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Place dossier plate
SheetKY-CLARKSON-KY · Clarkson, KY 1,133 pop · income 2nd 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 Clarkson
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Clarkson on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Jasper · lowest
28,359
Jasper · lowest
28,359 median HH income
25.6% of the leader · rank #1
Elizabeth · near
28,375
Elizabeth · near
28,375 median HH income
25.6% of the leader · rank #2
Clarkson · this city
28,393
Clarkson · this city
28,393 median HH income
25.6% of the leader · rank #3
Sanford · near
28,393
Sanford · near
28,393 median HH income
25.6% of the leader · rank #4
New Hampton · near
28,393
New Hampton · near
28,393 median HH income
25.6% of the leader · rank #5
Saxon · near
28,394
Saxon · near
28,394 median HH income
25.6% of the leader · rank #6
Northfield · highest
110,714
Northfield · highest
110,714 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 Clarkson 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: 1,133.
Nationally, Clarkson sits in the 2nd percentile for household income and the 99th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
2nd
percentile, household income
18th
percentile, home value
10th
percentile, median rent
99th
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: Clarkson, KY
Clarkson is a small town in Kentucky, home to 1,133 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $28,393 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 44.8%. Clarkson's housing stock carries a median value of $121,900, and the median resident age is 31.0 years. Educational attainment runs 12.3% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 53.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Clarkson reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 0.0 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects 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. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $984 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $225 across Kentucky, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Natural-hazard exposure scores 44.2 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Clarkson'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 schools and households to reported crime to comparison shortlist to housing and income to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Clarkson, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, 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 Clarkson?
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 86.1%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 12.3% 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.
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Clarkson?
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 0.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 100% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Which cities make useful reference points for Clarkson?
Within Kentucky, the closest population matches are West Point (1,131 residents, $37,260 income); Irvington (1,129 residents, $48,750 income); Earlington (1,113 residents, $34,904 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Ak-Chin, AZ (1,133 residents); Marissa, IL (1,133 residents); Clymer, PA (1,133 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.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Clarkson?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 44.8%, 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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
Household income
$28,393
Home value
$121,900
Value / income
4.3×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Is Clarkson 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 +34 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.6% 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.
Period change
+3.6%
2025 estimate
972
2020 estimate
938
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 44.8% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.2 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Kentucky average
F
City profile score · Clarkson, KY
38/100
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.
Violent crime A+
0 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
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.
Bachelor's+ share F
12.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$28,393
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
44.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Clarkson profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 97/100 (A+) · 0 /100k
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.2 index
Bachelor's+ share: 13/100 (F) · 12.3%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $28,393
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 44.8%
How does Clarkson compare to other US cities?
Clarkson measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income2% higher than other cities
Home value18% pricier than other cities
Median rent10% pricier than other cities
Safety99% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Kentucky, Clarkson ranks #5 of 181 Kentucky cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Clarkson 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 Clarkson near the bottom of Kentucky's cities
Among the 520 Kentucky cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Clarkson ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Clarkson only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#461 of 485
5th percentile in Kentucky
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 520
0th percentile in Kentucky
Median Home Value
#302 of 484
38th percentile in Kentucky
Poverty Rate
#18 of 519
97th percentile in Kentucky
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#347 of 520
33rd 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
2nd percentile nationally for median household income · 99th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Clarkson's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Clarkson'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 Clarkson's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$121,900Among 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
Clarkson's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,505 of 15,516
More affordable than 26% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,873 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.3×, Clarkson sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,505 of 15,516 and #8,873 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$28,393Clarkson, KY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Clarkson, 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 Clarkson, KY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)12.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)44.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)53.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,133
Median Income
$28,393
Median Home Value
$121,900
Median Age
31.0
Poverty Rate
44.8%
Labor force participation
53.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
12.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
0.0
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
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Clarkson's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
938 residents
2021
942 residents
2022
944 residents
2023
955 residents
2024
965 residents
2025
972 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
86.1%
Carpool
9.6%
Public Transit
0.7%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
3.1%
Based on 416 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 Clarkson. 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 Clarkson 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 Clarkson sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Clarkson 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 ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.