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
SheetKS-ALMA-KS · Alma, KS 965 pop · income 32nd 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 Alma
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Alma on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Cottonwood Fa… · lowest
48,631
Cottonwood Fa… · lowest
48,631 median HH income
31.1% of the leader · rank #1
Delcambre · near
57,639
Delcambre · near
57,639 median HH income
36.9% of the leader · rank #2
Tavares · near
57,644
Tavares · near
57,644 median HH income
36.9% of the leader · rank #3
Alma · this city
57,647
Alma · this city
57,647 median HH income
36.9% of the leader · rank #4
Columbia · near
57,647
Columbia · near
57,647 median HH income
36.9% of the leader · rank #5
Winchester · near
57,653
Winchester · near
57,653 median HH income
36.9% of the leader · rank #6
Tres Pinos · highest
156,250
Tres Pinos · highest
156,250 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 Alma 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: 965.
Nationally, Alma sits in the 32nd percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
32nd
percentile, household income
19th
percentile, home value
6th
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: Alma, KS
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 965 residents in Alma, a small town within Kansas. Alma households earn a median of $57,647 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 2.5%. Alma's housing stock carries a median value of $124,000, and the median resident age is 35.3 years. About 26.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 60.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 4 residential building permits were authorized in Alma (Building Boom), up 100% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data.
Living costs in Kansas run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Kansas at 90.1 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Below Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $947 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Kansas's average monthly utility costs around $217 (state average). Workers in Alma report an average commute of 23.0 minutes, with 81.4% driving alone and 5.6% working from home. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 29.9 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Alma'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 to schools and households to population change to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Alma, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, annual population history, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; 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 Alma?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 81.4%. The reported mean trip to work is 23.0 minutes.
Which cities make useful reference points for Alma?
Within Kansas, the closest population matches are Burlingame (976 residents, $57,500 income); Quinter (951 residents, $61,083 income); Solomon (945 residents, $58,750 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Gila Crossing, AZ (965 residents); Tres Pinos, CA (965 residents); Primghar, IA (965 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.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 26.3% 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.
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.
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +23 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.9% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 4 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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 Alma?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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.
Household income
$57,647
Home value
$124,000
Value / income
2.2×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
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 A
90.1 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 A-
2.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C-
26.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$57,647
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).
Alma profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.1 index
Poverty rate: 82/100 (A-) · 2.5%
Bachelor's+ share: 52/100 (C-) · 26.3%
Household income: 31/100 (F) · $57,647
How does Alma compare to other US cities?
Where Alma sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income32% higher than other cities
Home value19% pricier than other cities
Median rent6% 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 Alma against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Kansas only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Kansas-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Alma near the bottom of Kansas's cities
Among the 552 Kansas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Alma ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Alma only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#302 of 527
43rd percentile in Kansas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 552
0th percentile in Kansas
Median Home Value
#169 of 527
68th percentile in Kansas
Poverty Rate
#437 of 552
21st percentile in Kansas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#149 of 552
72nd percentile in Kansas
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 Kansas only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
32nd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Alma's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$124,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 81% 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
Alma's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,234 of 15,516
More affordable than 86% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,108 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.2×, Alma sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,234 of 15,516 and #2,108 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
$57,647Alma, KS median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Alma, KS median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Alma, KS.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)26.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)60.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
965
Median Income
$57,647
Median Home Value
$124,000
Median Age
35.3
Poverty Rate
2.5%
Labor force participation
60.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
26.3%
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
Alma's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
807 residents
2021
814 residents
2022
821 residents
2023
826 residents
2024
837 residents
2025
830 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
4
housing units authorized
Single-Family
4
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
4.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
2
2
0
$0.4M
2020
1
1
0
$0.2M
2021
4
4
0
$0.6M
2022
3
3
0
$0.1M
2023
6
6
0
$1.8M
2024
4
4
0
$1.2M
Permit volume increased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
23.0 minutes
Drive Alone
81.4%
Carpool
7.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
6.0%
Work from Home
5.6%
Based on 414 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Kansas statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $217
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Kansas at $217 (electricity about $110 , water and sewer about $42 ).
These are Kansas statewide averages, not a meter reading for Alma. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Kansas's BEA cost-of-living index is 90.1 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Alma is $947/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Kansas statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 29.9 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Kansas statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Alma sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Alma compares to similar-size Kansas 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 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.