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Place dossier plate
SheetMA-ESSEX-MA · Essex, MA 1,775 pop · income 95th 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 Essex
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Essex on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Shelburne Fal… · lowest
52,604
Shelburne Fal… · lowest
52,604 median HH income
33.7% of the leader · rank #1
Windermere · near
156,042
Windermere · near
156,042 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #2
Penn Wynne · near
156,056
Penn Wynne · near
156,056 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #3
Crosswicks · near
156,063
Crosswicks · near
156,063 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #4
Essex · this city
156,094
Essex · this city
156,094 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #5
Martell · near
156,094
Martell · near
156,094 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #6
Turnersville · highest
156,176
Turnersville · highest
156,176 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 Essex 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: 1,775.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Essex - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Essex places in the 95th percentile for household income and the 79th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
95th
percentile, household income
94th
percentile, home value
98th
percentile, median rent
79th
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: Essex, MA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 1,775 residents in Essex, a small town within Massachusetts. Essex households earn a median of $156,094 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 2.0%. Typical homes in Essex are valued around $774,400, and the median resident age is 42.2 years. About 67.9% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 79.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Essex reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 636.6 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. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $2,261 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Massachusetts run around $330, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 78.8 out of 100 (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Essex'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 housing and income to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to schools and households to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Essex, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, annual population history; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Essex?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 64.6%. 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. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Essex?
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 Massachusetts, the closest population matches are Bourne (1,765 residents, $125,366 income); Monson Center (1,794 residents, $58,603 income); Shelburne Falls (1,755 residents, $52,604 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Milan, IN (1,775 residents); Cade, LA (1,775 residents); Charlack, MO (1,775 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.
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.
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 67.9% 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.
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.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Essex?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 636.6 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 72% lower 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.
Total reported rate
636.6
Violent rate
291.8
Property rate
344.8
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
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+
$156,094
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share A+
67.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate A
2.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
292 /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.
Essex profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 98/100 (A+) · $156,094
Bachelor's+ share: 96/100 (A+) · 67.9%
Poverty rate: 86/100 (A) · 2.0%
Violent crime: 34/100 (F) · 292 /100k
Cost of living: 18/100 (F) · 105.8 index
Where Essex sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Essex'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 - Essex highlighted among 24 peers.Read the chart values
Essex, MA (this city): home $774,400, crime 637/100k
Bourne, MA : home $521,100, crime 1,245/100k
Rutland, MA : home $357,700, crime 319/100k
Lenox, MA : home $411,700, crime 1,662/100k
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 Essex compare to other US cities?
Essex measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income95% higher than other cities
Home value94% pricier than other cities
Median rent98% pricier than other cities
Safety79% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Massachusetts alone, Essex ranks #44 of 149 Massachusetts cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Essex 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 Essex near the bottom of Massachusetts's cities
Among the 247 Massachusetts cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Essex ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Essex only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#29 of 233
88th percentile in Massachusetts
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 247
0th percentile in Massachusetts
Median Home Value
#36 of 240
85th percentile in Massachusetts
Poverty Rate
#181 of 247
25th percentile in Massachusetts
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#33 of 247
87th 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
95th percentile nationally for median household income · 79th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Essex's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Essex'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 Essex's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$774,4006th percentilemore affordable than 6% 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
Essex's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#12,817 of 15,516
More affordable than 17% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,710 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 5.0×, Essex sits in the moderate band:
national rank #12,817 of 15,516 and #9,710 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$156,094Essex, MA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Essex, 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 Essex, MA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)67.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)79.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,775
Median Income
$156,094
Median Home Value
$774,400
Median Age
42.2
Poverty Rate
2.0%
Labor force participation
79.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
67.9%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
636.6
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
291.8
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
344.8
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
1
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
64.6%
Carpool
10.1%
Public Transit
0.9%
Walk
10.0%
Work from Home
14.5%
Based on 1,023 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 Essex. 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 Essex 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 Essex sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Essex 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.