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Place dossier plate
SheetID-ASHTON-ID · Ashton, ID 1,329 pop · income 45th pct · 4 tracts
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 Ashton
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Ashton on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Edison · lowest
27,440
Edison · lowest
27,440 median HH income
16.5% of the leader · rank #1
Ashton · this city
66,250
Ashton · this city
66,250 median HH income
39.9% of the leader · rank #2
Jasper · near
66,250
Jasper · near
66,250 median HH income
39.9% of the leader · rank #3
Port Alsworth · near
66,250
Port Alsworth · near
66,250 median HH income
39.9% of the leader · rank #4
Arivaca Junct… · near
66,250
Arivaca Junct… · near
66,250 median HH income
39.9% of the leader · rank #5
Chualar · near
66,250
Chualar · near
66,250 median HH income
39.9% of the leader · rank #6
Darien Downto… · highest
166,111
Darien Downto… · highest
166,111 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 Ashton 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: 1,329.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Ashton lands in the 45th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
45th
percentile, household income
49th
percentile, home value
51st
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: Ashton, ID
1,329 people live in Ashton, Idaho - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Ashton brings in $66,250 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 6.3%. Typical homes in Ashton are valued around $222,300, and the median resident age is 40.8 years. 25.3% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 63.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 6 residential building permits were authorized in Ashton (Building Boom), up 500% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 43.4°F with 19.7 inches of precipitation per year and 70.1 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in Idaho run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Idaho scores 95.5 (Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,173 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Idaho run around $170, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 38.5 out of 100 (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Ashton'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 within-city variation to schools and households to climate and hazard context to work and mobility to population change to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Ashton, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares, local building permits, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Ashton?
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 Idaho, the closest population matches are Grace (1,345 residents, $69,286 income); Genesee (1,312 residents, $78,125 income); Avimor (1,289 residents, $92,458 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Darien Downtown, CT (1,329 residents); Payne, OH (1,329 residents); Shasta, CA (1,330 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.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
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. 25.3% 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 two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 43.4°F, with 19.7 inches of precipitation and 70.1 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Idaho is 38.5 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Ashton?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 74.2%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Drive alone
74.2%
Work from home
7.6%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 633 workers age 16+.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -7 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 6 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.
2020 estimate
984
2025 estimate
977
Period change
-0.7%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
How far does income reach against housing in Ashton?
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 3.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 6.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
3.4×
Home value
$222,300
Household income
$66,250
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Below median income · poverty 6.3% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
95.5 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Idaho average
C-
City profile score · Ashton, ID
53/100
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 C+
95.5 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 C
6.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C-
25.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income D
$66,250
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).
Ashton profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 61/100 (C+) · 95.5 index
Poverty rate: 57/100 (C) · 6.3%
Bachelor's+ share: 50/100 (C-) · 25.3%
Household income: 44/100 (D) · $66,250
How does Ashton compare to other US cities?
Ashton measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income45% higher than other cities
Home value49% pricier than other cities
Median rent51% 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 Ashton against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Idaho only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Idaho-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Ashton near the bottom of Idaho's cities
Among the 215 Idaho cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Ashton ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Ashton only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#90 of 206
56th percentile in Idaho
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 215
0th percentile in Idaho
Median Home Value
#116 of 204
43rd percentile in Idaho
Poverty Rate
#128 of 215
40th percentile in Idaho
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#71 of 215
67th percentile in Idaho
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 Idaho only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
45th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Ashton's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$222,300Among 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
Ashton's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#8,363 of 15,516
More affordable than 46% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,816 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.4×, Ashton sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,363 of 15,516 and #6,816 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
$66,250Ashton, ID median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Ashton, ID median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Ashton, ID.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)25.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)63.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,329
Median Income
$66,250
Median Home Value
$222,300
Median Age
40.8
Poverty Rate
6.3%
Labor force participation
63.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
25.3%
Climate
Avg Temperature
43.4°F
Annual Precipitation
19.7"
Annual Snowfall
70.1"
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
Ashton's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
984 residents
2021
988 residents
2022
1,000 residents
2023
991 residents
2024
985 residents
2025
977 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
6
housing units authorized
Single-Family
2
detached homes
Multifamily
4
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
4.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
1
1
0
$0.1M
2020
2
2
0
$0.6M
2021
1
1
0
$0.2M
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
6
2
4
$0.8M
Permit volume increased 500% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
74.2%
Carpool
12.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
5.2%
Work from Home
7.6%
Based on 633 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Idaho statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $170
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Idaho at $170 (electricity about $80 , water and sewer about $40 ).
These are Idaho statewide averages, not a meter reading for Ashton. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Idaho's BEA cost-of-living index is 95.5 (Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Ashton is $1,173/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Idaho statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 38.5 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Idaho statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Ashton sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Ashton compares to similar-size Idaho 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.