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Place dossier plate
SheetID-SHELLEY-ID · Shelley, ID 4,987 pop · income 41st 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 Shelley
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Shelley on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Weiser · lowest
45,463
Weiser · lowest
45,463 median HH income
30.5% of the leader · rank #1
West Yarmouth · near
63,859
West Yarmouth · near
63,859 median HH income
42.9% of the leader · rank #2
Shelley · this city
63,864
Shelley · this city
63,864 median HH income
42.9% of the leader · rank #3
Milford · near
63,864
Milford · near
63,864 median HH income
42.9% of the leader · rank #4
Van · near
63,864
Van · near
63,864 median HH income
42.9% of the leader · rank #5
Garber · near
63,869
Garber · near
63,869 median HH income
42.9% of the leader · rank #6
Chain Lake · highest
148,932
Chain Lake · highest
148,932 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 Shelley 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: 4,987.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Shelley - the verdict
Shelley ranks in the 41st percentile for household income and the 60th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
41st
percentile, household income
59th
percentile, home value
51st
percentile, median rent
60th
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: Shelley, ID
Idaho's Shelley is a small town, with 4,987 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Shelley brings in $63,864 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 6.1%. Shelley's housing stock carries a median value of $267,200, and the median resident age is 29.4 years. About 21.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 66.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 28 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 63% from five years earlier. Shelley reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 1093.3 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Living costs in Idaho run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Idaho at 95.5 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Below Average). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,173 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $170 across Idaho, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Shelley'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 schools and households to housing and income to comparison shortlist to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Shelley, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, matched public-school count, local building permits, 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. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Shelley?
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 80.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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 +463 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +9.6% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 28 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The NCES join finds 7 public schools within the city match. 21.7% 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 city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
Which cities make useful reference points for Shelley?
Within Idaho, the closest population matches are Kimberly (4,883 residents, $76,587 income); Rigby (5,251 residents, $78,278 income); American Falls (4,636 residents, $58,376 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are The Pinehills, MA (4,988 residents); Princeton, MN (4,988 residents); Forked River, NJ (4,988 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Shelley?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 6.1%, 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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
Household income
$63,864
Home value
$267,200
Value / income
4.2×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Shelley?
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 1093.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 52% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
886.0
Violent rate
207.4
Total reported rate
1093.3
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Below median income · poverty 6.1% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
95.5 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Idaho average
D
City profile score · Shelley, ID
49/100
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 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
6.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime D
207 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income D
$63,864
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
21.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Shelley profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 61/100 (C+) · 95.5 index
Poverty rate: 58/100 (C) · 6.1%
Violent crime: 47/100 (D) · 207 /100k
Household income: 40/100 (D) · $63,864
Bachelor's+ share: 39/100 (F) · 21.7%
Where Shelley sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Shelley'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 - Shelley highlighted among 9 peers.Read the chart values
Shelley, ID (this city): home $267,200, crime 1,093/100k
Princeton, MN : home $212,200, crime 2,455/100k
Winfield, AL : home $160,600, crime 2,155/100k
Kimberly, ID : home $289,500, crime 409/100k
Rigby, ID : home $267,200, crime 1,355/100k
American Falls, ID : home $172,800, crime 556/100k
Buhl, ID : home $192,600, crime 420/100k
Preston, ID : home $280,500, crime 446/100k
Weiser, ID : home $196,200, crime 178/100k
How does Shelley compare to other US cities?
Where Shelley sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income41% higher than other cities
Home value59% pricier than other cities
Median rent51% pricier than other cities
Safety60% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Idaho and the picture shifts: Shelley ranks #36 of 53 Idaho cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Shelley 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 Shelley near the bottom of Idaho's cities
Among the 215 Idaho cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Shelley ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Shelley only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#99 of 206
52nd percentile in Idaho
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 215
0th percentile in Idaho
Median Home Value
#85 of 204
58th percentile in Idaho
Poverty Rate
#131 of 215
39th percentile in Idaho
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#91 of 215
56th 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
41st percentile nationally for median household income · 60th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Shelley's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Shelley'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 Shelley's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$267,20041st percentilemore affordable than 41% 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
Shelley's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,201 of 15,516
More affordable than 28% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,688 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.2×, Shelley sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,201 of 15,516 and #8,688 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
$63,864Shelley, ID median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Shelley, 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 Shelley, ID.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)21.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)66.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
4,987
Median Income
$63,864
Median Home Value
$267,200
Median Age
29.4
Poverty Rate
6.1%
Labor force participation
66.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
21.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1093.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
207.4
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
886.0
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
7
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Shelley's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
4,840 residents
2021
5,035 residents
2022
5,131 residents
2023
5,202 residents
2024
5,276 residents
2025
5,303 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
28
housing units authorized
Single-Family
24
detached homes
Multifamily
4
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
5.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
76
10
66
$6.4M
2020
69
13
56
$9.2M
2021
21
17
4
$4.6M
2022
37
37
0
$15.6M
2023
27
25
2
$10.2M
2024
28
24
4
$12.4M
Permit volume decreased 63% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
80.4%
Carpool
9.3%
Public Transit
0.6%
Walk
1.0%
Work from Home
6.9%
Other
1.8%
Based on 2,253 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 Shelley. 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 Shelley 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 Shelley sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Shelley 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, 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.