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Place dossier plate
SheetID-SWEETWATER-ID · Sweetwater, ID 168 pop · income 87th 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 Sweetwater
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Sweetwater on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Stites · lowest
29,583
Stites · lowest
29,583 median HH income
24.6% of the leader · rank #1
Makakilo · near
120,489
Makakilo · near
120,489 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #2
Moscow · near
120,489
Moscow · near
120,489 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #3
Minnetonka · near
120,496
Minnetonka · near
120,496 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #4
Sweetwater · this city
120,500
Sweetwater · this city
120,500 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #5
Grant-Valkaria · highest
120,500
Grant-Valkaria · highest
120,500 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
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 Sweetwater 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: 168.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Sweetwater lands in the 87th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
87th
percentile, household income
40th
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: Sweetwater, ID
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 168 residents in Sweetwater, a small town within Idaho. Sweetwater households earn a median of $120,500 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Typical homes in Sweetwater are valued around $190,500, and the median resident age is 53.8 years. About 32.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 52.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Living costs in Idaho run below the national norm: the state registers 95.5 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,173 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Idaho run around $170, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Natural-hazard exposure scores 38.5 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Sweetwater'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 housing and income to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Sweetwater, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Sweetwater?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 95.4%. 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. 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Sweetwater?
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 1.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Sweetwater?
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 St. Charles (168 residents); Island Park (169 residents, $74,750 income); Castleford (166 residents, $44,167 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Poston, AZ (168 residents); Ulm, AR (168 residents); Macdoel, CA (168 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.
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.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income A
$120,500
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share C+
32.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
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.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Sweetwater profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Household income: 86/100 (A) · $120,500
Bachelor's+ share: 63/100 (C+) · 32.7%
Cost of living: 61/100 (C+) · 95.5 index
How does Sweetwater compare to other US cities?
Here's how Sweetwater stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income87% higher than other cities
Home value40% 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 Sweetwater 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 Sweetwater near the bottom of Idaho's cities
Among the 215 Idaho cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Sweetwater ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Sweetwater only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#3 of 206
99th percentile in Idaho
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 215
0th percentile in Idaho
Median Home Value
#154 of 204
25th percentile in Idaho
Poverty Rate
#187 of 215
0th percentile in Idaho
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#41 of 215
81st 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
87th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Sweetwater's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$190,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 60% 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
Sweetwater's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#531 of 15,516
More affordable than 97% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#519 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.6×, Sweetwater sits in the affordable band:
national rank #531 of 15,516 and #519 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
$120,500Sweetwater, ID median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Sweetwater, 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 Sweetwater, ID.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)32.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)52.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
168
Median Income
$120,500
Median Home Value
$190,500
Median Age
53.8
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
52.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
32.7%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
95.4%
Carpool
4.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 87 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 Sweetwater. 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 Sweetwater 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 Sweetwater sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Sweetwater 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, 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.