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Place dossier plate
SheetKS-PALMER-KS · Palmer, KS 138 pop · income 14th 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 Palmer
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Palmer on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Kickapoo Trib… · lowest
31,750
Kickapoo Trib… · lowest
31,750 median HH income
31.4% of the leader · rank #1
Palmer · this city
46,250
Palmer · this city
46,250 median HH income
45.7% of the leader · rank #2
Jackson · near
46,250
Jackson · near
46,250 median HH income
45.7% of the leader · rank #3
Chefornak · near
46,250
Chefornak · near
46,250 median HH income
45.7% of the leader · rank #4
Mountain Pine · near
46,250
Mountain Pine · near
46,250 median HH income
45.7% of the leader · rank #5
Swifton · near
46,250
Swifton · near
46,250 median HH income
45.7% of the leader · rank #6
East Nicolaus · highest
101,250
East Nicolaus · highest
101,250 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 Palmer 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: 138.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Palmer places in the 14th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
14th
percentile, household income
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: Palmer, KS
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 138 residents in Palmer, a small town within Kansas. Palmer households earn a median of $46,250 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 16.1%. The median resident age is 35.0 years. Educational attainment runs 24.7% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 57.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $947 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Kansas run around $217, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Palmer'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 comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Palmer, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; 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 Palmer?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 86.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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 -1 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.8% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Palmer?
Within Kansas, the closest population matches are Beverly (138 residents, $40,625 income); Muscotah (138 residents); Neosho Falls (139 residents, $47,750 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Black Springs, AR (138 residents); Winchester, AR (138 residents); East Nicolaus, CA (138 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.
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
24.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
16.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
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).
Palmer profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 48/100 (D) · 24.7%
Poverty rate: 21/100 (F) · 16.1%
Household income: 15/100 (F) · $46,250
How does Palmer compare to other US cities?
Where Palmer sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income14% higher 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 Palmer 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 Palmer near the bottom of Kansas's cities
Among the 552 Kansas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Palmer ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Palmer 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
Poverty Rate
#74 of 552
86th percentile in Kansas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#176 of 552
68th 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.
Income distribution context
$46,250Palmer, KS median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Palmer, 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 Palmer, KS.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)24.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)16.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)57.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
138
Median Income
$46,250
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
35.0
Poverty Rate
16.1%
Labor force participation
57.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
24.7%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Palmer's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
127 residents
2021
127 residents
2022
126 residents
2023
128 residents
2024
128 residents
2025
126 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
86.8%
Carpool
7.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.9%
Work from Home
1.9%
Other
1.9%
Based on 53 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 Palmer. 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 Palmer 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 Palmer sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Palmer 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 ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.