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Place dossier plate
SheetIL-PONTOOSUC-IL · Pontoosuc, IL 104 pop · income 26th 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 Pontoosuc
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Pontoosuc on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Aubrey · lowest
37,500
Aubrey · lowest
37,500 median HH income
44.1% of the leader · rank #1
Pontoosuc · this city
54,375
Pontoosuc · this city
54,375 median HH income
64.0% of the leader · rank #2
Tenakee Sprin… · near
54,375
Tenakee Sprin… · near
54,375 median HH income
64.0% of the leader · rank #3
San Lucas · near
54,375
San Lucas · near
54,375 median HH income
64.0% of the leader · rank #4
Chattahoochee · near
54,375
Chattahoochee · near
54,375 median HH income
64.0% of the leader · rank #5
Bremen · near
54,375
Bremen · near
54,375 median HH income
64.0% of the leader · rank #6
Hartwick · highest
85,000
Hartwick · highest
85,000 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 Pontoosuc 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: 104.
Pontoosuc ranks in the 26th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
26th
percentile, household income
1st
percentile, home value
18th
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: Pontoosuc, IL
Illinois's Pontoosuc is a small town, with 104 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Pontoosuc households earn a median of $54,375 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Typical homes in Pontoosuc are valued around $63,300, and the median resident age is 53.0 years. About 5.2% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 46.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Illinois tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Illinois at 100.0 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Near Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,063 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Illinois's average monthly utility costs around $240 (state average). On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 54.5 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Pontoosuc'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 population change to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Pontoosuc, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, matched public-school count; 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 Pontoosuc?
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 69.4%. 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 Pontoosuc?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, 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.
Is Pontoosuc growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -3 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -3.2% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Which cities make useful reference points for Pontoosuc?
Within Illinois, the closest population matches are Littleton (104 residents, $61,500 income); Paloma (104 residents); Columbus (105 residents, $72,500 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Aubrey, AR (104 residents); Gazelle, CA (104 residents); Tildenville, FL (104 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.
Below median income · poverty 0.0% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
100.0 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Illinois average
D
City profile score · Pontoosuc, IL
43/100
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.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Cost of living D
100.0 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 F
$54,375
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
5.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Pontoosuc profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Cost of living: 40/100 (D) · 100.0 index
Household income: 26/100 (F) · $54,375
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 5.2%
How does Pontoosuc compare to other US cities?
Pontoosuc measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income26% higher than other cities
Home value1% pricier than other cities
Median rent18% 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 Pontoosuc against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Illinois only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Illinois-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Pontoosuc near the bottom of Illinois's cities
Among the 1,336 Illinois cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Pontoosuc ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Pontoosuc only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#984 of 1,311
25th percentile in Illinois
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,336
0th percentile in Illinois
Median Home Value
#1,209 of 1,315
8th percentile in Illinois
Poverty Rate
#1,245 of 1,335
0th percentile in Illinois
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1,246 of 1,336
7th percentile in Illinois
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 Illinois only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
26th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Pontoosuc's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$63,300Among the most affordablemore affordable than 99% 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
Pontoosuc's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#98 of 15,516
More affordable than 99% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#97 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.2×, Pontoosuc sits in the affordable band:
national rank #98 of 15,516 and #97 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
$54,375Pontoosuc, IL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Pontoosuc, IL median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Pontoosuc, IL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)5.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)46.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
104
Median Income
$54,375
Median Home Value
$63,300
Median Age
53.0
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
46.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
5.2%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Pontoosuc's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
95 residents
2021
94 residents
2022
93 residents
2023
94 residents
2024
91 residents
2025
92 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
69.4%
Carpool
30.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 36 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Illinois statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $240
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Illinois at $240 (electricity about $100 , water and sewer about $50 ).
These are Illinois statewide averages, not a meter reading for Pontoosuc. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Illinois's BEA cost-of-living index is 100.0 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Pontoosuc is $1,063/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Illinois statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 54.5 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Illinois statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Pontoosuc sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Pontoosuc compares to similar-size Illinois 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.