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-THOR-IA · Thor, IA 276 pop · income 29th 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 Thor
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Thor on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Cunningham · lowest
47,969
Cunningham · lowest
47,969 median HH income
55.6% of the leader · rank #1
Thor · this city
56,250
Thor · this city
56,250 median HH income
65.2% of the leader · rank #2
St. Florian · near
56,250
St. Florian · near
56,250 median HH income
65.2% of the leader · rank #3
Koliganek · near
56,250
Koliganek · near
56,250 median HH income
65.2% of the leader · rank #4
Newhalen · near
56,250
Newhalen · near
56,250 median HH income
65.2% of the leader · rank #5
St. Michael · near
56,250
St. Michael · near
56,250 median HH income
65.2% of the leader · rank #6
Stout · highest
86,250
Stout · highest
86,250 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 Thor 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: 276.
Nationally, Thor sits in the 29th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
29th
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: Thor, IA
Iowa's Thor is a small town, with 276 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Thor brings in $56,250 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 56.0%. The median resident age is 28.2 years. 6.0% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 47.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $989 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Iowa run around $212, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Thor'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 population change to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Thor, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates; 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 Thor?
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 81.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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 -2 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.1% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Thor?
Within Iowa, the closest population matches are Cleghorn (274 residents, $48,750 income); Stout (274 residents, $86,250 income); Barnum (279 residents, $83,580 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Coaldale, CO (276 residents); Iliff, CO (276 residents); Montrose, IL (276 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 56.0% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
87.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Iowa average
F
City profile score · Thor, IA
33/100
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
$56,250
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
56.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
6.0%
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).
Thor profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 94/100 (A+) · 87.8 index
Household income: 29/100 (F) · $56,250
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 56.0%
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 6.0%
How does Thor compare to other US cities?
Thor measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income29% 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 Thor 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 Thor near the bottom of Iowa's cities
Among the 858 Iowa cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Thor ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Thor only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#632 of 845
25th percentile in Iowa
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 858
0th percentile in Iowa
Poverty Rate
#1 of 858
100th percentile in Iowa
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#788 of 858
8th 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
29th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$56,250Thor, IA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Thor, 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 Thor, IA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)6.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)56.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)47.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
276
Median Income
$56,250
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
28.2
Poverty Rate
56.0%
Labor force participation
47.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
6.0%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Thor's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
179 residents
2021
179 residents
2022
178 residents
2023
178 residents
2024
177 residents
2025
177 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
81.4%
Carpool
8.8%
Public Transit
4.9%
Walk
1.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Other
3.9%
Based on 102 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 Thor. 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 Thor 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 Thor sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Thor 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.