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Place dossier plate
SheetIN-PAOLI-IN · Paoli, IN 3,274 pop · income 14th pct · 6 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 Paoli
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Paoli on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Paw Paw · lowest
38,989
Paw Paw · lowest
38,989 median HH income
18.9% of the leader · rank #1
Hawaiian Ocea… · near
45,917
Hawaiian Ocea… · near
45,917 median HH income
22.3% of the leader · rank #2
Hayfork · near
45,918
Hayfork · near
45,918 median HH income
22.3% of the leader · rank #3
Shiloh · near
45,919
Shiloh · near
45,919 median HH income
22.3% of the leader · rank #4
Central Falls · near
45,921
Central Falls · near
45,921 median HH income
22.3% of the leader · rank #5
Paoli · this city
45,926
Paoli · this city
45,926 median HH income
22.3% of the leader · rank #6
South Duxbury · highest
206,111
South Duxbury · highest
206,111 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 Paoli 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: 3,274.
Nationally, Paoli sits in the 14th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
14th
percentile, household income
22nd
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: Paoli, IN
3,274 people live in Paoli, Indiana - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Paoli brings in $45,926 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 13.7%. Home values in Paoli run a median of $134,300, and the median resident age is 36.3 years. About 13.2% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 49.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 54.1°F with 49.5 inches of precipitation per year and 12.8 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in Indiana run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Indiana scores 93.3 (Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. 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). FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 45.5 out of 100 (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Paoli'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 housing and income to within-city variation to climate and hazard context to comparison shortlist to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Paoli, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits; 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 Paoli?
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.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 13.2% 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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 79.4%. 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. 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.
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 Paoli?
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 Syracuse (3,232 residents, $63,894 income); Roselawn (3,231 residents, $80,061 income); Smithville-Sanders (3,228 residents, $72,331 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Minerva, OH (3,274 residents); Lake Arrowhead, ME (3,273 residents); South Duxbury, MA (3,272 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 Paoli?
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 2.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 13.7%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.9×
Home value
$134,300
Household income
$45,926
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 54.1°F, with 49.5 inches of precipitation and 12.8 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Indiana is 45.5 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
45.5
Annual precipitation
49.5 in
Mean temperature
54.1°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -57 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.6% 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 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.
2020 estimate
3,653
2025 estimate
3,596
Period change
-1.6%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Indiana average
F
City profile score · Paoli, IN
32/100
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 F
13.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$45,926
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
13.2%
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).
Paoli profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 72/100 (B) · 93.3 index
Poverty rate: 25/100 (F) · 13.7%
Household income: 15/100 (F) · $45,926
Bachelor's+ share: 15/100 (F) · 13.2%
How does Paoli compare to other US cities?
Where Paoli sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income14% higher than other cities
Home value22% 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 Paoli 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 Paoli near the bottom of Indiana's cities
Among the 850 Indiana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Paoli ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Paoli only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#665 of 766
13th percentile in Indiana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 850
0th percentile in Indiana
Median Home Value
#381 of 771
51st percentile in Indiana
Poverty Rate
#192 of 849
77th percentile in Indiana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#477 of 850
43rd 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
14th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Paoli's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$134,300Among the most affordablemore affordable than 78% 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
Paoli's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#6,276 of 15,516
More affordable than 60% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#5,359 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.9×, Paoli sits in the affordable band:
national rank #6,276 of 15,516 and #5,359 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
$45,926Paoli, IN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Paoli, 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 Paoli, IN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)13.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)13.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)49.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,274
Median Income
$45,926
Median Home Value
$134,300
Median Age
36.3
Poverty Rate
13.7%
Labor force participation
49.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
13.2%
Climate
Avg Temperature
54.1°F
Annual Precipitation
49.5"
Annual Snowfall
12.8"
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
Paoli's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,653 residents
2021
3,627 residents
2022
3,605 residents
2023
3,617 residents
2024
3,613 residents
2025
3,596 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
79.4%
Carpool
12.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.9%
Work from Home
7.1%
Based on 1,216 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 Paoli. 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 Paoli 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 Paoli sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Paoli 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.