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Place dossier plate
SheetKS-MERRIAM-KS · Merriam, KS 11,036 pop · income 52nd 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 Merriam
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Merriam on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Union City · lowest
45,523
Union City · lowest
45,523 median HH income
30.1% of the leader · rank #1
Janesville · near
71,664
Janesville · near
71,664 median HH income
47.4% of the leader · rank #2
Merriam · this city
71,665
Merriam · this city
71,665 median HH income
47.4% of the leader · rank #3
Taylor · near
71,665
Taylor · near
71,665 median HH income
47.4% of the leader · rank #4
Akiak · near
71,667
Akiak · near
71,667 median HH income
47.4% of the leader · rank #5
Dietrich · near
71,667
Dietrich · near
71,667 median HH income
47.4% of the leader · rank #6
Summerfield · highest
151,131
Summerfield · highest
151,131 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 Merriam 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: 11,036.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Merriam - the verdict
Merriam ranks in the 52nd percentile for household income and the 2nd percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
52nd
percentile, household income
54th
percentile, home value
6th
percentile, median rent
2nd
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: Merriam, KS
Merriam is a small town in Kansas, home to 11,036 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $71,665 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 3.7%. Home values in Merriam run a median of $242,400, and the median resident age is 38.0 years. About 41.5% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 65.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 1 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 98% from five years earlier. Merriam's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 6021.9 crimes per 100,000 residents, above the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $947 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Kansas's average monthly utility costs around $217 (state average). 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 Merriam'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 comparison shortlist to reported crime to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Merriam, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Merriam?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 75.1%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
How far does income reach against housing in Merriam?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 3.7%, 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. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Merriam?
Within Kansas, the closest population matches are Haysville (11,117 residents, $69,057 income); Lansing (11,229 residents, $100,871 income); Atchison (10,795 residents, $54,695 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Monument, CO (11,035 residents); Union City, TN (11,040 residents); Summerfield, NC (11,031 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Merriam?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 6021.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 164% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
Population change
Is Merriam growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +418 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.8% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 1 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+3.8%
2025 estimate
11,509
2020 estimate
11,091
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Above median income · poverty 3.7% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.1 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Kansas average
C+
City profile score · Merriam, KS
60/100
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 B+
41.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate B
3.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income C-
$71,665
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
435 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Merriam profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 76/100 (B+) · 41.5%
Poverty rate: 74/100 (B) · 3.7%
Household income: 51/100 (C-) · $71,665
Violent crime: 20/100 (F) · 435 /100k
Where Merriam sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Merriam'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 - Merriam highlighted among 12 peers.Read the chart values
Merriam, KS (this city): home $242,400, crime 6,022/100k
Monument, CO : home $586,400, crime 1,984/100k
Union City, TN : home $138,400, crime 3,123/100k
Grandview, WA : home $232,500, crime 2,328/100k
Waynesboro, PA : home $180,400, crime 1,146/100k
Iowa Colony, TX : home $356,300, crime 690/100k
Haysville, KS : home $155,100, crime 1,562/100k
Lansing, KS : home $247,500, crime 749/100k
Atchison, KS : home $130,200, crime 1,481/100k
Winfield, KS : home $121,200, crime 3,197/100k
Arkansas City, KS : home $81,700, crime 2,573/100k
Mission, KS : home $268,500, crime 4,912/100k
How does Merriam compare to other US cities?
Merriam measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income52% higher than other cities
Home value54% pricier than other cities
Median rent6% pricier than other cities
Safety2% 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, Merriam ranks #109 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 Merriam 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 Merriam near the bottom of Kansas's cities
Among the 552 Kansas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Merriam ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Merriam only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#135 of 527
74th percentile in Kansas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 552
0th percentile in Kansas
Median Home Value
#32 of 527
94th percentile in Kansas
Poverty Rate
#391 of 552
28th percentile in Kansas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#37 of 552
93rd 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
52nd percentile nationally for median household income · 2nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Merriam's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Merriam'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 Merriam's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$242,40046th percentilemore affordable than 46% 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
Merriam's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#8,498 of 15,516
More affordable than 45% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,379 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.4×, Merriam sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,498 of 15,516 and #1,379 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$71,665Merriam, KS median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Merriam, 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 Merriam, KS.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)41.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)3.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)65.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
11,036
Median Income
$71,665
Median Home Value
$242,400
Median Age
38.0
Poverty Rate
3.7%
Labor force participation
65.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
41.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
6021.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
435.4
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
5586.4
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.
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Merriam's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
11,091 residents
2021
10,994 residents
2022
10,891 residents
2023
10,829 residents
2024
11,511 residents
2025
11,509 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
1
housing units authorized
Single-Family
1
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
47
2
45
$6.3M
2020
1
1
0
$0.3M
2021
1
1
0
$0.3M
2022
1
1
0
$0.4M
2023
361
0
361
$69.4M
2024
1
1
0
$0.3M
Permit volume decreased 98% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
75.1%
Carpool
5.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.2%
Work from Home
17.9%
Other
0.6%
Based on 5,947 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 Merriam. 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 Merriam 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 Merriam sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Merriam 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, 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.