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Place dossier plate
SheetMN-ARLINGTON-MN · Arlington, MN 2,298 pop · income 45th pct · 4 tracts
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 Arlington
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Arlington on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Crosby · lowest
43,250
Crosby · lowest
43,250 median HH income
20.3% of the leader · rank #1
Arlington · this city
66,458
Arlington · this city
66,458 median HH income
31.2% of the leader · rank #2
Semmes · near
66,458
Semmes · near
66,458 median HH income
31.2% of the leader · rank #3
Vail · near
66,458
Vail · near
66,458 median HH income
31.2% of the leader · rank #4
Melbourne · near
66,458
Melbourne · near
66,458 median HH income
31.2% of the leader · rank #5
O'Neill · near
66,458
O'Neill · near
66,458 median HH income
31.2% of the leader · rank #6
Orchard Lake · highest
212,813
Orchard Lake · highest
212,813 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 Arlington 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: 2,298.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Arlington - the verdict
Arlington ranks in the 45th percentile for household income and the 94th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
45th
percentile, household income
37th
percentile, home value
36th
percentile, median rent
94th
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: Arlington, MN
2,298 people live in Arlington, Minnesota - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $66,458 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 6.3%. Typical homes in Arlington are valued around $181,600, and the median resident age is 34.1 years. 18.2% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 64.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 4 residential building permits were authorized in Arlington (Rapid Growth), up 33% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Arlington reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 258.0 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Minnesota tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: the state registers 98.6 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Near Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,125 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Minnesota run around $225, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Natural-hazard exposure scores 42.4 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Arlington'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 comparison shortlist to reported crime to schools and households to within-city variation to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Arlington, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, local building permits, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Population change
Is Arlington 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 +98 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +4.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 4 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
How far does income reach against housing in Arlington?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 6.3%, 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Arlington?
Within Minnesota, the closest population matches are Wells (2,317 residents, $58,663 income); Crosby (2,253 residents, $43,250 income); Olivia (2,243 residents, $62,683 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Westover, AL (2,298 residents); Orchard Lake, MI (2,298 residents); Castle Rock, WA (2,298 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.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
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 Arlington?
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 258.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 89% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
258.0
Violent rate
0.0
Total reported rate
258.0
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the education layer cover for Arlington?
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 18.2% 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.
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.
Matched public schools
2
Bachelor's degree+
18.2%
Poverty estimate
6.3%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in Arlington?
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 79.9%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
4.0%
Drive alone
79.9%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,090 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 6.3% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
98.6 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Minnesota average
C
City profile score · Arlington, MN
55/100
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.
Violent crime A+
0 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate C
6.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Cost of living D
98.6 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Household income D
$66,458
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
18.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Arlington profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 97/100 (A+) · 0 /100k
Poverty rate: 57/100 (C) · 6.3%
Cost of living: 46/100 (D) · 98.6 index
Household income: 44/100 (D) · $66,458
Bachelor's+ share: 29/100 (F) · 18.2%
Where Arlington sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Arlington'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 - Arlington highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Arlington, MN (this city): home $181,600, crime 258/100k
Orchard Lake, MI : home $799,500, crime 773/100k
Castle Rock, WA : home $301,000, crime 1,069/100k
Belchertown, MA : home $331,500, crime 730/100k
Wells, MN : home $93,200, crime 292/100k
Crosby, MN : home $175,600, crime 212/100k
Olivia, MN : home $156,600, crime 705/100k
Staples, MN : home $119,300, crime 1,709/100k
How does Arlington compare to other US cities?
Where Arlington sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income45% higher than other cities
Home value37% pricier than other cities
Median rent36% pricier than other cities
Safety94% 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 Minnesota alone, Arlington ranks #34 of 229 Minnesota 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 Arlington against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Minnesota only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Minnesota-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Arlington near the bottom of Minnesota's cities
Among the 785 Minnesota cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Arlington ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Arlington only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#411 of 775
47th percentile in Minnesota
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 785
0th percentile in Minnesota
Median Home Value
#362 of 774
53rd percentile in Minnesota
Poverty Rate
#342 of 785
56th percentile in Minnesota
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#470 of 784
40th percentile in Minnesota
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 Minnesota only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
45th percentile nationally for median household income · 94th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Arlington's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Arlington'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 Arlington's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$181,600Among the most affordablemore affordable than 63% 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
Arlington's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,211 of 15,516
More affordable than 66% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,551 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.7×, Arlington sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,211 of 15,516 and #4,551 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$66,458Arlington, MN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Arlington, MN median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Arlington, MN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)18.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)64.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,298
Median Income
$66,458
Median Home Value
$181,600
Median Age
34.1
Poverty Rate
6.3%
Labor force participation
64.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
18.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
258.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
258.0
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
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Arlington's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,242 residents
2021
2,268 residents
2022
2,273 residents
2023
2,314 residents
2024
2,328 residents
2025
2,340 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Rapid Growth
Total Permits (2024)
4
housing units authorized
Single-Family
4
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.7
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
3
3
0
$0.6M
2020
9
9
0
$2.1M
2021
10
10
0
$2.2M
2022
9
9
0
$2.0M
2023
4
4
0
$1.0M
2024
4
4
0
$1.2M
Permit volume increased 33% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
79.9%
Carpool
8.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
7.2%
Work from Home
4.0%
Based on 1,090 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Minnesota statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $225
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Minnesota at $225 (electricity about $95 , water and sewer about $45 ).
These are Minnesota statewide averages, not a meter reading for Arlington. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Minnesota's BEA cost-of-living index is 98.6 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Arlington is $1,125/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Minnesota statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 42.4 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Minnesota statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Arlington sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Arlington compares to similar-size Minnesota 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 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.