Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetIN-BUTLER-IN · Butler, IN 2,632 pop · income 20th 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 Butler
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Butler on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Clifton · lowest
44,286
Clifton · lowest
44,286 median HH income
56.3% of the leader · rank #1
Butler · this city
50,179
Butler · this city
50,179 median HH income
63.8% of the leader · rank #2
Munden · near
50,179
Munden · near
50,179 median HH income
63.8% of the leader · rank #3
Hessmer · near
50,179
Hessmer · near
50,179 median HH income
63.8% of the leader · rank #4
Flat Rock · near
50,179
Flat Rock · near
50,179 median HH income
63.8% of the leader · rank #5
Oliver · near
50,185
Oliver · near
50,185 median HH income
63.9% of the leader · rank #6
Tobaccoville · highest
78,591
Tobaccoville · highest
78,591 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 Butler 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: 2,632.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Butler - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Butler lands in the 20th percentile for household income and the 75th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
20th
percentile, household income
10th
percentile, home value
27th
percentile, median rent
75th
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: Butler, IN
Butler is a small town in Indiana, home to 2,632 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Butler report a median income of $50,179 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 14.7%. Butler's housing stock carries a median value of $100,700, and the median resident age is 34.9 years. Educational attainment runs 7.7% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 55.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Butler reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 742.4 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 Indiana run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Indiana at 93.3 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Below Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,096 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $235 across Indiana, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Natural-hazard exposure scores 45.5 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Butler'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 schools and households to housing and income to comparison shortlist to population change to reported crime to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Butler, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the education layer cover for Butler?
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 7.7% 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 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Butler?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 14.7%, 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Butler?
Within Indiana, the closest population matches are Oakland City (2,635 residents, $48,750 income); Avilla (2,637 residents, $73,250 income); Brookville (2,640 residents, $58,750 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Valentine, NE (2,632 residents); Tobaccoville, NC (2,632 residents); Clifton, TN (2,632 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.
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 +45 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.7% 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.
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 Butler?
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 742.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 67% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
668.2
Violent rate
74.2
Total reported rate
742.4
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the journey to work look like in Butler?
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 84.6%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
3.9%
Drive alone
84.6%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,074 workers age 16+.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Indiana average
D
City profile score · Butler, IN
40/100
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.
Violent crime B+
74 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Cost of living B
93.3 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 F
14.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$50,179
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
7.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Butler profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 77/100 (B+) · 74 /100k
Cost of living: 72/100 (B) · 93.3 index
Poverty rate: 23/100 (F) · 14.7%
Household income: 21/100 (F) · $50,179
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 7.7%
Where Butler sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Butler'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 - Butler highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Butler, IN (this city): home $100,700, crime 742/100k
Valentine, NE : home $135,600, crime 1,102/100k
Watonga, OK : home $101,900, crime 1,356/100k
Overton, TX : home $114,100, crime 945/100k
Brookville, IN : home $172,100, crime 226/100k
Albion, IN : home $138,200, crime 675/100k
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 Butler compare to other US cities?
Butler measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income20% higher than other cities
Home value10% pricier than other cities
Median rent27% pricier than other cities
Safety75% 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 Indiana alone, Butler ranks #37 of 110 Indiana 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 Butler against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Indiana only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Indiana-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Butler near the bottom of Indiana's cities
Among the 850 Indiana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Butler ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Butler only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#596 of 766
22nd percentile in Indiana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 850
0th percentile in Indiana
Median Home Value
#579 of 771
25th percentile in Indiana
Poverty Rate
#167 of 849
80th percentile in Indiana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#656 of 850
22nd percentile in Indiana
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 Indiana only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
20th percentile nationally for median household income · 75th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Butler's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Butler'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 Butler's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$100,700Among the most affordablemore affordable than 90% 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
Butler's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#1,649 of 15,516
More affordable than 89% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,580 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.0×, Butler sits in the affordable band:
national rank #1,649 of 15,516 and #1,580 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
$50,179Butler, IN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Butler, IN median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Butler, IN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)7.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)14.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)55.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,632
Median Income
$50,179
Median Home Value
$100,700
Median Age
34.9
Poverty Rate
14.7%
Labor force participation
55.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
7.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
742.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
74.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
668.2
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
Butler's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,628 residents
2021
2,624 residents
2022
2,649 residents
2023
2,675 residents
2024
2,671 residents
2025
2,673 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
84.6%
Carpool
8.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
2.1%
Work from Home
3.9%
Other
0.6%
Based on 1,074 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Indiana statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $235
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Indiana at $235 (electricity about $110 , water and sewer about $45 ).
These are Indiana statewide averages, not a meter reading for Butler. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Indiana's BEA cost-of-living index is 93.3 (Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Butler is $1,096/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Indiana statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 45.5 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Indiana statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Butler sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Butler compares to similar-size Indiana 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 ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.