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-WAVERLY-KY · Waverly, KY 361 pop · income 37th 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 Waverly
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Waverly on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Epes · lowest
15,156
Epes · lowest
15,156 median HH income
12.2% of the leader · rank #1
Waverly · this city
61,250
Waverly · this city
61,250 median HH income
49.5% of the leader · rank #2
Graysville · near
61,250
Graysville · near
61,250 median HH income
49.5% of the leader · rank #3
Copper Center · near
61,250
Copper Center · near
61,250 median HH income
49.5% of the leader · rank #4
Allensworth · near
61,250
Allensworth · near
61,250 median HH income
49.5% of the leader · rank #5
Tranquillity · near
61,250
Tranquillity · near
61,250 median HH income
49.5% of the leader · rank #6
Spring Mill · highest
123,750
Spring Mill · highest
123,750 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 Waverly 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: 361.
Nationally, Waverly sits in the 37th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
37th
percentile, household income
10th
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: Waverly, KY
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 361 residents in Waverly, a small town within Kentucky. Waverly households earn a median of $61,250 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 17.9%. Waverly's housing stock carries a median value of $100,000, and the median resident age is 46.5 years. Educational attainment runs 8.4% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 51.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. Commute times here average 26.6 minutes, with 93.6% driving alone and 2.5% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. 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 Waverly'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 comparison shortlist to population change to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Waverly, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count; 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 Waverly?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 17.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Waverly?
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 Summersville (360 residents, $51,696 income); Wayland (360 residents, $31,042 income); Gamaliel (359 residents, $37,000 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Epes, AL (361 residents); Woodville Farm Labor Camp, CA (361 residents); Talmo, GA (361 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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -12 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -3.8% 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.
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 does the journey to work look like in Waverly?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 93.6%. The reported mean trip to work is 26.6 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. 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.
Below median income · poverty 17.9% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.2 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Kentucky average
F
City profile score · Waverly, KY
37/100
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.
Household income F
$61,250
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
17.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
8.4%
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).
Waverly profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.2 index
Household income: 36/100 (F) · $61,250
Poverty rate: 17/100 (F) · 17.9%
Bachelor's+ share: 2/100 (F) · 8.4%
How does Waverly compare to other US cities?
Here's how Waverly stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income37% higher than other cities
Home value10% 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 Waverly 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 Waverly near the bottom of Kentucky's cities
Among the 520 Kentucky cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Waverly ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Waverly only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#201 of 485
58th percentile in Kentucky
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 520
0th percentile in Kentucky
Median Home Value
#381 of 484
21st percentile in Kentucky
Poverty Rate
#170 of 519
67th percentile in Kentucky
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#414 of 520
20th 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
37th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Waverly's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$100,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 90% 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
Waverly's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#623 of 15,516
More affordable than 96% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#609 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.6×, Waverly sits in the affordable band:
national rank #623 of 15,516 and #609 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
$61,250Waverly, KY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Waverly, 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 Waverly, KY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)8.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)17.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)51.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
361
Median Income
$61,250
Median Home Value
$100,000
Median Age
46.5
Poverty Rate
17.9%
Labor force participation
51.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
8.4%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Waverly's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
313 residents
2021
311 residents
2022
306 residents
2023
305 residents
2024
302 residents
2025
301 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
26.6 minutes
Drive Alone
93.6%
Carpool
3.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
2.5%
Based on 157 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 Waverly. 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 Waverly 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 Waverly sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Waverly 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.