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Place dossier plate
SheetMA-AYER-MA · Ayer, MA 3,012 pop · income 63rd 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 Ayer
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Ayer on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Olney · lowest
39,231
Olney · lowest
39,231 median HH income
24.4% of the leader · rank #1
Owatonna · near
81,276
Owatonna · near
81,276 median HH income
50.5% of the leader · rank #2
Bayonne · near
81,285
Bayonne · near
81,285 median HH income
50.5% of the leader · rank #3
Ayer · this city
81,286
Ayer · this city
81,286 median HH income
50.5% of the leader · rank #4
Twin Lakes CD… · near
81,288
Twin Lakes CD… · near
81,288 median HH income
50.5% of the leader · rank #5
Orem · near
81,292
Orem · near
81,292 median HH income
50.5% of the leader · rank #6
Cordaville · highest
161,023
Cordaville · highest
161,023 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 Ayer 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: 3,012.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Ayer - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Ayer places in the 63rd percentile for household income and the 78th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
63rd
percentile, household income
79th
percentile, home value
98th
percentile, median rent
78th
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: Ayer, MA
3,012 people live in Ayer, Massachusetts - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Ayer households earn a median of $81,286 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 4.7%. Home values in Ayer run a median of $417,300, and the median resident age is 48.0 years. 35.9% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 67.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Ayer reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 675.9 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Massachusetts carries a cost-of-living premium: the state registers 105.8 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Above Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $2,261 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Massachusetts's average monthly utility costs around $330 (state average). The average commute for Ayer workers runs 25.7 minutes, with 80.5% driving alone and 12.3% working from home. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 78.8 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Ayer'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 reported crime to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Ayer, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the education layer cover for Ayer?
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 35.9% 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.
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 675.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 70% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Which cities make useful reference points for Ayer?
Within Massachusetts, the closest population matches are Upton (2,985 residents, $109,925 income); Sandwich (2,976 residents, $108,583 income); Monument Beach (3,067 residents, $86,953 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are David City, NE (3,013 residents); Olney, TX (3,011 residents); Kelly Ridge, CA (3,010 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
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 80.5%. The reported mean trip to work is 25.7 minutes.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Ayer?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.7%, 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.
Household income
$81,286
Home value
$417,300
Value / income
5.1×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Above median income · poverty 4.7% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
105.8 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, Massachusetts average
D
City profile score · Ayer, MA
49/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share B-
35.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate B-
4.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income C+
$81,286
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
309 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Cost of living F
105.8 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Ayer profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 68/100 (B-) · 35.9%
Poverty rate: 67/100 (B-) · 4.7%
Household income: 61/100 (C+) · $81,286
Violent crime: 32/100 (F) · 309 /100k
Cost of living: 18/100 (F) · 105.8 index
Where Ayer sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Ayer'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 - Ayer highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Ayer, MA (this city): home $417,300, crime 676/100k
Olney, TX : home $92,200, crime 397/100k
Bad Axe, MI : home $106,700, crime 1,722/100k
Mansfield, PA : home $179,600, crime 255/100k
Upton, MA : home $474,600, crime 140/100k
Sandwich, MA : home $511,000, crime 473/100k
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 Ayer compare to other US cities?
Where Ayer sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income63% higher than other cities
Home value79% pricier than other cities
Median rent98% pricier than other cities
Safety78% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Massachusetts and the picture shifts: Ayer ranks #49 of 149 Massachusetts cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Ayer against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Massachusetts only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Massachusetts-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Ayer near the bottom of Massachusetts's cities
Among the 247 Massachusetts cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Ayer ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Ayer only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#161 of 233
31st percentile in Massachusetts
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 247
0th percentile in Massachusetts
Median Home Value
#161 of 240
33rd percentile in Massachusetts
Poverty Rate
#99 of 247
59th percentile in Massachusetts
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#170 of 247
31st percentile in Massachusetts
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 Massachusetts only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
63rd percentile nationally for median household income · 78th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Ayer's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Ayer'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 Ayer's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$417,30021st percentilemore affordable than 21% 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
Ayer's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,110 of 15,516
More affordable than 16% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,881 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 5.1×, Ayer sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,110 of 15,516 and #9,881 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
$81,286Ayer, MA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Ayer, MA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Ayer, MA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)35.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)67.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,012
Median Income
$81,286
Median Home Value
$417,300
Median Age
48.0
Poverty Rate
4.7%
Labor force participation
67.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
35.9%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
675.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
309.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
366.6
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.
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
25.7 minutes
Drive Alone
80.5%
Carpool
3.4%
Public Transit
3.8%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
12.3%
Based on 1,656 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Massachusetts statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $330
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Massachusetts at $330 (electricity about $160 , water and sewer about $60 ).
These are Massachusetts statewide averages, not a meter reading for Ayer. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Massachusetts's BEA cost-of-living index is 105.8 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Ayer is $2,261/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Massachusetts statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 78.8 / 100 (High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Massachusetts statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Ayer sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Ayer compares to similar-size Massachusetts 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, 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.