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Place dossier plate
SheetKY-CUMBERLAND-KY · Cumberland, KY 2,234 pop · income 5th pct · 10 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 Cumberland
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Cumberland on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Arcadia · lowest
35,303
Arcadia · lowest
35,303 median HH income
22.6% of the leader · rank #1
Cumberland · this city
35,309
Cumberland · this city
35,309 median HH income
22.6% of the leader · rank #2
Claxton · near
35,313
Claxton · near
35,313 median HH income
22.6% of the leader · rank #3
Riverland · near
35,313
Riverland · near
35,313 median HH income
22.6% of the leader · rank #4
Escatawpa · near
35,313
Escatawpa · near
35,313 median HH income
22.6% of the leader · rank #5
Grayson · near
35,313
Grayson · near
35,313 median HH income
22.6% of the leader · rank #6
Camanche · highest
156,480
Camanche · highest
156,480 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 Cumberland 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: 2,234.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Cumberland - the verdict
Nationally, Cumberland sits in the 5th percentile for household income and the 85th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
5th
percentile, household income
1st
percentile, home value
10th
percentile, median rent
85th
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: Cumberland, KY
Cumberland is a small town in Kentucky, home to 2,234 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Cumberland households earn a median of $35,309 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 50.2%. Typical homes in Cumberland are valued around $61,600, and the median resident age is 31.1 years. About 9.6% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 22.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 0 residential building permits were authorized in Cumberland (No Permits), per Census BPS data. Cumberland reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 505.1 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 Cumberland'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 schools and households to within-city variation to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Cumberland, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Cumberland?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 52.9%. 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 Cumberland?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 50.2%, 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. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Cumberland?
Within Kentucky, the closest population matches are Brooks (2,246 residents, $70,947 income); Dry Ridge (2,250 residents, $53,641 income); Greensburg (2,218 residents, $37,321 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Star City, AR (2,234 residents); Newtown, PA (2,234 residents); Marked Tree, AR (2,235 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 10 Census tracts reveal inside Cumberland?
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.
PlainCities matches 10 Census tracts to this city.
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.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Cumberland?
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 505.1 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 78% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
505.1
Violent rate
0.0
Total reported rate
505.1
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the education layer cover for Cumberland?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 9.6% 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.
Matched public schools
1
Bachelor's degree+
9.6%
Poverty estimate
50.2%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Is Cumberland growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -176 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -9.1% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 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
-9.1%
2025 estimate
1,761
2020 estimate
1,937
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 50.2% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.2 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Kentucky average
F
City profile score · Cumberland, KY
37/100
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
9.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$35,309
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
50.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Cumberland 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: 5/100 (F) · 9.6%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $35,309
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 50.2%
Where Cumberland sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Cumberland'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 - Cumberland highlighted among 9 peers.Read the chart values
Cumberland, KY (this city): home $61,600, crime 505/100k
Star City, AR : home $118,500, crime 2,754/100k
Newtown, PA : home $721,700, crime 355/100k
Marked Tree, AR : home $85,700, crime 1,332/100k
Kellogg, ID : home $217,200, crime 802/100k
Dry Ridge, KY : home $193,200, crime 1,584/100k
Greensburg, KY : home $117,700, crime 1,377/100k
Mount Vernon, KY : home $100,500, crime 529/100k
Lebanon Junction, KY : home $134,700, crime 276/100k
How does Cumberland compare to other US cities?
Cumberland measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income5% higher than other cities
Home value1% pricier than other cities
Median rent10% pricier than other cities
Safety85% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Kentucky and the picture shifts: Cumberland ranks #60 of 181 Kentucky cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Cumberland 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 Cumberland near the bottom of Kentucky's cities
Among the 520 Kentucky cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Cumberland ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Cumberland only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#413 of 485
15th percentile in Kentucky
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 520
0th percentile in Kentucky
Median Home Value
#469 of 484
3rd percentile in Kentucky
Poverty Rate
#10 of 519
98th percentile in Kentucky
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#395 of 520
24th 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
5th percentile nationally for median household income · 85th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Cumberland's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Cumberland'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 Cumberland's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$61,600Among the most affordablemore affordable than 99% 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
Cumberland's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#861 of 15,516
More affordable than 94% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#834 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.7×, Cumberland sits in the affordable band:
national rank #861 of 15,516 and #834 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
$35,309Cumberland, KY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Cumberland, 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 Cumberland, KY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)9.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)50.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)22.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,234
Median Income
$35,309
Median Home Value
$61,600
Median Age
31.1
Poverty Rate
50.2%
Labor force participation
22.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
9.6%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
505.1
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
505.1
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
Cumberland's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,937 residents
2021
1,880 residents
2022
1,826 residents
2023
1,803 residents
2024
1,783 residents
2025
1,761 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
0
0
0
-
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
52.9%
Carpool
24.3%
Public Transit
0.6%
Walk
9.1%
Work from Home
10.9%
Other
2.2%
Based on 329 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 Cumberland. 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 Cumberland 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 Cumberland sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Cumberland 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.