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-URBANA-IA · Urbana, IA 1,628 pop · income 84th 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 Urbana
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Urbana on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Hopwood · lowest
45,608
Hopwood · lowest
45,608 median HH income
40.5% of the leader · rank #1
Pflugerville · near
112,656
Pflugerville · near
112,656 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #2
Urbana · this city
112,672
Urbana · this city
112,672 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #3
Lake Fenton · near
112,676
Lake Fenton · near
112,676 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #4
Manchester · near
112,679
Manchester · near
112,679 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #5
Rochester · near
112,689
Rochester · near
112,689 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
Trumbull · highest
112,708
Trumbull · highest
112,708 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 Urbana 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: 1,628.
Nationally, Urbana sits in the 84th percentile for household income and the 99th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
84th
percentile, household income
49th
percentile, home value
11th
percentile, median rent
99th
percentile, safety
📝 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: Urbana, IA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 1,628 residents in Urbana, a small town within Iowa. The typical household in Urbana brings in $112,672 a year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 5.2%. Urbana's housing stock carries a median value of $224,100, and the median resident age is 31.3 years. 28.8% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 75.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 9 residential building permits were authorized in Urbana (Stable), up 0% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Urbana reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 0.0 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $989 monthly. 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 Urbana'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 reported crime to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income to population change to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Urbana, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, annual population history, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Urbana?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 0.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 100% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Which cities make useful reference points for Urbana?
Within Iowa, the closest population matches are Nashua (1,634 residents, $63,750 income); Shell Rock (1,634 residents, $70,556 income); Monona (1,618 residents, $70,509 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Fairplay, GA (1,628 residents); Homer, GA (1,628 residents); Rome, IL (1,628 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 Urbana?
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 84.5%. 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 Urbana?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 5.2%, 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.
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 Urbana 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 +106 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +6.8% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 9 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
+6.8%
2025 estimate
1,671
2020 estimate
1,565
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 28.8% 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.
Matched public schools
1
Bachelor's degree+
28.8%
Poverty estimate
5.2%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
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.
Violent crime A+
0 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger 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 A-
$112,672
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate C+
5.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C
28.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Urbana profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 97/100 (A+) · 0 /100k
Cost of living: 94/100 (A+) · 87.8 index
Household income: 83/100 (A-) · $112,672
Poverty rate: 64/100 (C+) · 5.2%
Bachelor's+ share: 56/100 (C) · 28.8%
How does Urbana compare to other US cities?
Here's how Urbana stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income84% higher than other cities
Home value49% pricier than other cities
Median rent11% pricier than other cities
Safety99% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Iowa alone, Urbana ranks #3 of 141 Iowa cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Urbana 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 Urbana near the bottom of Iowa's cities
Among the 858 Iowa cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Urbana ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Urbana only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#30 of 845
96th percentile in Iowa
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 858
0th percentile in Iowa
Median Home Value
#96 of 849
89th percentile in Iowa
Poverty Rate
#470 of 858
45th percentile in Iowa
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#133 of 858
84th 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
84th percentile nationally for median household income · 99th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Urbana's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Urbana's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Urbana's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$224,100Among the most affordablemore affordable than 51% 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
Urbana's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#1,589 of 15,516
More affordable than 90% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,522 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.0×, Urbana sits in the affordable band:
national rank #1,589 of 15,516 and #1,522 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
$112,672Urbana, IA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Urbana, 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 Urbana, IA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)28.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)5.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)75.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,628
Median Income
$112,672
Median Home Value
$224,100
Median Age
31.3
Poverty Rate
5.2%
Labor force participation
75.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
28.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
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
Urbana's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,565 residents
2021
1,592 residents
2022
1,621 residents
2023
1,627 residents
2024
1,641 residents
2025
1,671 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
9
housing units authorized
Single-Family
5
detached homes
Multifamily
4
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
5.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
9
9
0
$2.7M
2020
6
4
2
$2.2M
2021
13
7
6
$3.9M
2022
4
2
2
$1.1M
2023
6
4
2
$1.7M
2024
9
5
4
$2.5M
Permit volume increased 0% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
84.5%
Carpool
2.9%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
12.1%
Based on 862 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 Urbana. 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 Urbana 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 Urbana sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Urbana 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, FBI UCR, 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.