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Place dossier plate
SheetKY-ROBARDS-KY · Robards, KY 474 pop · income 51st 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 Robards
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Robards on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Laurel · lowest
24,663
Laurel · lowest
24,663 median HH income
12.8% of the leader · rank #1
Robards · this city
70,833
Robards · this city
70,833 median HH income
36.7% of the leader · rank #2
Hytop · near
70,833
Hytop · near
70,833 median HH income
36.7% of the leader · rank #3
Vernon · near
70,833
Vernon · near
70,833 median HH income
36.7% of the leader · rank #4
Wildwood · near
70,833
Wildwood · near
70,833 median HH income
36.7% of the leader · rank #5
Orangeville · near
70,833
Orangeville · near
70,833 median HH income
36.7% of the leader · rank #6
Strathmoor Ma… · highest
193,125
Strathmoor Ma… · highest
193,125 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 Robards 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: 474.
Robards ranks in the 51st percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
51st
percentile, household income
19th
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: Robards, KY
474 people live in Robards, Kentucky - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $70,833 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 6.6%. Robards's housing stock carries a median value of $123,000, and the median resident age is 52.6 years. 13.1% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 51.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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 Robards report an average commute of 24.2 minutes, with 84.4% driving alone and 0.0% working from home. 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 Robards'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 population change to work and mobility to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Robards, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Robards?
Within Kentucky, the closest population matches are Pippa Passes (472 residents); Plum Springs (476 residents, $63,250 income); Grand Rivers (469 residents, $80,000 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Nectar, AL (474 residents); Turkey Creek, AZ (474 residents); Lake City, CO (474 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.
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 -5 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.1% 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Robards?
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 84.4%. The reported mean trip to work is 24.2 minutes.
How far does income reach against housing in Robards?
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 6.6%, 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.
Above median income · poverty 6.6% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.2 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Kentucky average
C-
City profile score · Robards, KY
53/100
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 C
6.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income C-
$70,833
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
13.1%
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).
Robards profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.2 index
Poverty rate: 55/100 (C) · 6.6%
Household income: 50/100 (C-) · $70,833
Bachelor's+ share: 15/100 (F) · 13.1%
How does Robards compare to other US cities?
Here's how Robards stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income51% higher than other cities
Home value19% 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 Robards 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 Robards near the bottom of Kentucky's cities
Among the 520 Kentucky cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Robards ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Robards only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#156 of 485
68th percentile in Kentucky
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 520
0th percentile in Kentucky
Median Home Value
#295 of 484
39th percentile in Kentucky
Poverty Rate
#344 of 519
34th percentile in Kentucky
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#337 of 520
35th 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
51st percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Robards's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$123,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 81% 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
Robards's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#844 of 15,516
More affordable than 95% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#817 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.7×, Robards sits in the affordable band:
national rank #844 of 15,516 and #817 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
$70,833Robards, KY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Robards, 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 Robards, KY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)13.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)51.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
474
Median Income
$70,833
Median Home Value
$123,000
Median Age
52.6
Poverty Rate
6.6%
Labor force participation
51.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
13.1%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Robards's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
448 residents
2021
446 residents
2022
441 residents
2023
443 residents
2024
445 residents
2025
443 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
24.2 minutes
Drive Alone
84.4%
Carpool
12.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Other
3.1%
Based on 224 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 Robards. 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 Robards 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 Robards sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Robards 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.