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Place dossier plate
SheetMD-INDIAN-HEAD-MD · Indian Head, MD 3,982 pop · income 66th 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 Indian Head
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Indian Head on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Tierras Nueva… · lowest
31,888
Tierras Nueva… · lowest
31,888 median HH income
20.7% of the leader · rank #1
Cudjoe Key · near
84,890
Cudjoe Key · near
84,890 median HH income
55.2% of the leader · rank #2
Calistoga · near
84,892
Calistoga · near
84,892 median HH income
55.2% of the leader · rank #3
Howard · near
84,896
Howard · near
84,896 median HH income
55.2% of the leader · rank #4
Indian Head · this city
84,898
Indian Head · this city
84,898 median HH income
55.2% of the leader · rank #5
Onalaska · near
84,898
Onalaska · near
84,898 median HH income
55.2% of the leader · rank #6
Brown Station · highest
153,750
Brown Station · highest
153,750 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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Indian Head 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: 3,982.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Indian Head places in the 66th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
66th
percentile, household income
57th
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: Indian Head, MD
3,982 people live in Indian Head, Maryland - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $84,898 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 1.0%. Indian Head's housing stock carries a median value of $258,900, and the median resident age is 38.2 years. Educational attainment runs 13.6% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 67.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 0 residential units authorized here in 2024 (No Permits), down 100% from five years earlier.
Maryland carries a cost-of-living premium: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Maryland at 105.0 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Above Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,657 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Maryland's average monthly utility costs around $255 (state average). Natural-hazard exposure scores 60.2 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Indian Head'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 schools and households to comparison shortlist to housing and income to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Indian Head, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares, local building permits, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Population change
Is Indian Head growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +311 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +8.0% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What does the education layer cover for Indian Head?
The NCES join finds 5 public schools within the city match. 13.6% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Indian Head?
Within Maryland, the closest population matches are Friendship Heights (3,991 residents, $110,199 income); Marlboro Meadows (4,003 residents, $107,585 income); Pleasant Hills (3,955 residents, $143,068 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Rossville, GA (3,981 residents); Saw Creek, PA (3,980 residents); Tierras Nuevas Poniente comunidad, PR (3,984 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 Indian Head?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 1.0%, 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. 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.
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 Indian Head?
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 76.7%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
2.3%
Work from home
12.4%
Drive alone
76.7%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 2,102 workers age 16+.
Above median income · poverty 1.0% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
105.0 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, Maryland average
C-
City profile score · Indian Head, MD
52/100
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.
Poverty rate A+
1.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income C+
$84,898
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); 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.
Bachelor's+ share F
13.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Indian Head profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 93/100 (A+) · 1.0%
Household income: 64/100 (C+) · $84,898
Cost of living: 21/100 (F) · 105.0 index
Bachelor's+ share: 16/100 (F) · 13.6%
How does Indian Head compare to other US cities?
Indian Head measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income66% higher than other cities
Home value57% 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 Indian Head 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 Indian Head near the bottom of Maryland's cities
Among the 479 Maryland cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Indian Head ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Indian Head only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#291 of 445
35th percentile in Maryland
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 479
0th percentile in Maryland
Median Home Value
#335 of 450
25th percentile in Maryland
Poverty Rate
#349 of 479
27th percentile in Maryland
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#410 of 479
14th 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
66th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Indian Head's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$258,90043rd percentilemore affordable than 43% 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
Indian Head's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#6,947 of 15,516
More affordable than 55% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#5,834 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.0×, Indian Head sits in the moderate band:
national rank #6,947 of 15,516 and #5,834 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
$84,898Indian Head, MD median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Indian Head, 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 Indian Head, MD.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)13.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)1.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)67.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,982
Median Income
$84,898
Median Home Value
$258,900
Median Age
38.2
Poverty Rate
1.0%
Labor force participation
67.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
13.6%
Schools
Total Schools
5
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Indian Head's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,891 residents
2021
3,924 residents
2022
4,032 residents
2023
4,179 residents
2024
4,250 residents
2025
4,202 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
3
3
0
$0.7M
2020
11
11
0
$2.3M
2021
56
56
0
$11.2M
2022
68
68
0
$13.9M
2023
36
36
0
$8.3M
2024
0
0
0
-
Permit volume decreased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
76.7%
Carpool
7.3%
Public Transit
2.3%
Walk
1.3%
Work from Home
12.4%
Based on 2,102 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 Indian Head. 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 Indian Head 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 Indian Head sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Indian Head 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, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, 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.