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Place dossier plate
SheetIN-WAWAKA-IN · Wawaka, IN 102 pop · income 5th 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 Wawaka
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Wawaka on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Eckerty · lowest
35,074
Eckerty · lowest
35,074 median HH income
37.5% of the leader · rank #1
McDowell · near
35,576
McDowell · near
35,576 median HH income
38.0% of the leader · rank #2
Wawaka · this city
35,577
Wawaka · this city
35,577 median HH income
38.0% of the leader · rank #3
Spring Hope · near
35,577
Spring Hope · near
35,577 median HH income
38.0% of the leader · rank #4
Beecher · near
35,582
Beecher · near
35,582 median HH income
38.0% of the leader · rank #5
West Canton · near
35,583
West Canton · near
35,583 median HH income
38.0% of the leader · rank #6
Myrtlewood · highest
93,646
Myrtlewood · highest
93,646 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 Wawaka 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: 102.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Wawaka lands in the 5th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
5th
percentile, household income
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: Wawaka, IN
Wawaka is a small town in Indiana, home to 102 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $35,577 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 55.0%. The median resident age is 57.7 years. About 0.0% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 68.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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). 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). The average commute for Wawaka workers runs 15.0 minutes, with 70.0% driving alone and 30.0% working from home. 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 Wawaka'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 work and mobility to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Wawaka, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Wawaka?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 70.0%. The reported mean trip to work is 15.0 minutes.
Which cities make useful reference points for Wawaka?
Within Indiana, the closest population matches are Prospect (102 residents); Eckerty (103 residents, $35,074 income); Maples (101 residents, $85,417 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Myrtlewood, AL (102 residents); Venetie, AK (102 residents); Dales, CA (102 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.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 55.0% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
93.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Indiana average
F
City profile score · Wawaka, IN
18/100
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.
Household income F
$35,577
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
55.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
0.0%
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).
Wawaka profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 72/100 (B) · 93.3 index
Household income: 1/100 (F) · $35,577
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 55.0%
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 0.0%
How does Wawaka compare to other US cities?
Where Wawaka sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income5% higher 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 Wawaka 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 Wawaka near the bottom of Indiana's cities
Among the 850 Indiana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Wawaka ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Wawaka only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#745 of 766
3rd percentile in Indiana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 850
0th percentile in Indiana
Poverty Rate
#12 of 849
99th percentile in Indiana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#776 of 850
0th 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
5th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$35,577Wawaka, IN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Wawaka, 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 Wawaka, IN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)0.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)55.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)68.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
102
Median Income
$35,577
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
57.7
Poverty Rate
55.0%
Labor force participation
68.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
0.0%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
15.0 minutes
Drive Alone
70.0%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
30.0%
Based on 70 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 Wawaka. 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 Wawaka 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 Wawaka sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Wawaka 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, 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.