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Place dossier plate
SheetMD-EMMITSBURG-MD · Emmitsburg, MD 2,855 pop · income 61st 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 Emmitsburg
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Emmitsburg on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Federalsburg · lowest
35,432
Federalsburg · lowest
35,432 median HH income
14.2% of the leader · rank #1
Boutte · near
78,971
Boutte · near
78,971 median HH income
31.6% of the leader · rank #2
Cusseta · near
78,977
Cusseta · near
78,977 median HH income
31.6% of the leader · rank #3
Leshara · near
78,977
Leshara · near
78,977 median HH income
31.6% of the leader · rank #4
Emmitsburg · this city
78,986
Emmitsburg · this city
78,986 median HH income
31.6% of the leader · rank #5
Funk · near
79,000
Funk · near
79,000 median HH income
31.6% of the leader · rank #6
Chevy Chase · highest
250,001
Chevy Chase · 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 Emmitsburg 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: 2,855.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Emmitsburg lands in the 61st percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
61st
percentile, household income
65th
percentile, home value
84th
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: Emmitsburg, MD
Emmitsburg is a small town in Maryland, home to 2,855 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Emmitsburg households earn a median of $78,986 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 2.1%. Typical homes in Emmitsburg are valued around $300,900, and the median resident age is 39.7 years. About 23.2% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 59.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 53.0°F with 46.6 inches of precipitation per year and 27.5 inches of snowfall.
Maryland carries a cost-of-living premium: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Maryland scores 105.0 (Above Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,657 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $255 across Maryland, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 60.2 out of 100 (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Emmitsburg'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 population change to housing and income to work and mobility to schools and households to comparison shortlist to climate and hazard context; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Emmitsburg, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Is Emmitsburg growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +144 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +5.2% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
How far does income reach against housing in Emmitsburg?
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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.1%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What does the journey to work look like in Emmitsburg?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 71.5%. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Emmitsburg?
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.
Within Maryland, the closest population matches are Gambrills (2,862 residents, $151,667 income); Chevy Chase (2,884 residents, $250,000+ income); Jefferson (2,891 residents, $145,664 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Piedmont, MO (2,857 residents); Alderton, WA (2,857 residents); Newton, IL (2,852 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.
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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Emmitsburg?
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. 23.2% 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.
Poverty estimate
2.1%
Bachelor's degree+
23.2%
Matched public schools
1
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What physical conditions frame life in Emmitsburg?
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 53.0°F, with 46.6 inches of precipitation and 27.5 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Maryland is 60.2 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
60.2
Annual precipitation
46.6 in
Mean temperature
53.0°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
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.
Poverty rate A
2.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income C
$78,986
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share D
23.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Cost of living F
105.0 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Emmitsburg profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 85/100 (A) · 2.1%
Household income: 58/100 (C) · $78,986
Bachelor's+ share: 44/100 (D) · 23.2%
Cost of living: 21/100 (F) · 105.0 index
How does Emmitsburg compare to other US cities?
Where Emmitsburg sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income61% higher than other cities
Home value65% pricier than other cities
Median rent84% 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 Emmitsburg against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Maryland only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Maryland-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Emmitsburg near the bottom of Maryland's cities
Among the 479 Maryland cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Emmitsburg ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Emmitsburg only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#315 of 445
29th percentile in Maryland
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 479
0th percentile in Maryland
Median Home Value
#297 of 450
34th percentile in Maryland
Poverty Rate
#309 of 479
35th percentile in Maryland
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#327 of 479
31st percentile in Maryland
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 Maryland only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
61st percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Emmitsburg's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$300,90035th percentilemore affordable than 35% 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
Emmitsburg's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,095 of 15,516
More affordable than 35% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,973 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.8×, Emmitsburg sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,095 of 15,516 and #7,973 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
$78,986Emmitsburg, MD median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Emmitsburg, MD median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Emmitsburg, MD.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)23.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)59.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,855
Median Income
$78,986
Median Home Value
$300,900
Median Age
39.7
Poverty Rate
2.1%
Labor force participation
59.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
23.2%
Climate
Avg Temperature
53.0°F
Annual Precipitation
46.6"
Annual Snowfall
27.5"
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Emmitsburg's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,766 residents
2021
2,785 residents
2022
2,849 residents
2023
2,900 residents
2024
2,912 residents
2025
2,910 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
71.5%
Carpool
10.5%
Public Transit
0.4%
Walk
2.0%
Work from Home
15.4%
Based on 1,404 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Maryland statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $255
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Maryland at $255 (electricity about $120 , water and sewer about $55 ).
These are Maryland statewide averages, not a meter reading for Emmitsburg. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Maryland's BEA cost-of-living index is 105.0 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Emmitsburg is $1,657/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Maryland statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 60.2 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Maryland statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Emmitsburg sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Emmitsburg compares to similar-size Maryland 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.