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-WAYLAND-KY · Wayland, KY 360 pop · income 3rd 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 Wayland
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Wayland on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Arco · lowest
31,023
Arco · lowest
31,023 median HH income
25.1% of the leader · rank #1
Madison · near
31,025
Madison · near
31,025 median HH income
25.1% of the leader · rank #2
Lake View · near
31,033
Lake View · near
31,033 median HH income
25.1% of the leader · rank #3
Wayland · this city
31,042
Wayland · this city
31,042 median HH income
25.1% of the leader · rank #4
Bell City · near
31,058
Bell City · near
31,058 median HH income
25.1% of the leader · rank #5
Bayamón zona… · near
31,058
Bayamón zona… · near
31,058 median HH income
25.1% 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 Wayland 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: 360.
Wayland ranks in the 3rd 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.
3rd
percentile, household income
0th
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: Wayland, KY
360 people live in Wayland, Kentucky - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $31,042 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 46.9%. Wayland's housing stock carries a median value of $21,800, and the median resident age is 30.2 years. 5.5% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 38.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Wayland reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 0.0 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not 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. The average commute for Wayland workers runs 21.9 minutes, with 87.4% driving alone and 0.0% 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 Wayland'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 work and mobility to population change to reported crime to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Wayland, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Wayland?
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); Gamaliel (359 residents, $37,000 income); Waverly (361 residents, $61,250 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Mentone, AL (360 residents); Keysville, GA (360 residents); Humboldt, IL (360 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 does the journey to work look like in Wayland?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 87.4%. The reported mean trip to work is 21.9 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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -24 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -6.3% 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 can the FBI record say about safety in Wayland?
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.
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.
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 Wayland?
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 0.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 46.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
0.7×
Home value
$21,800
Household income
$31,042
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 46.9% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.2 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Kentucky average
F
City profile score · Wayland, KY
36/100
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.
Household income F
$31,042
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
46.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
5.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Wayland 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
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $31,042
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 46.9%
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 5.5%
How does Wayland compare to other US cities?
Wayland measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income3% higher than other cities
Home value0% 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.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Kentucky alone, Wayland ranks #11 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 Wayland 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 Wayland near the bottom of Kentucky's cities
Among the 520 Kentucky cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Wayland ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Wayland only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#445 of 485
8th percentile in Kentucky
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 520
0th percentile in Kentucky
Median Home Value
#484 of 484
0th percentile in Kentucky
Poverty Rate
#14 of 519
97th percentile in Kentucky
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#459 of 520
12th 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
3rd percentile nationally for median household income · 99th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Wayland's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Wayland'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 Wayland's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$21,800Among the most affordablemore affordable than 100% 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
Wayland's home-value-to-income ratio: 0.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#11 of 15,516
More affordable than 100% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#11 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 0.7×, Wayland sits in the affordable band:
national rank #11 of 15,516 and #11 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
$31,042Wayland, KY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Wayland, 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 Wayland, KY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)5.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)46.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)38.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
360
Median Income
$31,042
Median Home Value
$21,800
Median Age
30.2
Poverty Rate
46.9%
Labor force participation
38.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
5.5%
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.
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Wayland's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
383 residents
2021
376 residents
2022
372 residents
2023
366 residents
2024
361 residents
2025
359 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
21.9 minutes
Drive Alone
87.4%
Carpool
12.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 95 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 Wayland. 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 Wayland 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 Wayland sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Wayland 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, 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.