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Place dossier plate
SheetKY-HOUSTON-ACRES-KY · Houston Acres, KY 736 pop · income 80th 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 Houston Acres
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Houston Acres on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Lynch · lowest
28,958
Lynch · lowest
28,958 median HH income
17.0% of the leader · rank #1
Houston Acres · this city
104,583
Houston Acres · this city
104,583 median HH income
61.4% of the leader · rank #2
Battle Ground · near
104,583
Battle Ground · near
104,583 median HH income
61.4% of the leader · rank #3
Crescent · near
104,583
Crescent · near
104,583 median HH income
61.4% of the leader · rank #4
Riverdale Park · near
104,583
Riverdale Park · near
104,583 median HH income
61.4% of the leader · rank #5
Barnegat Light · near
104,583
Barnegat Light · near
104,583 median HH income
61.4% of the leader · rank #6
Grand View Es… · highest
170,375
Grand View Es… · highest
170,375 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 Houston Acres 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: 736.
Houston Acres ranks in the 80th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
80th
percentile, household income
54th
percentile, home value
10th
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: Houston Acres, KY
Houston Acres is a small town in Kentucky, home to 736 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Houston Acres brings in $104,583 a year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 8.7%. Houston Acres's housing stock carries a median value of $243,800, and the median resident age is 37.2 years. About 60.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 73.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Living costs in Kentucky run below the national norm: the state registers 90.2 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Well Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $984 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Kentucky run around $225, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Houston Acres'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 comparison shortlist to work and mobility 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 Houston Acres, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Houston Acres?
Within Kentucky, the closest population matches are Watterson Park (736 residents, $38,984 income); Milton (734 residents, $57,188 income); Loretto (730 residents, $59,028 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Grand View Estates, CO (736 residents); Downey, ID (736 residents); Gilbertville, IA (736 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Houston Acres?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 75.1%. 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 Houston Acres?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.7%, 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.
Is Houston Acres 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 +8 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.6% 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.
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.
Bachelor's+ share A+
60.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
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.
Household income B+
$104,583
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate D
8.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Houston Acres profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 92/100 (A+) · 60.7%
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.2 index
Household income: 79/100 (B+) · $104,583
Poverty rate: 45/100 (D) · 8.7%
How does Houston Acres compare to other US cities?
Houston Acres measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income80% higher than other cities
Home value54% pricier than other cities
Median rent10% 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 Houston Acres 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 Houston Acres near the bottom of Kentucky's cities
Among the 520 Kentucky cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Houston Acres ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Houston Acres only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#62 of 485
87th percentile in Kentucky
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 520
0th percentile in Kentucky
Median Home Value
#101 of 484
79th percentile in Kentucky
Poverty Rate
#307 of 519
40th percentile in Kentucky
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#42 of 520
92nd 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
80th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Houston Acres's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$243,80046th percentilemore affordable than 46% 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
Houston Acres's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,130 of 15,516
More affordable than 80% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,883 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.3×, Houston Acres sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,130 of 15,516 and #2,883 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
$104,583Houston Acres, KY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Houston Acres, 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 Houston Acres, KY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)60.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)73.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
736
Median Income
$104,583
Median Home Value
$243,800
Median Age
37.2
Poverty Rate
8.7%
Labor force participation
73.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
60.7%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Houston Acres's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
497 residents
2021
496 residents
2022
495 residents
2023
498 residents
2024
504 residents
2025
505 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
75.1%
Carpool
0.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
24.1%
Based on 353 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 Houston Acres. 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 Houston Acres 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 Houston Acres sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Houston Acres 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, 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.