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Place dossier plate
SheetLA-STARKS-LA · Starks, LA 300 pop · income 0th 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 Starks
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Starks on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Athens · lowest
16,250
Athens · lowest
16,250 median HH income
18.8% of the leader · rank #1
Comerío zona… · near
16,276
Comerío zona… · near
16,276 median HH income
18.9% of the leader · rank #2
Hightsville · near
16,289
Hightsville · near
16,289 median HH income
18.9% of the leader · rank #3
Starks · this city
16,331
Starks · this city
16,331 median HH income
18.9% of the leader · rank #4
Peña Pobre co… · near
16,336
Peña Pobre co… · near
16,336 median HH income
18.9% of the leader · rank #5
Leisure Lake · near
16,403
Leisure Lake · near
16,403 median HH income
19.0% of the leader · rank #6
Lisbon · highest
86,250
Lisbon · highest
86,250 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 Starks 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: 300.
Starks ranks in the 0th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
0th
percentile, household income
22nd
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: Starks, LA
Louisiana's Starks is a small town, with 300 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Starks report a median income of $16,331 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 50.0%. Home values in Starks run a median of $133,900, and the median resident age is 34.9 years. Educational attainment runs 14.7% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 23.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 1 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
Living costs in Louisiana run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Louisiana scores 88.2 (Well Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,007 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Louisiana's average monthly utility costs around $212 (state average). Workers in Starks report an average commute of 48.2 minutes, with 100.0% driving alone and 0.0% working from home. 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 Starks'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 schools and households to housing and income to work and mobility to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Starks, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the education layer cover for Starks?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 14.7% 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.
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
How far does income reach against housing in Starks?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 8.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 50.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
What does the journey to work look like in Starks?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 100.0%. The reported mean trip to work is 48.2 minutes.
Which cities make useful reference points for Starks?
Within Louisiana, the closest population matches are Grosse Tete (294 residents, $54,250 income); Quitman (293 residents, $26,518 income); Angie (310 residents, $62,083 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Coldfoot, AK (300 residents); Garland, AR (300 residents); Wardner, ID (300 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.
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.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 50.0% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
88.2 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Louisiana average
F
City profile score · Starks, LA
27/100
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
14.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$16,331
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
50.0%
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).
Starks profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 92/100 (A+) · 88.2 index
Bachelor's+ share: 19/100 (F) · 14.7%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $16,331
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 50.0%
How does Starks compare to other US cities?
Starks measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income0% higher than other cities
Home value22% 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 Starks 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 Starks near the bottom of Louisiana's cities
Among the 477 Louisiana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Starks ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Starks only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#419 of 426
2nd percentile in Louisiana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 477
0th percentile in Louisiana
Median Home Value
#224 of 419
46th percentile in Louisiana
Poverty Rate
#22 of 475
95th percentile in Louisiana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#238 of 477
49th 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
0th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Starks's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$133,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 78% 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
Starks's home-value-to-income ratio: 8.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#15,092 of 15,516
More affordable than 3% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#11,074 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 8.2×, Starks sits in the pressured band:
national rank #15,092 of 15,516 and #11,074 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
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
$16,331Starks, LA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Starks, 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 Starks, LA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)14.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)50.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)23.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
300
Median Income
$16,331
Median Home Value
$133,900
Median Age
34.9
Poverty Rate
50.0%
Labor force participation
23.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
14.7%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
48.2 minutes
Drive Alone
100.0%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 62 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 Starks. 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 Starks 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 Starks sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Starks 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, NCES CCD, 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.