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Place dossier plate
SheetMA-ORLEANS-MA · Orleans, MA 1,618 pop · income 58th 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 Orleans
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Orleans on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Smith Valley · lowest
48,194
Smith Valley · lowest
48,194 median HH income
38.0% of the leader · rank #1
Slaughterville · near
76,759
Slaughterville · near
76,759 median HH income
60.6% of the leader · rank #2
Orleans · this city
76,768
Orleans · this city
76,768 median HH income
60.6% of the leader · rank #3
Midway South · near
76,768
Midway South · near
76,768 median HH income
60.6% of the leader · rank #4
North Las Veg… · near
76,772
North Las Veg… · near
76,772 median HH income
60.6% of the leader · rank #5
Butler Beach · near
76,776
Butler Beach · near
76,776 median HH income
60.6% of the leader · rank #6
Duxbury · highest
126,750
Duxbury · highest
126,750 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 Orleans 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: 1,618.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Orleans - the verdict
Nationally, Orleans sits in the 58th percentile for household income and the 64th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
58th
percentile, household income
87th
percentile, home value
98th
percentile, median rent
64th
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: Orleans, MA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 1,618 residents in Orleans, a small town within Massachusetts. Orleans households earn a median of $76,768 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 10.5%. Typical homes in Orleans are valued around $542,500, and the median resident age is 64.4 years. Educational attainment runs 47.2% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 48.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Orleans reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 994.9 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as 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. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Massachusetts run around $330, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Orleans'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 comparison shortlist to reported crime to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Orleans, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Orleans?
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 2 public schools within the city match. 47.2% 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Orleans?
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 7.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 10.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Orleans?
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 Duxbury (1,620 residents, $126,750 income); Harwich Center (1,620 residents, $76,944 income); Chatham (1,614 residents, $82,269 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Shannon, GA (1,618 residents); Galena, IN (1,618 residents); Monona, IA (1,618 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Orleans?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 994.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 56% 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.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Orleans?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 68.5%. 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. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Drive alone
68.5%
Work from home
19.1%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 718 workers age 16+.
Above median income · poverty 10.5% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
105.8 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, Massachusetts average
D
City profile score · Orleans, 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 A-
47.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime C
153 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income C
$76,768
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
10.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better 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.
Orleans profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 81/100 (A-) · 47.2%
Violent crime: 58/100 (C) · 153 /100k
Household income: 56/100 (C) · $76,768
Poverty rate: 38/100 (F) · 10.5%
Cost of living: 18/100 (F) · 105.8 index
Where Orleans sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Orleans'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 - Orleans highlighted among 24 peers.Read the chart values
Orleans, MA (this city): home $542,500, crime 995/100k
Duxbury, MA : home $1,386,200, crime 345/100k
Chatham, MA : home $1,550,000, crime 687/100k
Groton, MA : home $736,800, crime 235/100k
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 Orleans compare to other US cities?
Here's how Orleans stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income58% higher than other cities
Home value87% pricier than other cities
Median rent98% pricier than other cities
Safety64% 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, Orleans ranks #79 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 Orleans 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 Orleans near the bottom of Massachusetts's cities
Among the 247 Massachusetts cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Orleans ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Orleans only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#173 of 233
26th percentile in Massachusetts
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 247
0th percentile in Massachusetts
Median Home Value
#107 of 240
55th percentile in Massachusetts
Poverty Rate
#39 of 247
84th percentile in Massachusetts
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#110 of 247
55th 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
58th percentile nationally for median household income · 64th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Orleans's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Orleans'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 Orleans's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$542,50013th percentilemore affordable than 13% 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
Orleans's home-value-to-income ratio: 7.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,699 of 15,516
More affordable than 5% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,818 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 7.1×, Orleans sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,699 of 15,516 and #10,818 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
$76,768Orleans, MA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Orleans, 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 Orleans, MA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)47.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)10.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)48.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,618
Median Income
$76,768
Median Home Value
$542,500
Median Age
64.4
Poverty Rate
10.5%
Labor force participation
48.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
47.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
994.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
153.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
841.9
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
Drive Alone
68.5%
Carpool
10.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
2.2%
Work from Home
19.1%
Based on 718 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 Orleans. 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 Orleans 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 Orleans sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Orleans 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.