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Place dossier plate
SheetMO-ARNOLD-MO · Arnold, MO 20,884 pop · income 56th 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 Arnold
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Arnold on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Rolla · lowest
42,518
Rolla · lowest
42,518 median HH income
35.0% of the leader · rank #1
Boone · near
75,190
Boone · near
75,190 median HH income
61.8% of the leader · rank #2
La Prairie · near
75,192
La Prairie · near
75,192 median HH income
61.8% of the leader · rank #3
Arnold · this city
75,194
Arnold · this city
75,194 median HH income
61.8% of the leader · rank #4
Laguna Beach · near
75,194
Laguna Beach · near
75,194 median HH income
61.8% of the leader · rank #5
Nashville-Dav… · near
75,197
Nashville-Dav… · near
75,197 median HH income
61.9% of the leader · rank #6
Mill Creek · highest
121,578
Mill Creek · highest
121,578 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 Arnold 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: 20,884.
Nationally, Arnold sits in the 56th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
56th
percentile, household income
45th
percentile, home value
7th
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: Arnold, MO
Missouri's Arnold is a small city, with 20,884 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Median household income here is $75,194 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 6.8%. Home values in Arnold run a median of $209,700, and the median resident age is 39.9 years. 24.0% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 62.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 19 residential building permits were authorized in Arnold (Construction Slowdown), down 37% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data.
Living costs in Missouri run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Missouri scores 90.8 (Well Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $972 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $219 across Missouri, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 50.6 out of 100 (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Arnold'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 population change to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Arnold, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; 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 Arnold?
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.
The NCES join finds 10 public schools within the city match. 24.0% 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 Arnold?
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 2.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 6.8%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Arnold?
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 Missouri, the closest population matches are Old Jamestown (21,121 residents, $107,250 income); Rolla (20,144 residents, $42,518 income); Affton (20,035 residents, $77,337 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Park Forest, IL (20,898 residents); Arbutus, MD (20,869 residents); Hyattsville, MD (20,861 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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +87 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 19 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
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 Arnold?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 85.3%. 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. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Drive alone
85.3%
Work from home
8.1%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 10,731 workers age 16+.
Above median income · poverty 6.8% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.8 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Missouri average
C+
City profile score · Arnold, MO
60/100
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.
Cost of living A-
90.8 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Household income C
$75,194
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate C-
6.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share D
24.0%
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).
Arnold profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 83/100 (A-) · 90.8 index
Household income: 55/100 (C) · $75,194
Poverty rate: 54/100 (C-) · 6.8%
Bachelor's+ share: 46/100 (D) · 24.0%
How does Arnold compare to other US cities?
Where Arnold sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income56% higher than other cities
Home value45% pricier than other cities
Median rent7% 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 Arnold against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Missouri only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Missouri-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Arnold near the bottom of Missouri's cities
Among the 875 Missouri cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Arnold ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Arnold only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#176 of 842
79th percentile in Missouri
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 875
0th percentile in Missouri
Median Home Value
#149 of 833
82nd percentile in Missouri
Poverty Rate
#549 of 875
37th percentile in Missouri
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#232 of 875
73rd percentile in Missouri
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 Missouri only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
56th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Arnold's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$209,700Among the most affordablemore affordable than 55% 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
Arnold's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,519 of 15,516
More affordable than 64% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#638 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 2.8×, Arnold sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,519 of 15,516 and #638 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$75,194Arnold, MO median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Arnold, MO median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Arnold, MO.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)24.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)62.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
20,884
Median Income
$75,194
Median Home Value
$209,700
Median Age
39.9
Poverty Rate
6.8%
Labor force participation
62.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
24.0%
Schools
Total Schools
10
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Arnold's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
20,907 residents
2021
20,906 residents
2022
20,877 residents
2023
21,097 residents
2024
21,048 residents
2025
20,994 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
19
housing units authorized
Single-Family
19
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.9
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
30
30
0
$6.3M
2020
40
40
0
$13.1M
2021
23
23
0
$7.3M
2022
92
92
0
$22.4M
2023
16
16
0
$5.2M
2024
19
19
0
$7.4M
Permit volume decreased 37% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
85.3%
Carpool
5.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.7%
Work from Home
8.1%
Based on 10,731 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Missouri statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $219
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Missouri at $219 (electricity about $105 , water and sewer about $42 ).
These are Missouri statewide averages, not a meter reading for Arnold. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Missouri's BEA cost-of-living index is 90.8 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Arnold is $972/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Missouri statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 50.6 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Missouri statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Arnold sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Arnold compares to similar-size Missouri 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.