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Place dossier plate
SheetKS-JUNCTION-CITY-KS · Junction City, KS 22,431 pop · income 36th pct · 11 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 Junction City
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Junction City on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Pittsburg · lowest
40,220
Pittsburg · lowest
40,220 median HH income
32.6% of the leader · rank #1
Etna · near
60,313
Etna · near
60,313 median HH income
48.9% of the leader · rank #2
Chesterfield · near
60,313
Chesterfield · near
60,313 median HH income
48.9% of the leader · rank #3
Prairie du Ro… · near
60,313
Prairie du Ro… · near
60,313 median HH income
48.9% of the leader · rank #4
Murray · near
60,313
Murray · near
60,313 median HH income
48.9% of the leader · rank #5
Junction City · this city
60,317
Junction City · this city
60,317 median HH income
48.9% of the leader · rank #6
McNair · highest
123,327
McNair · highest
123,327 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 Junction City 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: 22,431.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Junction City - the verdict
Junction City ranks in the 36th percentile for household income and the 15th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
36th
percentile, household income
31st
percentile, home value
6th
percentile, median rent
15th
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: Junction City, KS
Kansas's Junction City is a small city, with 22,431 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Junction City report a median income of $60,317 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 14.1%. Junction City's housing stock carries a median value of $162,500, and the median resident age is 28.4 years. Educational attainment runs 23.2% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 58.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 55 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 450% from five years earlier. Junction City's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 3083.1 in FBI UCR data, above the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Kansas run around $217, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Workers in Junction City report an average commute of 18.8 minutes, with 78.4% driving alone and 4.5% working from home. Natural-hazard exposure scores 29.9 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Junction City'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 population change to schools and households to housing and income to within-city variation to reported crime to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Junction City, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Junction City?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 78.4%. The reported mean trip to work is 18.8 minutes.
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.
Is Junction City growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -369 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.6% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 55 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.
What can 11 Census tracts reveal inside Junction City?
PlainCities matches 11 Census tracts to this city.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Junction City?
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 Prairie (22,937 residents, $107,664 income); Hays (21,078 residents, $56,861 income); Gardner (24,020 residents, $92,579 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Chalmette, LA (22,447 residents); McNair, VA (22,451 residents); Roselle, NJ (22,455 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 Junction City?
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 9 public schools within the city match. 23.2% 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
14.1%
Bachelor's degree+
23.2%
Matched public schools
9
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Junction City?
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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 14.1%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.7×
Home value
$162,500
Household income
$60,317
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Junction City?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3083.1 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 35% higher 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.
Total reported rate
3083.1
Violent rate
776.6
Property rate
2306.5
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Below median income · poverty 14.1% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.1 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Kansas average
F
City profile score · Junction City, KS
38/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share D
23.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$60,317
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
14.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
777 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Junction City profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 44/100 (D) · 23.2%
Household income: 35/100 (F) · $60,317
Poverty rate: 24/100 (F) · 14.1%
Violent crime: 2/100 (F) · 777 /100k
Where Junction City sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Junction City'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 - Junction City highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Junction City, KS (this city): home $162,500, crime 3,083/100k
Roselle, NJ : home $336,500, crime 1,311/100k
Villa Park, IL : home $313,100, crime 1,748/100k
Biddeford, ME : home $349,300, crime 2,663/100k
Bloomingdale, IL : home $363,100, crime 1,459/100k
Hays, KS : home $220,100, crime 1,694/100k
Gardner, KS : home $276,000, crime 1,017/100k
Emporia, KS : home $127,500, crime 2,671/100k
Pittsburg, KS : home $110,800, crime 3,860/100k
Liberal, KS : home $134,500, crime 1,397/100k
How does Junction City compare to other US cities?
Where Junction City sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income36% higher than other cities
Home value31% pricier than other cities
Median rent6% pricier than other cities
Safety15% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Kansas alone, Junction City ranks #96 of 109 Kansas cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Junction City 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 Junction City near the bottom of Kansas's cities
Among the 552 Kansas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Junction City ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Junction City only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#263 of 527
50th percentile in Kansas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 552
0th percentile in Kansas
Median Home Value
#99 of 527
81st percentile in Kansas
Poverty Rate
#111 of 552
80th percentile in Kansas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#204 of 552
62nd 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
36th percentile nationally for median household income · 15th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Junction City's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Junction City'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 Junction City's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$162,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 69% 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
Junction City's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,004 of 15,516
More affordable than 68% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#544 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 2.7×, Junction City sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,004 of 15,516 and #544 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$60,317Junction City, KS median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Junction City, 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 Junction City, KS.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)23.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)14.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
22,431
Median Income
$60,317
Median Home Value
$162,500
Median Age
28.4
Poverty Rate
14.1%
Labor force participation
58.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
23.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3083.1
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
776.6
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2306.5
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.
Schools
Total Schools
9
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Junction City's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
22,952 residents
2021
22,564 residents
2022
22,170 residents
2023
21,963 residents
2024
22,058 residents
2025
22,583 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
55
housing units authorized
Single-Family
39
detached homes
Multifamily
16
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2023
10
6
4
$2.0M
2024
55
39
16
$11.9M
Permit volume increased 450% from 2023 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
18.8 minutes
Drive Alone
78.4%
Carpool
12.4%
Public Transit
1.1%
Walk
1.4%
Work from Home
4.5%
Other
2.2%
Based on 11,220 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 Junction City. 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 Junction City 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 Junction City sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Junction City 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, 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.