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Place dossier plate
SheetLA-BROWNSVILLE-LA · Brownsville, LA 3,996 pop · income 2nd 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 Brownsville
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Brownsville on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Remerton · lowest
26,920
Remerton · lowest
26,920 median HH income
21.8% of the leader · rank #1
Strong · near
26,932
Strong · near
26,932 median HH income
21.8% of the leader · rank #2
Brownsville · this city
26,971
Brownsville · this city
26,971 median HH income
21.9% of the leader · rank #3
Mount Hope · near
26,983
Mount Hope · near
26,983 median HH income
21.9% of the leader · rank #4
Earle · near
26,985
Earle · near
26,985 median HH income
21.9% of the leader · rank #5
Salineño · near
27,016
Salineño · near
27,016 median HH income
21.9% of the leader · rank #6
Trappe · highest
123,355
Trappe · highest
123,355 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 Brownsville 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: 3,996.
Brownsville ranks in the 2nd percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
2nd
percentile, household income
2nd
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: Brownsville, LA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 3,996 residents in Brownsville, a small town within Louisiana. The typical household in Brownsville brings in $26,971 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 20.2%. Typical homes in Brownsville are valued around $73,100, and the median resident age is 42.3 years. Educational attainment runs 12.9% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 48.7% 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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,007 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $212 across Louisiana, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Natural-hazard exposure scores 62.4 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Brownsville'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 housing and income to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Brownsville, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, annual population history, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Brownsville?
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 Jackson (3,976 residents, $37,981 income); Amite City (4,036 residents, $45,850 income); Winnfield (4,042 residents, $46,089 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Falmouth, MA (3,996 residents); Basalt, CO (3,995 residents); Trappe, PA (3,995 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Brownsville?
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 2.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 20.2%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What does the journey to work look like in Brownsville?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 86.3%. 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. 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.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 20.2% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
88.2 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Louisiana average
F
City profile score · Brownsville, LA
29/100
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
12.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
20.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$26,971
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Brownsville profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 92/100 (A+) · 88.2 index
Bachelor's+ share: 14/100 (F) · 12.9%
Poverty rate: 13/100 (F) · 20.2%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $26,971
How does Brownsville compare to other US cities?
Where Brownsville sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income2% higher than other cities
Home value2% 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 Brownsville 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 Brownsville near the bottom of Louisiana's cities
Among the 477 Louisiana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Brownsville ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Brownsville only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#378 of 426
11th percentile in Louisiana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 477
0th percentile in Louisiana
Median Home Value
#379 of 419
10th percentile in Louisiana
Poverty Rate
#172 of 475
64th percentile in Louisiana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#273 of 477
43rd 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
2nd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Brownsville's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$73,100Among the most affordablemore affordable than 98% 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
Brownsville's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,083 of 15,516
More affordable than 67% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,456 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.7×, Brownsville sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,083 of 15,516 and #4,456 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
$26,971Brownsville, LA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Brownsville, 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 Brownsville, LA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)12.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)20.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)48.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,996
Median Income
$26,971
Median Home Value
$73,100
Median Age
42.3
Poverty Rate
20.2%
Labor force participation
48.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
12.9%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
86.3%
Carpool
5.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.8%
Work from Home
3.7%
Other
2.5%
Based on 1,456 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 Brownsville. 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 Brownsville 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 Brownsville sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Brownsville 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.