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Place dossier plate
SheetKY-PRESTONSBURG-KY · Prestonsburg, KY 3,823 pop · income 2nd pct · 14 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 Prestonsburg
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Prestonsburg on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Olive Branch · lowest
27,250
Olive Branch · lowest
27,250 median HH income
18.2% of the leader · rank #1
Henry · near
27,254
Henry · near
27,254 median HH income
18.2% of the leader · rank #2
Prestonsburg · this city
27,265
Prestonsburg · this city
27,265 median HH income
18.2% of the leader · rank #3
Huntsville · near
27,266
Huntsville · near
27,266 median HH income
18.2% of the leader · rank #4
Cheraw · near
27,275
Cheraw · near
27,275 median HH income
18.2% of the leader · rank #5
Buckner · highest
149,700
Buckner · highest
149,700 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
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 Prestonsburg 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: 3,823.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Prestonsburg - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Prestonsburg places in the 2nd percentile for household income and the 86th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
2nd
percentile, household income
29th
percentile, home value
10th
percentile, median rent
86th
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: Prestonsburg, KY
Kentucky's Prestonsburg is a small town, with 3,823 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Prestonsburg report a median income of $27,265 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 36.6%. Prestonsburg's housing stock carries a median value of $157,200, and the median resident age is 35.0 years. 17.4% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 35.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 4 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Rapid Growth), up 33% from five years earlier. Prestonsburg reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 491.4 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 54.8°F.
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. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Kentucky run around $225, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Workers in Prestonsburg report an average commute of 16.3 minutes, with 80.2% driving alone and 6.7% working from home. 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 Prestonsburg'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 reported crime to population change to housing and income to climate and hazard context to schools and households to work and mobility to within-city variation; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Prestonsburg, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, matched public-school count, local building permits, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Prestonsburg?
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 Grayson (3,820 residents, $28,548 income); Buckner (3,786 residents, $149,700 income); Carrollton (3,894 residents, $58,788 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Owego, NY (3,823 residents); Vicksburg, MI (3,824 residents); Dana, NC (3,824 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 the FBI record say about safety in Prestonsburg?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 491.4 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.
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.
Is Prestonsburg growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -275 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -7.1% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 4 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 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.
What can 14 Census tracts reveal inside Prestonsburg?
PlainCities matches 14 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.
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 Prestonsburg?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 36.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
5.8×
Home value
$157,200
Household income
$27,265
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What physical conditions frame life in Prestonsburg?
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 54.8°F. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Kentucky is 44.2 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
44.2
Mean temperature
54.8°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
What does the education layer cover for Prestonsburg?
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 3 public schools within the city match. 17.4% 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
36.6%
Bachelor's degree+
17.4%
Matched public schools
3
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in Prestonsburg?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 80.2%. The reported mean trip to work is 16.3 minutes.
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.
Drive alone
80.2%
Work from home
6.7%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,055 workers age 16+.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 36.6% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.2 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Kentucky average
F
City profile score · Prestonsburg, KY
31/100
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 D
191 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
17.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$27,265
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
36.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Prestonsburg profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.2 index
Violent crime: 49/100 (D) · 191 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 27/100 (F) · 17.4%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $27,265
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 36.6%
Where Prestonsburg sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Prestonsburg'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 - Prestonsburg highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
Prestonsburg, KY (this city): home $157,200, crime 491/100k
Vicksburg, MI : home $208,300, crime 2,270/100k
Grayson, KY : home $125,600, crime 2,212/100k
Carrollton, KY : home $122,400, crime 535/100k
Williamstown, KY : home $159,100, crime 452/100k
Russell, KY : home $207,900, crime 969/100k
Lancaster, KY : home $134,700, crime 1,024/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Prestonsburg compare to other US cities?
Where Prestonsburg 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 value29% pricier than other cities
Median rent10% pricier than other cities
Safety86% 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, Prestonsburg ranks #58 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 Prestonsburg 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 Prestonsburg near the bottom of Kentucky's cities
Among the 520 Kentucky cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Prestonsburg ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Prestonsburg only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#464 of 485
4th percentile in Kentucky
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 520
0th percentile in Kentucky
Median Home Value
#217 of 484
55th percentile in Kentucky
Poverty Rate
#30 of 519
94th percentile in Kentucky
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#266 of 520
48th 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 · 86th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Prestonsburg's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Prestonsburg'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 Prestonsburg's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$157,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 71% 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
Prestonsburg's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,881 of 15,516
More affordable than 11% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,332 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 5.8×, Prestonsburg sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,881 of 15,516 and #10,332 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
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
$27,265Prestonsburg, KY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Prestonsburg, 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 Prestonsburg, KY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)17.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)36.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)35.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,823
Median Income
$27,265
Median Home Value
$157,200
Median Age
35.0
Poverty Rate
36.6%
Labor force participation
35.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
17.4%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
491.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
191.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
300.3
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
54.8°F
Annual Precipitation
N/A
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Prestonsburg's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,893 residents
2021
3,813 residents
2022
3,754 residents
2023
3,689 residents
2024
3,648 residents
2025
3,618 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Rapid Growth
Total Permits (2024)
4
housing units authorized
Single-Family
2
detached homes
Multifamily
2
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
3
3
0
$0.6M
2020
6
2
4
$1.1M
2021
7
3
4
$3.0M
2022
3
3
0
$2.2M
2023
4
4
0
$1.5M
2024
4
2
2
$2.0M
Permit volume increased 33% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
16.3 minutes
Drive Alone
80.2%
Carpool
10.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
2.4%
Work from Home
6.7%
Based on 1,055 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 Prestonsburg. 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 Prestonsburg 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 Prestonsburg sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Prestonsburg 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.