Iowa's cities
Among the 858 Iowa cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Sun Valley Lake ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Sun Valley Lake only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#12 of 845
99th percentile in Iowa
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 858
0th percentile in Iowa
Median Home Value
#6 of 849
99th percentile in Iowa
Poverty Rate
#764 of 858
0th percentile in Iowa
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#5 of 858
99th 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
89th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Sun Valley Lake's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$485,30016th percentilemore affordable than 16% 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
Sun Valley Lake's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,119 of 15,516
More affordable than 35% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,989 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.8×, Sun Valley Lake sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,119 of 15,516 and #7,989 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$127,188Sun Valley Lake, IA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Sun Valley Lake, 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 Sun Valley Lake, IA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)67.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)42.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
162
Median Income
$127,188
Median Home Value
$485,300
Median Age
69.7
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
42.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
67.1%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
24.6 minutes
Drive Alone
71.0%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
29.0%
Based on 69 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 Sun Valley Lake. 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 Sun Valley Lake 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 Sun Valley Lake sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Sun Valley Lake 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.