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Place dossier plate
SheetKS-LA-HARPE-KS · La Harpe, KS 424 pop · income 11th 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 La Harpe
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest La Harpe on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Western Grove · lowest
40,625
Western Grove · lowest
40,625 median HH income
41.0% of the leader · rank #1
Fowlerville · near
43,155
Fowlerville · near
43,155 median HH income
43.5% of the leader · rank #2
Frisco · near
43,162
Frisco · near
43,162 median HH income
43.6% of the leader · rank #3
Watertown · near
43,164
Watertown · near
43,164 median HH income
43.6% of the leader · rank #4
La Harpe · this city
43,167
La Harpe · this city
43,167 median HH income
43.6% of the leader · rank #5
Kiryas Joel · near
43,171
Kiryas Joel · near
43,171 median HH income
43.6% of the leader · rank #6
Trinidad · highest
99,107
Trinidad · highest
99,107 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 La Harpe 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: 424.
Nationally, La Harpe sits in the 11th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
11th
percentile, household income
1st
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: La Harpe, KS
La Harpe is a small town in Kansas, home to 424 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in La Harpe report a median income of $43,167 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 3.9%. Typical homes in La Harpe are valued around $54,900, and the median resident age is 56.7 years. 24.2% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 56.0% 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).
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). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $947 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Kansas run around $217, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 29.9 out of 100 (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of La Harpe'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 housing and income to population change to comparison shortlist to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For La Harpe, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in La Harpe?
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 1.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 3.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Is La Harpe growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -4 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.8% 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.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for La Harpe?
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 Miltonvale (422 residents, $51,146 income); Little River (427 residents, $60,500 income); Greeley County (420 residents, $90,625 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Western Grove, AR (424 residents); Trinidad, CA (424 residents); Wiley, CO (424 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.
What does the journey to work look like in La Harpe?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 82.7%. 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. 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.
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
3.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share D
24.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$43,167
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).
La Harpe profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.1 index
Poverty rate: 72/100 (B) · 3.9%
Bachelor's+ share: 47/100 (D) · 24.2%
Household income: 11/100 (F) · $43,167
How does La Harpe compare to other US cities?
Where La Harpe sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income11% higher than other cities
Home value1% 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 La Harpe 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 La Harpe near the bottom of Kansas's cities
Among the 552 Kansas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, La Harpe ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares La Harpe only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#465 of 527
12th percentile in Kansas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 552
0th percentile in Kansas
Median Home Value
#450 of 527
15th percentile in Kansas
Poverty Rate
#380 of 552
31st percentile in Kansas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#183 of 552
67th 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
11th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How La Harpe's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$54,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 99% 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
La Harpe's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#155 of 15,516
More affordable than 99% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#152 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.3×, La Harpe sits in the affordable band:
national rank #155 of 15,516 and #152 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
$43,167La Harpe, KS median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context La Harpe, 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 La Harpe, KS.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)24.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)3.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)56.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
424
Median Income
$43,167
Median Home Value
$54,900
Median Age
56.7
Poverty Rate
3.9%
Labor force participation
56.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
24.2%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
La Harpe's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
485 residents
2021
485 residents
2022
487 residents
2023
489 residents
2024
485 residents
2025
481 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
1
1
0
$0.1M
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
0
0
0
-
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
82.7%
Carpool
12.3%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
2.7%
Work from Home
2.3%
Based on 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 La Harpe. 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 La Harpe 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 La Harpe sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How La Harpe 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, 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.