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Place dossier plate
SheetKS-COLDWATER-KS · Coldwater, KS 667 pop · income 14th pct · 1 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 Coldwater
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Coldwater on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Ingold · lowest
37,195
Ingold · lowest
37,195 median HH income
38.5% of the leader · rank #1
Coldwater · this city
46,250
Coldwater · this city
46,250 median HH income
47.9% of the leader · rank #2
Jackson · near
46,250
Jackson · near
46,250 median HH income
47.9% of the leader · rank #3
Chefornak · near
46,250
Chefornak · near
46,250 median HH income
47.9% of the leader · rank #4
Mountain Pine · near
46,250
Mountain Pine · near
46,250 median HH income
47.9% of the leader · rank #5
Swifton · near
46,250
Swifton · near
46,250 median HH income
47.9% of the leader · rank #6
Dennisville · highest
96,641
Dennisville · highest
96,641 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 Coldwater 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: 667.
Coldwater ranks in the 14th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
14th
percentile, household income
2nd
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: Coldwater, KS
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 667 residents in Coldwater, a small town within Kansas. Households in Coldwater report a median income of $46,250 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 2.9%. Coldwater's housing stock carries a median value of $73,100, and the median resident age is 61.1 years. 15.9% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 54.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 0 residential units were authorized in 2024 (No Permits). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 59.3°F with 25.3 inches of precipitation per year and 17.1 inches of snowfall.
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 Coldwater'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 climate and hazard context to comparison shortlist to population change to housing and income to within-city variation to work and mobility to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Coldwater, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, annual population history, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What physical conditions frame life in Coldwater?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 59.3°F, with 25.3 inches of precipitation and 17.1 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Kansas is 29.9 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.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Coldwater?
Within Kansas, the closest population matches are St. Paul (665 residents, $37,344 income); Downs (663 residents, $61,750 income); Jetmore (678 residents, $63,750 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Colbert, GA (667 residents); Shipman, IL (667 residents); Stonington, IL (667 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.
Is Coldwater growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -4 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.6% 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.
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.
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 Coldwater?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.9%, 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
$46,250
Home value
$73,100
Value / income
1.6×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the journey to work look like in Coldwater?
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 81.6%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
1.6%
Drive alone
81.6%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 321 workers age 16+.
What does the education layer cover for Coldwater?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 15.9% 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.
Matched public schools
1
Bachelor's degree+
15.9%
Poverty estimate
2.9%
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.
Poverty rate B+
2.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
15.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$46,250
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).
Coldwater profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.1 index
Poverty rate: 79/100 (B+) · 2.9%
Bachelor's+ share: 23/100 (F) · 15.9%
Household income: 15/100 (F) · $46,250
How does Coldwater compare to other US cities?
Where Coldwater sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income14% higher than other cities
Home value2% 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 Coldwater 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 Coldwater near the bottom of Kansas's cities
Among the 552 Kansas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Coldwater ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Coldwater only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#444 of 527
15th percentile in Kansas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 552
0th percentile in Kansas
Median Home Value
#377 of 527
28th percentile in Kansas
Poverty Rate
#421 of 552
23rd percentile in Kansas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#382 of 552
30th 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
14th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Coldwater's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$73,100Among the most affordablemore affordable than 98% 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
Coldwater's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#531 of 15,516
More affordable than 97% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#519 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.6×, Coldwater sits in the affordable band:
national rank #531 of 15,516 and #519 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
$46,250Coldwater, KS median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Coldwater, 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 Coldwater, KS.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)15.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)54.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
667
Median Income
$46,250
Median Home Value
$73,100
Median Age
61.1
Poverty Rate
2.9%
Labor force participation
54.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
15.9%
Climate
Avg Temperature
59.3°F
Annual Precipitation
25.3"
Annual Snowfall
17.1"
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Coldwater's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
683 residents
2021
676 residents
2022
688 residents
2023
678 residents
2024
680 residents
2025
679 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
81.6%
Carpool
7.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
6.2%
Work from Home
1.6%
Other
3.1%
Based on 321 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 Coldwater. 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 Coldwater 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 Coldwater sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Coldwater 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, 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.