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Place dossier plate
SheetLA-BROWNFIELDS-LA · Brownfields, LA 5,263 pop · income 21st 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 Brownfields
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Brownfields on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Grambling · lowest
17,670
Grambling · lowest
17,670 median HH income
7.1% of the leader · rank #1
Brownfields · this city
50,809
Brownfields · this city
50,809 median HH income
20.3% of the leader · rank #2
Decatur · near
50,809
Decatur · near
50,809 median HH income
20.3% of the leader · rank #3
Morgantown · near
50,809
Morgantown · near
50,809 median HH income
20.3% of the leader · rank #4
New Harmony · near
50,809
New Harmony · near
50,809 median HH income
20.3% of the leader · rank #5
Whitehall · near
50,812
Whitehall · near
50,812 median HH income
20.3% of the leader · rank #6
Fox Chapel · highest
250,001
Fox Chapel · highest
250,001 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 Brownfields 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: 5,263.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Brownfields lands in the 21st percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
21st
percentile, household income
37th
percentile, home value
16th
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: Brownfields, LA
5,263 people live in Brownfields, Louisiana - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Brownfields report a median income of $50,809 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 23.2%. Brownfields's housing stock carries a median value of $181,400, and the median resident age is 38.0 years. About 19.0% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 55.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Living costs in Louisiana run below the national norm: the state registers 88.2 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Well Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,007 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $212 across Louisiana, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 62.4 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Brownfields'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 comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Brownfields, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, local building permits, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Brownfields?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 76.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
How far does income reach against housing in Brownfields?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 23.2%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Brownfields?
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 Louisiana, the closest population matches are Chackbay (5,287 residents, $74,141 income); Grambling (5,302 residents, $17,670 income); Avondale (5,200 residents, $47,561 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Naples Manor, FL (5,262 residents); Fox Chapel, PA (5,264 residents); La Crescent, MN (5,266 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.
Low income · poverty 23.2% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
88.2 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Louisiana average
F
City profile score · Brownfields, LA
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+
88.2 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Bachelor's+ share F
19.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$50,809
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
23.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Brownfields profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 92/100 (A+) · 88.2 index
Bachelor's+ share: 31/100 (F) · 19.0%
Household income: 21/100 (F) · $50,809
Poverty rate: 8/100 (F) · 23.2%
How does Brownfields compare to other US cities?
Brownfields measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income21% higher than other cities
Home value37% pricier than other cities
Median rent16% 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 Brownfields against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Louisiana only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Louisiana-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Brownfields near the bottom of Louisiana's cities
Among the 477 Louisiana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Brownfields ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Brownfields only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#211 of 426
50th percentile in Louisiana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 477
0th percentile in Louisiana
Median Home Value
#149 of 419
64th percentile in Louisiana
Poverty Rate
#142 of 475
70th percentile in Louisiana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#164 of 477
65th percentile in Louisiana
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 Louisiana only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
21st percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Brownfields's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$181,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 63% 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
Brownfields's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,254 of 15,516
More affordable than 40% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,435 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.6×, Brownfields sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,254 of 15,516 and #7,435 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
$50,809Brownfields, LA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Brownfields, LA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Brownfields, LA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)19.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)23.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)55.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
5,263
Median Income
$50,809
Median Home Value
$181,400
Median Age
38.0
Poverty Rate
23.2%
Labor force participation
55.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
19.0%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
76.4%
Carpool
21.3%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
1.9%
Based on 2,335 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Louisiana statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $212
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Louisiana at $212 (electricity about $130 , water and sewer about $42 ).
These are Louisiana statewide averages, not a meter reading for Brownfields. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Louisiana's BEA cost-of-living index is 88.2 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Brownfields is $1,007/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Louisiana statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 62.4 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Louisiana statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Brownfields sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Brownfields compares to similar-size Louisiana 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.