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Place dossier plate
SheetIN-TELL-CITY-IN · Tell City, IN 7,490 pop · income 20th pct · 5 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 Tell City
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Tell City on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Scottsburg · lowest
38,027
Scottsburg · lowest
38,027 median HH income
27.4% of the leader · rank #1
Tell City · this city
50,702
Tell City · this city
50,702 median HH income
36.5% of the leader · rank #2
Plainfield · near
50,703
Plainfield · near
50,703 median HH income
36.5% of the leader · rank #3
Orrtanna · near
50,703
Orrtanna · near
50,703 median HH income
36.5% of the leader · rank #4
Shelby · near
50,705
Shelby · near
50,705 median HH income
36.5% of the leader · rank #5
New · near
50,707
New · near
50,707 median HH income
36.5% of the leader · rank #6
Union · highest
139,013
Union · highest
139,013 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 Tell City 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: 7,490.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Tell City - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Tell City places in the 20th percentile for household income and the 62nd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
20th
percentile, household income
18th
percentile, home value
27th
percentile, median rent
62nd
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: Tell City, IN
Indiana's Tell City is a small town, with 7,490 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Tell City report a median income of $50,702 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 16.3%. Tell City's housing stock carries a median value of $121,200, and the median resident age is 38.8 years. Educational attainment runs 17.0% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 54.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 6 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Rapid Growth), up 20% from five years earlier. Tell City reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 1042.8 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 55.7°F with 51.3 inches of precipitation per year.
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. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,096 per month. 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 Tell City'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 population change to within-city variation to climate and hazard context to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to schools and households to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Tell City, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, local building permits, annual population history.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Tell City?
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 2.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 16.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Is Tell City growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -58 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.8% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 6 housing units authorized in 2024. 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.
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 Tell City?
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.
Within Indiana, the closest population matches are Winfield (7,501 residents, $128,980 income); Lakes of the Four Seasons (7,338 residents, $116,778 income); Scottsburg (7,338 residents, $38,027 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Meraux, LA (7,492 residents); Haddon Heights, NJ (7,488 residents); New London, WI (7,492 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.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Tell City?
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 55.7°F, with 51.3 inches of precipitation. 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
51.3 in
Mean temperature
55.7°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
What does the journey to work look like in Tell City?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 87.1%. 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.
Drive alone
87.1%
Work from home
6.2%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 3,343 workers age 16+.
What does the education layer cover for Tell City?
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. 17.0% 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.
Poverty estimate
16.3%
Bachelor's degree+
17.0%
Matched public schools
2
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Tell City?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1042.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 54% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
Total reported rate
1042.8
Violent rate
160.4
Property rate
882.4
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Indiana average
F
City profile score · Tell City, IN
39/100
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.
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.
Violent crime C
160 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
17.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$50,702
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
16.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Tell City profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 72/100 (B) · 93.3 index
Violent crime: 56/100 (C) · 160 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 26/100 (F) · 17.0%
Household income: 21/100 (F) · $50,702
Poverty rate: 20/100 (F) · 16.3%
Where Tell City sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Tell City'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 - Tell City highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Tell City, IN (this city): home $121,200, crime 1,043/100k
Haddon Heights, NJ : home $354,700, crime 495/100k
New London, WI : home $162,800, crime 391/100k
Knoxville, IA : home $147,600, crime 2,044/100k
North Vernon, IN : home $107,900, crime 1,343/100k
Nappanee, IN : home $209,000, crime 862/100k
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 Tell City compare to other US cities?
Where Tell City sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, 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
Safety62% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Indiana and the picture shifts: Tell City ranks #55 of 110 Indiana cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Tell City 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 Tell City near the bottom of Indiana's cities
Among the 850 Indiana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Tell City ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Tell City only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#589 of 766
23rd percentile in Indiana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 850
0th percentile in Indiana
Median Home Value
#457 of 771
41st percentile in Indiana
Poverty Rate
#129 of 849
85th percentile in Indiana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#362 of 850
57th 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 · 62nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Tell City's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Tell City'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 Tell City's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$121,200Among 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
Tell City's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,430 of 15,516
More affordable than 78% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,132 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.4×, Tell City sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,430 of 15,516 and #3,132 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
$50,702Tell City, IN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Tell City, 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 Tell City, IN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)17.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)16.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)54.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
7,490
Median Income
$50,702
Median Home Value
$121,200
Median Age
38.8
Poverty Rate
16.3%
Labor force participation
54.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
17.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1042.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
160.4
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
882.4
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
55.7°F
Annual Precipitation
51.3"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
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
Tell City's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
7,499 residents
2021
7,516 residents
2022
7,435 residents
2023
7,485 residents
2024
7,472 residents
2025
7,441 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Rapid Growth
Total Permits (2024)
6
housing units authorized
Single-Family
6
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.8
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
5
5
0
$1.2M
2020
4
0
4
$0.2M
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
45
9
36
$6.0M
2023
12
8
4
$2.9M
2024
6
6
0
$1.5M
Permit volume increased 20% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
87.1%
Carpool
5.4%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.6%
Work from Home
6.2%
Other
0.7%
Based on 3,343 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 Tell City. 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 Tell City 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 Tell City sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Tell City 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, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, 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.