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Place dossier plate
SheetIA-WALCOTT-IA · Walcott, IA 1,895 pop · income 64th 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 Walcott
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Walcott on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Washington Pa… · lowest
51,563
Washington Pa… · lowest
51,563 median HH income
20.6% of the leader · rank #1
Cortland · near
82,750
Cortland · near
82,750 median HH income
33.1% of the leader · rank #2
Union · near
82,750
Union · near
82,750 median HH income
33.1% of the leader · rank #3
Vilonia · near
82,753
Vilonia · near
82,753 median HH income
33.1% of the leader · rank #4
Walcott · this city
82,756
Walcott · this city
82,756 median HH income
33.1% of the leader · rank #5
Wamego · near
82,756
Wamego · near
82,756 median HH income
33.1% of the leader · rank #6
Bell Canyon · highest
250,001
Bell Canyon · highest
250,001 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Walcott on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. 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: 1,895.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Walcott - the verdict
Walcott ranks in the 64th percentile for household income and the 94th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
64th
percentile, household income
34th
percentile, home value
11th
percentile, median rent
94th
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: Walcott, IA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 1,895 residents in Walcott, a small town within Iowa. Households in Walcott report a median income of $82,756 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 8.7%. Home values in Walcott run a median of $171,800, and the median resident age is 40.1 years. 19.8% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 66.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 1 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 80% from five years earlier. Walcott reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 258.6 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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Iowa's average monthly utility costs around $212 (state average). Commute times here average 19.3 minutes, with 87.4% driving alone and 5.5% 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 Walcott'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 comparison shortlist to population change to schools and households to work and mobility to reported crime to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Walcott, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, local building permits.
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. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Walcott?
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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Iowa, the closest population matches are Remsen (1,897 residents, $98,250 income); Ogden (1,902 residents, $70,556 income); Durant (1,904 residents, $82,563 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Bell Canyon, CA (1,896 residents); Washington Park, FL (1,896 residents); Churubusco, IN (1,894 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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -15 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.0% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 1 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
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.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 19.8% 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Walcott?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 87.4%. The reported mean trip to work is 19.3 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. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
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.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Walcott?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 258.6 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 89% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
Total reported rate
258.6
Violent rate
129.3
Property rate
129.3
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
How far does income reach against housing in Walcott?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.7%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.1×
Home value
$171,800
Household income
$82,756
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Above median income · poverty 8.7% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
87.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Iowa average
C+
City profile score · Walcott, IA
61/100
5 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.
Violent crime C+
129 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income C+
$82,756
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate D
8.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
19.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Walcott profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 94/100 (A+) · 87.8 index
Violent crime: 64/100 (C+) · 129 /100k
Household income: 62/100 (C+) · $82,756
Poverty rate: 45/100 (D) · 8.7%
Bachelor's+ share: 34/100 (F) · 19.8%
Where Walcott sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Walcott's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Walcott highlighted among 24 peers.Read the chart values
Walcott, IA (this city): home $171,800, crime 259/100k
Bel Air, MD : home $189,700, crime 2,245/100k
Ogden, IA : home $155,800, crime 205/100k
Durant, IA : home $202,000, crime 223/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Walcott compare to other US cities?
Here's how Walcott stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income64% higher than other cities
Home value34% pricier than other cities
Median rent11% pricier than other cities
Safety94% 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, Walcott ranks #23 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 Walcott 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 Walcott near the bottom of Iowa's cities
Among the 858 Iowa cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Walcott ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Walcott only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#156 of 845
82nd percentile in Iowa
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 858
0th percentile in Iowa
Median Home Value
#187 of 849
78th percentile in Iowa
Poverty Rate
#280 of 858
67th percentile in Iowa
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#352 of 858
59th 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
64th percentile nationally for median household income · 94th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Walcott's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Walcott'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 Walcott's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$171,800Among the most affordablemore affordable than 66% 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
Walcott's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#1,926 of 15,516
More affordable than 88% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,830 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.1×, Walcott sits in the affordable band:
national rank #1,926 of 15,516 and #1,830 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
$82,756Walcott, IA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Walcott, 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 Walcott, IA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)19.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)66.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,895
Median Income
$82,756
Median Home Value
$171,800
Median Age
40.1
Poverty Rate
8.7%
Labor force participation
66.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
19.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
258.6
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
129.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
129.3
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
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Walcott's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,545 residents
2021
1,539 residents
2022
1,536 residents
2023
1,538 residents
2024
1,538 residents
2025
1,530 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
1
housing units authorized
Single-Family
1
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
5
5
0
$1.4M
2020
3
3
0
$0.7M
2021
5
5
0
$1.6M
2022
2
2
0
$0.7M
2023
1
1
0
$0.8M
2024
1
1
0
$0.3M
Permit volume decreased 80% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
19.3 minutes
Drive Alone
87.4%
Carpool
4.4%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.6%
Work from Home
5.5%
Other
1.1%
Based on 989 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 Walcott. 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 Walcott 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 Walcott sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Walcott 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.