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Place dossier plate
SheetKY-PHELPS-KY · Phelps, KY 387 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 Phelps
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Phelps on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Nathrop · lowest
28,514
Nathrop · lowest
28,514 median HH income
21.9% of the leader · rank #1
Palmarejo com… · near
28,525
Palmarejo com… · near
28,525 median HH income
21.9% of the leader · rank #2
Phelps · this city
28,542
Phelps · this city
28,542 median HH income
21.9% of the leader · rank #3
Cobalt · near
28,542
Cobalt · near
28,542 median HH income
21.9% of the leader · rank #4
Corona · near
28,542
Corona · near
28,542 median HH income
21.9% of the leader · rank #5
Brunswick · near
28,542
Brunswick · near
28,542 median HH income
21.9% of the leader · rank #6
Creekside · highest
130,300
Creekside · highest
130,300 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 Phelps 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: 387.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Phelps lands in the 2nd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
2nd
percentile, household income
14th
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: Phelps, KY
387 people live in Phelps, Kentucky - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Phelps households earn a median of $28,542 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 8.9%. Phelps's housing stock carries a median value of $111,600, and the median resident age is 55.6 years. About 6.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 2.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 1 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Kentucky's average monthly utility costs around $225 (state average). FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 44.2 out of 100 (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Phelps'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 housing and income to schools and households to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Phelps, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Phelps?
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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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.
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 6.7% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Phelps?
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 Kentucky, the closest population matches are Symsonia (386 residents); Sadieville (385 residents, $59,688 income); Norwood (395 residents, $106,667 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Greenville, CA (387 residents); Oak Glen, CA (387 residents); Tower Hill, IL (387 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.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 8.9% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.2 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Kentucky average
F
City profile score · Phelps, KY
32/100
4 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.
Poverty rate D
8.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$28,542
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
6.7%
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).
Phelps profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.2 index
Poverty rate: 44/100 (D) · 8.9%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $28,542
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 6.7%
How does Phelps compare to other US cities?
Where Phelps sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income2% higher than other cities
Home value14% 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 Phelps 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 Phelps near the bottom of Kentucky's cities
Among the 520 Kentucky cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Phelps ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Phelps only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#459 of 485
5th percentile in Kentucky
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 520
0th percentile in Kentucky
Median Home Value
#337 of 484
30th percentile in Kentucky
Poverty Rate
#304 of 519
41st percentile in Kentucky
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#441 of 520
15th 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. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Phelps's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$111,600Among the most affordablemore affordable than 86% 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
Phelps's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,427 of 15,516
More affordable than 33% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,185 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.9×, Phelps sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,427 of 15,516 and #8,185 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
$28,542Phelps, KY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Phelps, 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 Phelps, KY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)6.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)2.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
387
Median Income
$28,542
Median Home Value
$111,600
Median Age
55.6
Poverty Rate
8.9%
Labor force participation
2.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
6.7%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
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 Phelps. 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 Phelps 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 Phelps sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Phelps 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, NCES CCD, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.