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Place dossier plate
SheetLA-WATSON-LA · Watson, LA 1,503 pop · income 94th 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 Watson
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Watson on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Ringgold · lowest
22,833
Ringgold · lowest
22,833 median HH income
9.1% of the leader · rank #1
Sleepy Hollow · near
147,407
Sleepy Hollow · near
147,407 median HH income
59.0% of the leader · rank #2
Timberwood Pa… · near
147,471
Timberwood Pa… · near
147,471 median HH income
59.0% of the leader · rank #3
Watson · this city
147,500
Watson · this city
147,500 median HH income
59.0% of the leader · rank #4
Putnamville · near
147,527
Putnamville · near
147,527 median HH income
59.0% of the leader · rank #5
Maple Valley · near
147,546
Maple Valley · near
147,546 median HH income
59.0% of the leader · rank #6
Alpine · highest
250,001
Alpine · highest
250,001 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 Watson 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: 1,503.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Watson lands in the 94th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
94th
percentile, household income
55th
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: Watson, LA
Watson is a small town in Louisiana, home to 1,503 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Watson brings in $147,500 a year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 11.0%. Typical homes in Watson are valued around $245,000, and the median resident age is 38.3 years. About 28.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 52.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 4 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
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. 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 Watson'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 work and mobility to comparison shortlist to housing and income to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Watson, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Watson?
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 83.1%. 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 Watson?
Within Louisiana, the closest population matches are Cecilia (1,517 residents, $63,056 income); Arnaudville (1,518 residents, $26,500 income); Edgard (1,521 residents, $66,966 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Key Vista, FL (1,503 residents); Daleville, IN (1,503 residents); Alpine, NJ (1,503 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Watson?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 11.0%, 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. 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.
The NCES join finds 4 public schools within the city match. 28.3% 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 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.
Top-decile income · poverty 11.0% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
88.2 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Louisiana average
B
City profile score · Watson, LA
72/100
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.
Household income A+
$147,500
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
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
28.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
11.0%
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).
Watson profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 95/100 (A+) · $147,500
Cost of living: 92/100 (A+) · 88.2 index
Bachelor's+ share: 55/100 (C) · 28.3%
Poverty rate: 36/100 (F) · 11.0%
How does Watson compare to other US cities?
Watson measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income94% higher than other cities
Home value55% 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 Watson 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 Watson near the bottom of Louisiana's cities
Among the 477 Louisiana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Watson ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Watson only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#3 of 426
99th percentile in Louisiana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 477
0th percentile in Louisiana
Median Home Value
#56 of 419
87th percentile in Louisiana
Poverty Rate
#289 of 475
39th percentile in Louisiana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#76 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
94th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Watson's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$245,00045th percentilemore affordable than 45% 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
Watson's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#671 of 15,516
More affordable than 96% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#656 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.7×, Watson sits in the affordable band:
national rank #671 of 15,516 and #656 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
$147,500Watson, LA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Watson, 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 Watson, LA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)28.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)52.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,503
Median Income
$147,500
Median Home Value
$245,000
Median Age
38.3
Poverty Rate
11.0%
Labor force participation
52.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
28.3%
Schools
Total Schools
4
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
83.1%
Carpool
5.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
11.3%
Based on 550 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 Watson. 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 Watson 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 Watson sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Watson 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.