Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetKY-SOUTH-SHORE-KY · South Shore, KY 1,561 pop · income 2nd pct · 9 tracts
Nearest income peer: Cullison, KS (+ $10 income $)
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 South Shore
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest South Shore on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Fort Deposit · lowest
20,156
Fort Deposit · lowest
20,156 median HH income
16.0% of the leader · rank #1
Berwind · near
28,966
Berwind · near
28,966 median HH income
23.0% of the leader · rank #2
Parmele · near
28,971
Parmele · near
28,971 median HH income
23.0% of the leader · rank #3
Heart Butte · near
28,977
Heart Butte · near
28,977 median HH income
23.0% of the leader · rank #4
South Shore · this city
29,000
South Shore · this city
29,000 median HH income
23.0% of the leader · rank #5
Cullison · near
29,010
Cullison · near
29,010 median HH income
23.0% of the leader · rank #6
Black Point-G… · highest
125,875
Black Point-G… · highest
125,875 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 South Shore 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: 1,561.
South Shore ranks in the 2nd percentile for household income and the 99th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
2nd
percentile, household income
5th
percentile, home value
10th
percentile, median rent
99th
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: South Shore, KY
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 1,561 residents in South Shore, a small town within Kentucky. Median household income here is $29,000 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 17.3%. Home values in South Shore run a median of $85,900, and the median resident age is 41.1 years. 7.4% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 33.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
South Shore reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR figures show 0.0 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: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Kentucky scores 90.2 (Well Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $984 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $225 across Kentucky, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 South Shore'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 within-city variation to work and mobility to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For South Shore, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles.
No matched row is reported here for 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 South Shore?
Within Kentucky, the closest population matches are Taylorsville (1,566 residents, $41,917 income); Jenkins (1,569 residents, $34,400 income); Breckinridge Center (1,592 residents, $62,269 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Onset, MA (1,561 residents); Penn State Erie (Behrend), PA (1,561 residents); Westwood Shores, TX (1,561 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 can the FBI record say about safety in South Shore?
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 0.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 100% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Is South Shore growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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 -31 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.9% 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 can 9 Census tracts reveal inside South Shore?
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 South Shore?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 17.3%, 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. 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.
Household income
$29,000
Home value
$85,900
Value / income
3.0×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the journey to work look like in South Shore?
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 79.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
0.0%
Drive alone
79.4%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 428 workers age 16+.
What does the education layer cover for South Shore?
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 7.4% 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.
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.
Matched public schools
2
Bachelor's degree+
7.4%
Poverty estimate
17.3%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 17.3% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.2 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Kentucky average
D
City profile score · South Shore, KY
40/100
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.
Violent crime A+
0 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
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 F
17.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$29,000
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
7.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
South Shore profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 97/100 (A+) · 0 /100k
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.2 index
Poverty rate: 18/100 (F) · 17.3%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $29,000
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 7.4%
How does South Shore compare to other US cities?
Here's how South Shore stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income2% higher than other cities
Home value5% pricier than other cities
Median rent10% pricier than other cities
Safety99% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Kentucky and the picture shifts: South Shore ranks #9 of 181 Kentucky cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares South Shore 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 South Shore near the bottom of Kentucky's cities
Among the 520 Kentucky cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, South Shore ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares South Shore only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#455 of 485
6th percentile in Kentucky
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 520
0th percentile in Kentucky
Median Home Value
#416 of 484
14th percentile in Kentucky
Poverty Rate
#175 of 519
66th percentile in Kentucky
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#431 of 520
17th 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 · 99th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
South Shore's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
South Shore'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 South Shore's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$85,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 95% 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
South Shore's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#6,492 of 15,516
More affordable than 58% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#5,524 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.0×, South Shore sits in the affordable band:
national rank #6,492 of 15,516 and #5,524 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
$29,000South Shore, KY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context South Shore, 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 South Shore, KY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)7.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)17.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)33.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,561
Median Income
$29,000
Median Home Value
$85,900
Median Age
41.1
Poverty Rate
17.3%
Labor force participation
33.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
7.4%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
0.0
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
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
South Shore's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,066 residents
2021
1,057 residents
2022
1,046 residents
2023
1,042 residents
2024
1,039 residents
2025
1,035 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
79.4%
Carpool
5.4%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
15.2%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 428 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 South Shore. 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 South Shore 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 South Shore sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How South Shore 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 ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.