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Place dossier plate
SheetKS-COLUMBUS-KS · Columbus, KS 2,902 pop · income 8th 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 Columbus
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Columbus on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Soperton · lowest
32,995
Soperton · lowest
32,995 median HH income
29.8% of the leader · rank #1
Fort Yukon · near
39,934
Fort Yukon · near
39,934 median HH income
36.1% of the leader · rank #2
Columbus · this city
39,936
Columbus · this city
39,936 median HH income
36.1% of the leader · rank #3
Landfall · near
39,938
Landfall · near
39,938 median HH income
36.1% of the leader · rank #4
Beckley · near
39,939
Beckley · near
39,939 median HH income
36.1% of the leader · rank #5
Owensburg · near
39,940
Owensburg · near
39,940 median HH income
36.1% of the leader · rank #6
North Seekonk · highest
110,541
North Seekonk · highest
110,541 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 Columbus 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: 2,902.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Columbus - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Columbus places in the 8th percentile for household income and the 31st percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
8th
percentile, household income
5th
percentile, home value
6th
percentile, median rent
31st
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: Columbus, KS
2,902 people live in Columbus, Kansas - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Columbus report a median income of $39,936 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 8.7%. Columbus's housing stock carries a median value of $85,800, and the median resident age is 41.9 years. About 22.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 54.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Crime here tracks close to the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 2030.8 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, near the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 57.2°F with 46.0 inches of precipitation per year and 7.2 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in Kansas run below the national norm: the state registers 90.1 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Well Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. 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 Columbus'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 population change to reported crime to work and mobility to housing and income to climate and hazard context 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 Columbus, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Is Columbus growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -49 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.7% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Columbus?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2030.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 11% 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Columbus?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 87.9%. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Columbus?
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 Kansas, the closest population matches are Kechi (2,935 residents, $102,794 income); Oaklawn-Sunview (2,952 residents, $37,986 income); Osage City (2,837 residents, $63,393 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Statham, GA (2,902 residents); Goldsby, OK (2,902 residents); Stamford, TX (2,902 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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Columbus?
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 2.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.7%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.1×
Home value
$85,800
Household income
$39,936
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
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 57.2°F, with 46.0 inches of precipitation and 7.2 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.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
29.9
Annual precipitation
46.0 in
Mean temperature
57.2°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 4 public schools within the city match. 22.7% 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
8.7%
Bachelor's degree+
22.7%
Matched public schools
4
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 8.7% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.1 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Kansas average
D
City profile score · Columbus, KS
42/100
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 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 D
8.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share D
22.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime D
245 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income F
$39,936
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Columbus profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.1 index
Poverty rate: 45/100 (D) · 8.7%
Bachelor's+ share: 42/100 (D) · 22.7%
Violent crime: 41/100 (D) · 245 /100k
Household income: 7/100 (F) · $39,936
Where Columbus sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Columbus'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 - Columbus highlighted among 25 peers.Read the chart values
Columbus, KS (this city): home $85,800, crime 2,031/100k
Statham, GA : home $227,200, crime 564/100k
Stamford, TX : home $62,400, crime 710/100k
Soperton, GA : home $88,600, crime 1,721/100k
Osage City, KS : home $135,400, crime 1,892/100k
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 Columbus compare to other US cities?
Here's how Columbus stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income8% higher than other cities
Home value5% pricier than other cities
Median rent6% pricier than other cities
Safety31% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Kansas and the picture shifts: Columbus ranks #78 of 109 Kansas cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Columbus 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 Columbus near the bottom of Kansas's cities
Among the 552 Kansas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Columbus ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Columbus only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#492 of 527
7th percentile in Kansas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 552
0th percentile in Kansas
Median Home Value
#307 of 527
42nd percentile in Kansas
Poverty Rate
#226 of 552
59th percentile in Kansas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#224 of 552
59th 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
8th percentile nationally for median household income · 31st percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Columbus's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Columbus'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 Columbus's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$85,800Among the most affordablemore affordable than 95% 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
Columbus's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,217 of 15,516
More affordable than 86% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,093 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.1×, Columbus sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,217 of 15,516 and #2,093 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
$39,936Columbus, KS median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Columbus, 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 Columbus, KS.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)22.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)54.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,902
Median Income
$39,936
Median Home Value
$85,800
Median Age
41.9
Poverty Rate
8.7%
Labor force participation
54.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
22.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2030.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
245.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1785.7
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
57.2°F
Annual Precipitation
46.0"
Annual Snowfall
7.2"
Schools
Total Schools
4
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Columbus's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,915 residents
2021
2,892 residents
2022
2,868 residents
2023
2,871 residents
2024
2,881 residents
2025
2,866 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
87.9%
Carpool
7.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
3.3%
Work from Home
1.7%
Based on 1,302 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 Columbus. 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 Columbus 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 Columbus sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Columbus 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, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, 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.