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Place dossier plate
SheetIN-MONTICELLO-IN · Monticello, IN 5,504 pop · income 20th pct · 9 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 Monticello
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Monticello on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Hartford City · lowest
36,868
Hartford City · lowest
36,868 median HH income
31.8% of the leader · rank #1
Monticello · this city
50,138
Monticello · this city
50,138 median HH income
43.2% of the leader · rank #2
Bethany · near
50,139
Bethany · near
50,139 median HH income
43.2% of the leader · rank #3
Eastlake · near
50,139
Eastlake · near
50,139 median HH income
43.2% of the leader · rank #4
Thackerville · near
50,139
Thackerville · near
50,139 median HH income
43.2% of the leader · rank #5
Converse · near
50,139
Converse · near
50,139 median HH income
43.2% of the leader · rank #6
Mead · highest
116,074
Mead · highest
116,074 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 Monticello 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: 5,504.
Nationally, Monticello sits in the 20th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
20th
percentile, household income
18th
percentile, home value
27th
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: Monticello, IN
5,504 people live in Monticello, Indiana - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $50,138 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 4.8%. Monticello's housing stock carries a median value of $122,200, and the median resident age is 46.9 years. Educational attainment runs 11.9% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 50.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 4 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
Living costs in Indiana run below the national norm: the state registers 93.3 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 $1,096 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Indiana's average monthly utility costs around $235 (state average). Commute times here average 17.2 minutes, with 80.6% driving alone and 3.6% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 45.5 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Monticello'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 within-city variation to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Monticello, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the education layer cover for Monticello?
The NCES join finds 4 public schools within the city match. 11.9% 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.
What can 9 Census tracts reveal inside Monticello?
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Monticello?
Within Indiana, the closest population matches are Cicero (5,441 residents, $75,278 income); Hidden Valley (5,625 residents, $106,071 income); Rensselaer (5,369 residents, $61,648 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Mount Carmel, TN (5,504 residents); Mead, CO (5,503 residents); Holdrege, NE (5,503 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Monticello?
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 80.6%. The reported mean trip to work is 17.2 minutes.
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 Monticello?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.8%, 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.
Household income
$50,138
Home value
$122,200
Value / income
2.4×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Is Monticello growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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 +85 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.5% 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.
Period change
+1.5%
2025 estimate
5,595
2020 estimate
5,510
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Indiana average
D
City profile score · Monticello, IN
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.
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 B-
4.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$50,138
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
11.9%
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).
Monticello profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 72/100 (B) · 93.3 index
Poverty rate: 67/100 (B-) · 4.8%
Household income: 20/100 (F) · $50,138
Bachelor's+ share: 12/100 (F) · 11.9%
How does Monticello compare to other US cities?
Here's how Monticello stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income20% higher than other cities
Home value18% pricier than other cities
Median rent27% 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 Monticello 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 Monticello near the bottom of Indiana's cities
Among the 850 Indiana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Monticello ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Monticello only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#598 of 766
22nd percentile in Indiana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 850
0th percentile in Indiana
Median Home Value
#446 of 771
42nd percentile in Indiana
Poverty Rate
#499 of 849
40th percentile in Indiana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#526 of 850
38th 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. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Monticello's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$122,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 82% 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
Monticello's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,691 of 15,516
More affordable than 76% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,350 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.4×, Monticello sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,691 of 15,516 and #3,350 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
$50,138Monticello, IN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Monticello, 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 Monticello, IN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)11.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)50.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
5,504
Median Income
$50,138
Median Home Value
$122,200
Median Age
46.9
Poverty Rate
4.8%
Labor force participation
50.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
11.9%
Schools
Total Schools
4
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Monticello's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
5,510 residents
2021
5,498 residents
2022
5,533 residents
2023
5,576 residents
2024
5,603 residents
2025
5,595 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
17.2 minutes
Drive Alone
80.6%
Carpool
15.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
3.6%
Based on 2,241 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 Monticello. 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 Monticello 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 Monticello sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Monticello 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, 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.