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Place dossier plate
SheetKY-RUSSELL-SPRINGS-KY · Russell Springs, KY 2,755 pop · income 6th pct · 5 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 Russell Springs
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Russell Springs on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Irvine · lowest
36,292
Irvine · lowest
36,292 median HH income
33.3% of the leader · rank #1
Russell Sprin… · this city
37,500
Russell Sprin… · this city
37,500 median HH income
34.4% of the leader · rank #2
Aubrey · near
37,500
Aubrey · near
37,500 median HH income
34.4% of the leader · rank #3
Grady · near
37,500
Grady · near
37,500 median HH income
34.4% of the leader · rank #4
Warwick · near
37,500
Warwick · near
37,500 median HH income
34.4% of the leader · rank #5
Cantril · near
37,500
Cantril · near
37,500 median HH income
34.4% of the leader · rank #6
Lakeside Park · highest
108,971
Lakeside Park · highest
108,971 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 Russell Springs 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: 2,755.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Russell Springs - the verdict
Russell Springs ranks in the 6th percentile for household income and the 70th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
6th
percentile, household income
34th
percentile, home value
10th
percentile, median rent
70th
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: Russell Springs, KY
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 2,755 residents in Russell Springs, a small town within Kentucky. Households in Russell Springs report a median income of $37,500 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 23.7%. Home values in Russell Springs run a median of $170,300, and the median resident age is 44.3 years. 27.3% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 48.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 0 residential units were authorized in 2024 (No Permits), down 100% from five years earlier. Russell Springs reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR figures show 852.0 crimes per 100,000 residents, below the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
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. 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. 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 Russell Springs'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 population change to reported crime to schools and households to within-city variation to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Russell Springs, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares, local building permits, matched public-school count.
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 Russell Springs?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 87.0%. 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 Russell Springs?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 23.7%, 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. 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.
What can 5 Census tracts reveal inside Russell Springs?
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Russell Springs?
Within Kentucky, the closest population matches are Morgantown (2,729 residents, $37,037 income); Eminence (2,710 residents, $44,655 income); Irvine (2,811 residents, $36,292 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are St. Clair, PA (2,755 residents); Abbeville, GA (2,756 residents); Rising Sun, MD (2,756 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.
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.
Population change
Is Russell Springs 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 +101 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.7% 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
+3.7%
2025 estimate
2,828
2020 estimate
2,727
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Russell Springs?
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 852.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 63% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
745.5
Violent rate
106.5
Total reported rate
852.0
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the education layer cover for Russell Springs?
The NCES join finds 4 public schools within the city match. 27.3% 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 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.
Matched public schools
4
Bachelor's degree+
27.3%
Poverty estimate
23.7%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 23.7% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.2 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Kentucky average
D
City profile score · Russell Springs, KY
41/100
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 B-
107 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C-
27.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
23.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$37,500
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Russell Springs profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.2 index
Violent crime: 69/100 (B-) · 107 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 53/100 (C-) · 27.3%
Poverty rate: 8/100 (F) · 23.7%
Household income: 3/100 (F) · $37,500
Where Russell Springs sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Russell Springs'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 - Russell Springs highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Russell Springs, KY (this city): home $170,300, crime 852/100k
Rising Sun, MD : home $289,200, crime 755/100k
Centreville, AL : home $145,300, crime 1,571/100k
Morgantown, KY : home $111,400, crime 284/100k
Eminence, KY : home $171,300, crime 1,525/100k
Irvine, KY : home $123,400, crime 619/100k
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 Russell Springs compare to other US cities?
Russell Springs measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income6% higher than other cities
Home value34% pricier than other cities
Median rent10% pricier than other cities
Safety70% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Kentucky, Russell Springs ranks #96 of 181 Kentucky cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Russell Springs 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 Russell Springs near the bottom of Kentucky's cities
Among the 520 Kentucky cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Russell Springs ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Russell Springs only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#394 of 485
19th percentile in Kentucky
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 520
0th percentile in Kentucky
Median Home Value
#188 of 484
61st percentile in Kentucky
Poverty Rate
#107 of 519
79th percentile in Kentucky
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#166 of 520
68th 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
6th percentile nationally for median household income · 70th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Russell Springs's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Russell Springs'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 Russell Springs's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$170,300Among the most affordablemore affordable than 66% 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
Russell Springs's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#12,066 of 15,516
More affordable than 22% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,229 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.5×, Russell Springs sits in the moderate band:
national rank #12,066 of 15,516 and #9,229 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
$37,500Russell Springs, KY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Russell Springs, 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 Russell Springs, KY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)27.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)23.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)48.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,755
Median Income
$37,500
Median Home Value
$170,300
Median Age
44.3
Poverty Rate
23.7%
Labor force participation
48.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
27.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
852.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
106.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
745.5
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
4
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Russell Springs's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,727 residents
2021
2,763 residents
2022
2,758 residents
2023
2,808 residents
2024
2,829 residents
2025
2,828 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
10
6
4
$1.6M
2020
12
0
12
$1.5M
2021
3
3
0
$0.6M
2022
19
6
13
$2.9M
2023
1
1
0
$0.3M
2024
0
0
0
-
Permit volume decreased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
87.0%
Carpool
9.7%
Public Transit
0.7%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
2.6%
Based on 1,096 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 Russell Springs. 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 Russell Springs 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 Russell Springs sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Russell Springs 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.