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Place dossier plate
SheetKS-PERU-KS · Peru, KS 165 pop · income 13th 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 Peru
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Peru on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Freeman Spur · lowest
35,000
Freeman Spur · lowest
35,000 median HH income
35.1% of the leader · rank #1
Peru · this city
45,000
Peru · this city
45,000 median HH income
45.1% of the leader · rank #2
Chalkyitsik · near
45,000
Chalkyitsik · near
45,000 median HH income
45.1% of the leader · rank #3
St. Mary's · near
45,000
St. Mary's · near
45,000 median HH income
45.1% of the leader · rank #4
Dyess · near
45,000
Dyess · near
45,000 median HH income
45.1% of the leader · rank #5
Sugar City · near
45,000
Sugar City · near
45,000 median HH income
45.1% of the leader · rank #6
Bretzville · highest
99,732
Bretzville · highest
99,732 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 Peru 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: 165.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Peru lands in the 13th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
13th
percentile, household income
0th
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: Peru, KS
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 165 residents in Peru, a small town within Kansas. The typical household in Peru brings in $45,000 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 2.3%. Home values in Peru run a median of $33,900, and the median resident age is 61.9 years. 4.2% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 31.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $947 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $217 across Kansas, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Peru'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 population change to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Peru, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Peru?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 79.2%. 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. 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Peru?
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 0.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -1 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.0% 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.
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 Peru?
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 Latham (164 residents); Milton (166 residents); Summerfield (166 residents, $46,250 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Ruth, CA (165 residents); Donnelly, ID (165 residents); Freeman Spur, IL (165 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.
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 A-
2.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$45,000
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
4.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Peru profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.1 index
Poverty rate: 84/100 (A-) · 2.3%
Household income: 14/100 (F) · $45,000
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 4.2%
How does Peru compare to other US cities?
Here's how Peru stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income13% higher than other cities
Home value0% 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 Peru 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 Peru near the bottom of Kansas's cities
Among the 552 Kansas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Peru ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Peru only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#453 of 527
14th percentile in Kansas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 552
0th percentile in Kansas
Median Home Value
#504 of 527
4th percentile in Kansas
Poverty Rate
#443 of 552
20th percentile in Kansas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#522 of 552
5th 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
13th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Peru's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$33,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 100% 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
Peru's home-value-to-income ratio: 0.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#13 of 15,516
More affordable than 100% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#13 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 0.8×, Peru sits in the affordable band:
national rank #13 of 15,516 and #13 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
$45,000Peru, KS median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Peru, 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 Peru, KS.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)4.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)31.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
165
Median Income
$45,000
Median Home Value
$33,900
Median Age
61.9
Poverty Rate
2.3%
Labor force participation
31.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
4.2%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Peru's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
102 residents
2021
102 residents
2022
104 residents
2023
101 residents
2024
103 residents
2025
101 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
79.2%
Carpool
2.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
18.8%
Based on 48 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 Peru. 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 Peru 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 Peru sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Peru 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.