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Place dossier plate
SheetLA-MINDEN-LA · Minden, LA 11,604 pop · income 2nd pct · 13 tracts
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 Minden
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Minden on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Crowley · lowest
27,826
Crowley · lowest
27,826 median HH income
11.7% of the leader · rank #1
Antonito · near
29,583
Antonito · near
29,583 median HH income
12.5% of the leader · rank #2
Tamaha · near
29,592
Tamaha · near
29,592 median HH income
12.5% of the leader · rank #3
Aguilar · near
29,593
Aguilar · near
29,593 median HH income
12.5% of the leader · rank #4
Minden · this city
29,597
Minden · this city
29,597 median HH income
12.5% of the leader · rank #5
Abram · near
29,609
Abram · near
29,609 median HH income
12.5% of the leader · rank #6
Town and Coun… · highest
237,083
Town and Coun… · highest
237,083 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Minden on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. 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: 11,604.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Minden - the verdict
Minden ranks in the 2nd percentile for household income and the 12th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
2nd
percentile, household income
16th
percentile, home value
16th
percentile, median rent
12th
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: Minden, LA
Minden is a small town in Louisiana, home to 11,604 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $29,597 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 28.4%. Home values in Minden run a median of $116,700, and the median resident age is 38.7 years. Educational attainment runs 15.5% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 44.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 10 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Rapid Growth), up 25% from five years earlier. Minden's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 3330.3 in FBI UCR data, above the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 65.3°F with 57.6 inches of precipitation per year and 0.4 inches of snowfall.
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. 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 Minden'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 reported crime to work and mobility to population change to schools and households to comparison shortlist to climate and hazard context to housing and income to within-city variation; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Minden, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What can the FBI record say about safety in Minden?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3330.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 46% higher 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Minden?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 85.1%. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Minden?
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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Louisiana, the closest population matches are Covington (11,568 residents, $73,809 income); Crowley (11,554 residents, $27,826 income); Moss Bluff (11,451 residents, $85,984 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Town and Country, MO (11,605 residents); Bethel, CT (11,606 residents); Georgetown, GA (11,606 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.
PlainCities matches 13 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
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.
Population change
Is Minden growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -755 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -6.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 10 housing units authorized in 2024. 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.
2020 estimate
11,858
2025 estimate
11,103
Period change
-6.4%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 5 public schools within the city match. 15.5% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Poverty estimate
28.4%
Bachelor's degree+
15.5%
Matched public schools
5
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 65.3°F, with 57.6 inches of precipitation and 0.4 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Louisiana is 62.4 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
62.4
Annual precipitation
57.6 in
Mean temperature
65.3°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
How far does income reach against housing in Minden?
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 3.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 28.4%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
3.9×
Home value
$116,700
Household income
$29,597
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 28.4% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
88.2 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Louisiana average
F
City profile score · Minden, LA
22/100
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.
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
15.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
28.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
796 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income F
$29,597
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Minden profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 92/100 (A+) · 88.2 index
Bachelor's+ share: 21/100 (F) · 15.5%
Poverty rate: 2/100 (F) · 28.4%
Violent crime: 2/100 (F) · 796 /100k
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $29,597
Where Minden sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Minden's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Minden highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Minden, LA (this city): home $116,700, crime 3,330/100k
Town and Country, MO : home $895,000, crime 1,267/100k
Bethel, CT : home $377,500, crime 539/100k
Ringwood, NJ : home $434,800, crime 215/100k
Spring Lake, NC : home $101,300, crime 3,918/100k
Covington, LA : home $292,500, crime 1,186/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Minden compare to other US cities?
Minden measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income2% higher than other cities
Home value16% pricier than other cities
Median rent16% pricier than other cities
Safety12% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Louisiana, Minden ranks #34 of 60 Louisiana cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Minden 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 Minden near the bottom of Louisiana's cities
Among the 477 Louisiana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Minden ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Minden only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#363 of 426
15th percentile in Louisiana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 477
0th percentile in Louisiana
Median Home Value
#257 of 419
39th percentile in Louisiana
Poverty Rate
#97 of 475
79th percentile in Louisiana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#224 of 477
53rd 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 · 12th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Minden's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Minden'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 Minden's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$116,700Among the most affordablemore affordable than 84% 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
Minden's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,528 of 15,516
More affordable than 32% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,933 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.9×, Minden sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,528 of 15,516 and #1,933 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$29,597Minden, LA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Minden, 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 Minden, LA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)15.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)28.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)44.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
11,604
Median Income
$29,597
Median Home Value
$116,700
Median Age
38.7
Poverty Rate
28.4%
Labor force participation
44.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
15.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3330.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
796.4
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2533.9
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
65.3°F
Annual Precipitation
57.6"
Annual Snowfall
0.4"
Schools
Total Schools
5
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Minden's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
11,858 residents
2021
11,535 residents
2022
11,397 residents
2023
11,331 residents
2024
11,213 residents
2025
11,103 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Rapid Growth
Total Permits (2024)
10
housing units authorized
Single-Family
10
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.9
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
8
8
0
$3.1M
2020
8
8
0
$1.8M
2021
12
12
0
$4.2M
2022
11
11
0
$4.0M
2023
10
4
6
$1.5M
2024
10
10
0
$1.7M
Permit volume increased 25% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
85.1%
Carpool
5.7%
Public Transit
1.0%
Walk
0.2%
Work from Home
6.7%
Other
1.3%
Based on 4,100 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 Minden. 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 Minden 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 Minden sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Minden 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, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, 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.