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Place dossier plate
SheetKY-CARROLLTON-KY · Carrollton, KY 3,894 pop · income 33rd pct · 3 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 Carrollton
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Carrollton on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Prestonsburg · lowest
27,265
Prestonsburg · lowest
27,265 median HH income
18.0% of the leader · rank #1
Carrollton · this city
58,788
Carrollton · this city
58,788 median HH income
38.8% of the leader · rank #2
St. Albans · near
58,788
St. Albans · near
58,788 median HH income
38.8% of the leader · rank #3
Hull · near
58,791
Hull · near
58,791 median HH income
38.8% of the leader · rank #4
Waveland · near
58,795
Waveland · near
58,795 median HH income
38.8% of the leader · rank #5
Conway · near
58,796
Conway · near
58,796 median HH income
38.8% of the leader · rank #6
Great Notch · highest
151,705
Great Notch · highest
151,705 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 Carrollton 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: 3,894.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Carrollton - the verdict
Carrollton ranks in the 33rd percentile for household income and the 84th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
33rd
percentile, household income
18th
percentile, home value
10th
percentile, median rent
84th
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: Carrollton, KY
3,894 people live in Carrollton, Kentucky - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Carrollton households earn a median of $58,788 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 11.8%. Typical homes in Carrollton are valued around $122,400, and the median resident age is 34.0 years. About 2.1% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 51.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 3 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 62% from five years earlier. Carrollton reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 535.4 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Living costs in Kentucky run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Kentucky scores 90.2 (Well Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $984 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $225 across Kentucky, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 44.2 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Carrollton'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 reported crime to comparison shortlist to within-city variation to housing and income to population change to schools and households to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Carrollton, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, local building permits.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What can the FBI record say about safety in Carrollton?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 535.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 77% lower 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Carrollton?
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 Kentucky, the closest population matches are Williamstown (3,929 residents, $71,761 income); Lancaster (3,960 residents, $45,795 income); Prestonsburg (3,823 residents, $27,265 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Parkesburg, PA (3,894 residents); Pinch, WV (3,893 residents); Pulaski, WI (3,892 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 can 3 Census tracts reveal inside Carrollton?
PlainCities matches 3 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Carrollton?
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 2.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 11.8%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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 Carrollton growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +72 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.8% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 3 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 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.
2020 estimate
3,892
2025 estimate
3,964
Period change
+1.8%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the education layer cover for Carrollton?
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 5 public schools within the city match. 2.1% 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
11.8%
Bachelor's degree+
2.1%
Matched public schools
5
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in Carrollton?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 86.2%. 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. 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.
Drive alone
86.2%
Work from home
0.0%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,453 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 11.8% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.2 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Kentucky average
D
City profile score · Carrollton, KY
48/100
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
90.2 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime A-
51 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income F
$58,788
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
11.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
2.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Carrollton profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.2 index
Violent crime: 83/100 (A-) · 51 /100k
Household income: 33/100 (F) · $58,788
Poverty rate: 33/100 (F) · 11.8%
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 2.1%
Where Carrollton sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Carrollton'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 - Carrollton highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Carrollton, KY (this city): home $122,400, crime 535/100k
Parkesburg, PA : home $280,000, crime 154/100k
Pulaski, WI : home $228,700, crime 487/100k
Clyde, TX : home $150,600, crime 841/100k
Williamstown, KY : home $159,100, crime 452/100k
Lancaster, KY : home $134,700, crime 1,024/100k
Prestonsburg, KY : home $157,200, crime 491/100k
Grayson, KY : home $125,600, crime 2,212/100k
How does Carrollton compare to other US cities?
Carrollton measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income33% higher than other cities
Home value18% pricier than other cities
Median rent10% pricier than other cities
Safety84% 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 Kentucky alone, Carrollton ranks #64 of 181 Kentucky 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 Carrollton against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Kentucky only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Kentucky-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Carrollton near the bottom of Kentucky's cities
Among the 520 Kentucky cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Carrollton ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Carrollton only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#215 of 485
56th percentile in Kentucky
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 520
0th percentile in Kentucky
Median Home Value
#299 of 484
38th percentile in Kentucky
Poverty Rate
#246 of 519
52nd percentile in Kentucky
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#492 of 520
5th percentile in Kentucky
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 Kentucky only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
33rd percentile nationally for median household income · 84th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Carrollton's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Carrollton'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 Carrollton's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$122,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 82% 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
Carrollton's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#1,939 of 15,516
More affordable than 88% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,842 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.1×, Carrollton sits in the affordable band:
national rank #1,939 of 15,516 and #1,842 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
$58,788Carrollton, KY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Carrollton, KY median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Carrollton, KY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)2.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)51.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,894
Median Income
$58,788
Median Home Value
$122,400
Median Age
34.0
Poverty Rate
11.8%
Labor force participation
51.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
2.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
535.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
51.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
484.4
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.
Schools
Total Schools
5
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Carrollton's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,892 residents
2021
3,916 residents
2022
3,917 residents
2023
3,931 residents
2024
3,968 residents
2025
3,964 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
3
housing units authorized
Single-Family
3
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.8
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
8
2
6
$0.3M
2020
9
2
7
$0.3M
2021
6
6
0
$0.2M
2022
4
4
0
$0.9M
2023
4
4
0
$0.9M
2024
3
3
0
$0.6M
Permit volume decreased 62% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
86.2%
Carpool
10.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Other
3.8%
Based on 1,453 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Kentucky statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $225
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Kentucky at $225 (electricity about $115 , water and sewer about $40 ).
These are Kentucky statewide averages, not a meter reading for Carrollton. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Kentucky's BEA cost-of-living index is 90.2 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Carrollton is $984/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Kentucky statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 44.2 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Kentucky statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Carrollton sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Carrollton compares to similar-size Kentucky 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.