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Place dossier plate
SheetKS-CEDAR-VALE-KS · Cedar Vale, KS 618 pop · income 13th 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 Cedar Vale
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Cedar Vale on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Graham · lowest
37,679
Graham · lowest
37,679 median HH income
42.9% of the leader · rank #1
Cedar Vale · this city
44,844
Cedar Vale · this city
44,844 median HH income
51.0% of the leader · rank #2
Hooper · near
44,844
Hooper · near
44,844 median HH income
51.0% of the leader · rank #3
Marquand · near
44,844
Marquand · near
44,844 median HH income
51.0% of the leader · rank #4
Mount Vernon · near
44,844
Mount Vernon · near
44,844 median HH income
51.0% of the leader · rank #5
Clintonville · near
44,844
Clintonville · near
44,844 median HH income
51.0% of the leader · rank #6
Olpe · highest
87,917
Olpe · highest
87,917 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 Cedar Vale 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: 618.
Cedar Vale ranks in the 13th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
13th
percentile, household income
0th
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: Cedar Vale, KS
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 618 residents in Cedar Vale, a small town within Kansas. Households in Cedar Vale report a median income of $44,844 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 19.5%. Home values in Cedar Vale run a median of $35,600, and the median resident age is 33.0 years. About 17.0% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 67.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 0 residential building permits were authorized in Cedar Vale (No Permits), per Census BPS data.
Living costs in Kansas run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Kansas scores 90.1 (Well Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $947 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $217 across Kansas, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Cedar Vale'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 housing and income to population change to schools and households to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Cedar Vale, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history, local building permits, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Cedar Vale?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 97.1%. 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Cedar Vale?
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 0.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 19.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Is Cedar Vale growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -12 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 housing units authorized in 2024. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Cedar Vale?
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 Kansas, the closest population matches are Haviland (615 residents, $71,250 income); Bennington (612 residents, $78,750 income); Canton (626 residents, $64,141 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Graham, GA (618 residents); Chapin, IL (618 residents); Elma, IA (618 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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Cedar Vale?
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
19.5%
Bachelor's degree+
17.0%
Matched public schools
2
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
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.
Bachelor's+ share F
17.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
19.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$44,844
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).
Cedar Vale profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 26/100 (F) · 17.0%
Poverty rate: 14/100 (F) · 19.5%
Household income: 13/100 (F) · $44,844
How does Cedar Vale compare to other US cities?
Where Cedar Vale sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income13% higher than other cities
Home value0% 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 Cedar Vale 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 Cedar Vale near the bottom of Kansas's cities
Among the 552 Kansas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Cedar Vale ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Cedar Vale only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#454 of 527
14th percentile in Kansas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 552
0th percentile in Kansas
Median Home Value
#502 of 527
5th percentile in Kansas
Poverty Rate
#49 of 552
91st percentile in Kansas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#356 of 552
35th 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
13th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Cedar Vale's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$35,600Among the most affordablemore affordable than 100% 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
Cedar Vale's home-value-to-income ratio: 0.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#14 of 15,516
More affordable than 100% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#14 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 0.8×, Cedar Vale sits in the affordable band:
national rank #14 of 15,516 and #14 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
$44,844Cedar Vale, KS median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Cedar Vale, 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 Cedar Vale, KS.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)17.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)19.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)67.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
618
Median Income
$44,844
Median Home Value
$35,600
Median Age
33.0
Poverty Rate
19.5%
Labor force participation
67.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
17.0%
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
Cedar Vale's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
478 residents
2021
478 residents
2022
478 residents
2023
475 residents
2024
475 residents
2025
466 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
0
0
0
-
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
97.1%
Carpool
0.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.3%
Work from Home
1.0%
Based on 311 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 Cedar Vale. 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 Cedar Vale 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 Cedar Vale sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Cedar Vale 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.