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Place dossier plate
SheetIN-OSSIAN-IN · Ossian, IN 3,342 pop · income 47th 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 Ossian
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Ossian on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Clare · lowest
43,105
Clare · lowest
43,105 median HH income
44.9% of the leader · rank #1
Katherine · near
67,639
Katherine · near
67,639 median HH income
70.5% of the leader · rank #2
Rest Haven · near
67,639
Rest Haven · near
67,639 median HH income
70.5% of the leader · rank #3
Ester · near
67,640
Ester · near
67,640 median HH income
70.5% of the leader · rank #4
Ossian · this city
67,641
Ossian · this city
67,641 median HH income
70.5% of the leader · rank #5
East Rancho D… · near
67,645
East Rancho D… · near
67,645 median HH income
70.5% of the leader · rank #6
Meadow Vista · highest
95,998
Meadow Vista · highest
95,998 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 Ossian 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: 3,342.
Nationally, Ossian sits in the 47th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
47th
percentile, household income
38th
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: Ossian, IN
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 3,342 residents in Ossian, a small town within Indiana. Median household income here is $67,641 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 6.0%. Ossian's housing stock carries a median value of $184,000, and the median resident age is 36.7 years. Educational attainment runs 28.4% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 61.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 3 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). 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 Ossian'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 work and mobility to population change 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 Ossian, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Ossian?
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.
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 28.4% 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Ossian?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 88.3%. 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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +92 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.7% 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.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Ossian?
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 Indiana, the closest population matches are Sheridan (3,355 residents, $65,104 income); Newburgh (3,370 residents, $72,431 income); Paoli (3,274 residents, $45,926 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Meadow Vista, CA (3,343 residents); Clare, MI (3,341 residents); Blackstone, VA (3,341 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.
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 Ossian?
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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 6.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.7×
Home value
$184,000
Household income
$67,641
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Below median income · poverty 6.0% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
93.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Indiana average
C
City profile score · Ossian, IN
57/100
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 C
6.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C
28.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income D
$67,641
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Ossian profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 72/100 (B) · 93.3 index
Poverty rate: 59/100 (C) · 6.0%
Bachelor's+ share: 55/100 (C) · 28.4%
Household income: 46/100 (D) · $67,641
How does Ossian compare to other US cities?
Where Ossian sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income47% higher than other cities
Home value38% 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 Ossian 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 Ossian near the bottom of Indiana's cities
Among the 850 Indiana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Ossian ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Ossian only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#299 of 766
61st percentile in Indiana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 850
0th percentile in Indiana
Median Home Value
#212 of 771
73rd percentile in Indiana
Poverty Rate
#454 of 849
46th percentile in Indiana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#162 of 850
81st 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
47th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Ossian's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$184,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 62% 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
Ossian's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,132 of 15,516
More affordable than 67% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,493 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.7×, Ossian sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,132 of 15,516 and #4,493 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
$67,641Ossian, IN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Ossian, 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 Ossian, IN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)28.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)61.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,342
Median Income
$67,641
Median Home Value
$184,000
Median Age
36.7
Poverty Rate
6.0%
Labor force participation
61.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
28.4%
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Ossian's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,356 residents
2021
3,365 residents
2022
3,387 residents
2023
3,426 residents
2024
3,447 residents
2025
3,448 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
88.3%
Carpool
3.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
7.9%
Based on 1,541 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 Ossian. 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 Ossian 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 Ossian sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Ossian 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.