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Place dossier plate
SheetLA-HESSMER-LA · Hessmer, LA 904 pop · income 20th 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 Hessmer
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Hessmer on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Oil City · lowest
17,381
Oil City · lowest
17,381 median HH income
23.2% of the leader · rank #1
Hessmer · this city
50,179
Hessmer · this city
50,179 median HH income
67.1% of the leader · rank #2
Butler · near
50,179
Butler · near
50,179 median HH income
67.1% of the leader · rank #3
Versailles · near
50,179
Versailles · near
50,179 median HH income
67.1% of the leader · rank #4
Munden · near
50,179
Munden · near
50,179 median HH income
67.1% of the leader · rank #5
Flat Rock · near
50,179
Flat Rock · near
50,179 median HH income
67.1% of the leader · rank #6
West Mansfield · highest
74,821
West Mansfield · highest
74,821 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 Hessmer 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: 904.
Hessmer ranks in the 20th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
20th
percentile, household income
30th
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: Hessmer, LA
904 people live in Hessmer, Louisiana - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Hessmer report a median income of $50,179 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 13.0%. Hessmer's housing stock carries a median value of $160,600, and the median resident age is 41.7 years. 10.7% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 50.3% 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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,007 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Louisiana run around $212, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Hessmer'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 population change to housing and income to comparison shortlist to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Hessmer, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Is Hessmer growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -37 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -4.8% 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Hessmer?
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 3.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 13.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Hessmer?
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 Loreauville (902 residents, $26,656 income); Newellton (909 residents, $25,477 income); Dubach (917 residents, $30,268 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are New Salem, ND (904 residents); West Mansfield, OH (904 residents); Pond Creek, OK (904 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 Hessmer?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 89.1%. 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.
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.
Poverty rate F
13.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$50,179
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
10.7%
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).
Hessmer profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 92/100 (A+) · 88.2 index
Poverty rate: 28/100 (F) · 13.0%
Household income: 21/100 (F) · $50,179
Bachelor's+ share: 8/100 (F) · 10.7%
How does Hessmer compare to other US cities?
Here's how Hessmer stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income20% higher than other cities
Home value30% 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 Hessmer 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 Hessmer near the bottom of Louisiana's cities
Among the 477 Louisiana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Hessmer ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Hessmer only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#216 of 426
49th percentile in Louisiana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 477
0th percentile in Louisiana
Median Home Value
#183 of 419
56th percentile in Louisiana
Poverty Rate
#261 of 475
45th percentile in Louisiana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#319 of 477
33rd 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
20th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Hessmer's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$160,600Among the most affordablemore affordable than 70% 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
Hessmer's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,704 of 15,516
More affordable than 50% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,366 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.2×, Hessmer sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,704 of 15,516 and #6,366 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
$50,179Hessmer, LA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Hessmer, 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 Hessmer, LA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)10.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)13.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)50.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
904
Median Income
$50,179
Median Home Value
$160,600
Median Age
41.7
Poverty Rate
13.0%
Labor force participation
50.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
10.7%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Hessmer's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
777 residents
2021
771 residents
2022
758 residents
2023
754 residents
2024
748 residents
2025
740 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
89.1%
Carpool
0.3%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
9.4%
Other
1.2%
Based on 384 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 Hessmer. 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 Hessmer 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 Hessmer sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Hessmer 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.