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-ROYAL-CENTER-IN · Royal Center, IN 747 pop · income 16th 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 Royal Center
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Royal Center on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Carthage · lowest
42,500
Carthage · lowest
42,500 median HH income
51.0% of the leader · rank #1
Corunna · near
47,420
Corunna · near
47,420 median HH income
56.9% of the leader · rank #2
Royal Center · this city
47,422
Royal Center · this city
47,422 median HH income
56.9% of the leader · rank #3
Georgetown · near
47,423
Georgetown · near
47,423 median HH income
56.9% of the leader · rank #4
Emerson · near
47,426
Emerson · near
47,426 median HH income
56.9% of the leader · rank #5
Hopkinsville · near
47,428
Hopkinsville · near
47,428 median HH income
56.9% of the leader · rank #6
Fillmore · highest
83,306
Fillmore · highest
83,306 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 Royal Center 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: 747.
Royal Center ranks in the 16th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
16th
percentile, household income
4th
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: Royal Center, IN
Indiana's Royal Center is a small town, with 747 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Royal Center report a median income of $47,422 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 9.4%. Typical homes in Royal Center are valued around $84,100, and the median resident age is 41.6 years. Educational attainment runs 21.1% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 56.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 2 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
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). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,096 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Indiana's average monthly utility costs around $235 (state average). 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 Royal Center'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 housing and income to work and mobility to schools and households 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 Royal Center, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Royal Center?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 9.4%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What does the journey to work look like in Royal Center?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 80.4%. 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.
What does the education layer cover for Royal Center?
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. 21.1% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Royal Center?
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 Oldenburg (746 residents, $77,692 income); Medaryville (749 residents, $82,632 income); Mount Summit (742 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Sulphur Rock, AR (747 residents); Isle, MN (747 residents); Pikeville, NC (747 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.
Population change
Is Royal Center growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -4 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.5% 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.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
2020 estimate
798
2025 estimate
794
Period change
-0.5%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Indiana average
D
City profile score · Royal Center, IN
41/100
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 D
9.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
21.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$47,422
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).
Royal Center profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 72/100 (B) · 93.3 index
Poverty rate: 42/100 (D) · 9.4%
Bachelor's+ share: 38/100 (F) · 21.1%
Household income: 17/100 (F) · $47,422
How does Royal Center compare to other US cities?
Here's how Royal Center stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income16% higher than other cities
Home value4% 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 Royal Center 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 Royal Center near the bottom of Indiana's cities
Among the 850 Indiana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Royal Center ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Royal Center only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#639 of 766
16th percentile in Indiana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 850
0th percentile in Indiana
Median Home Value
#688 of 771
11th percentile in Indiana
Poverty Rate
#314 of 849
62nd percentile in Indiana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#266 of 850
68th 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
16th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Royal Center's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$84,100Among the most affordablemore affordable than 96% 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
Royal Center's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#934 of 15,516
More affordable than 94% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#906 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.8×, Royal Center sits in the affordable band:
national rank #934 of 15,516 and #906 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
$47,422Royal Center, IN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Royal Center, 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 Royal Center, IN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)21.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)9.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)56.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
747
Median Income
$47,422
Median Home Value
$84,100
Median Age
41.6
Poverty Rate
9.4%
Labor force participation
56.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
21.1%
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
Royal Center's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
798 residents
2021
793 residents
2022
796 residents
2023
799 residents
2024
797 residents
2025
794 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
80.4%
Carpool
9.9%
Public Transit
3.7%
Walk
3.1%
Work from Home
1.6%
Other
1.3%
Based on 322 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 Royal Center. 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 Royal Center 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 Royal Center sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Royal Center 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.