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Place dossier plate
SheetLA-START-LA · Start, LA 941 pop · income 47th 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 Start
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Start 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
19.1% of the leader · rank #1
Marysville · near
67,670
Marysville · near
67,670 median HH income
74.2% of the leader · rank #2
Mattydale · near
67,672
Mattydale · near
67,672 median HH income
74.2% of the leader · rank #3
Start · this city
67,673
Start · this city
67,673 median HH income
74.2% of the leader · rank #4
Bartonville · near
67,674
Bartonville · near
67,674 median HH income
74.2% of the leader · rank #5
Maggie Valley · near
67,674
Maggie Valley · near
67,674 median HH income
74.2% of the leader · rank #6
Egan · highest
91,233
Egan · highest
91,233 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 Start 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: 941.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Start places in the 47th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
47th
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: Start, LA
Start is a small town in Louisiana, home to 941 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Start households earn a median of $67,673 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 9.9%. Typical homes in Start are valued around $134,600, and the median resident age is 50.1 years. About 28.2% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 48.4% 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: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Louisiana at 88.2 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Below Average). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,007 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Louisiana run around $212, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 62.4 out of 100 (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Start'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 Start, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, 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 Start?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 28.2% 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 Start?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 9.9%, 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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 80.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for Start?
Within Louisiana, the closest population matches are Oil City (941 residents, $17,381 income); Grand Coteau (948 residents, $48,036 income); Merryville (956 residents, $26,554 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Odin, IL (941 residents); Union Bridge, MD (941 residents); Jonestown, MS (941 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.
Below median income · poverty 9.9% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
88.2 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Louisiana average
C
City profile score · Start, LA
58/100
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 C
28.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income D
$67,673
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate D
9.9%
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).
Start profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 92/100 (A+) · 88.2 index
Bachelor's+ share: 55/100 (C) · 28.2%
Household income: 46/100 (D) · $67,673
Poverty rate: 40/100 (D) · 9.9%
How does Start compare to other US cities?
Here's how Start stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income47% 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 Start 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 Start near the bottom of Louisiana's cities
Among the 477 Louisiana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Start ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Start only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#110 of 426
74th percentile in Louisiana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 477
0th percentile in Louisiana
Median Home Value
#223 of 419
47th percentile in Louisiana
Poverty Rate
#304 of 475
36th percentile in Louisiana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#78 of 477
84th 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
47th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Start's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$134,600Among 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
Start's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#1,590 of 15,516
More affordable than 90% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,523 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.0×, Start sits in the affordable band:
national rank #1,590 of 15,516 and #1,523 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
$67,673Start, LA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Start, 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 Start, LA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)28.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)9.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)48.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
941
Median Income
$67,673
Median Home Value
$134,600
Median Age
50.1
Poverty Rate
9.9%
Labor force participation
48.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
28.2%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
80.4%
Carpool
3.8%
Public Transit
8.9%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
6.9%
Based on 393 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 Start. 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 Start 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 Start sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Start 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.