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Place dossier plate
SheetMO-ASH-GROVE-MO · Ash Grove, MO 1,336 pop · income 20th 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 Ash Grove
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Ash Grove on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Cole Camp · lowest
35,547
Cole Camp · lowest
35,547 median HH income
24.6% of the leader · rank #1
Erwin · near
50,077
Erwin · near
50,077 median HH income
34.7% of the leader · rank #2
Stevens · near
50,077
Stevens · near
50,077 median HH income
34.7% of the leader · rank #3
Ash Grove · this city
50,078
Ash Grove · this city
50,078 median HH income
34.7% of the leader · rank #4
Augusta · near
50,080
Augusta · near
50,080 median HH income
34.7% of the leader · rank #5
Coldwater · near
50,084
Coldwater · near
50,084 median HH income
34.7% of the leader · rank #6
Fremont Hills · highest
144,250
Fremont Hills · highest
144,250 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 Ash Grove 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: 1,336.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Ash Grove - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Ash Grove lands in the 20th percentile for household income and the 49th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
20th
percentile, household income
18th
percentile, home value
7th
percentile, median rent
49th
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: Ash Grove, MO
Missouri's Ash Grove is a small town, with 1,336 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Ash Grove brings in $50,078 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 3.4%. Home values in Ash Grove run a median of $120,900, and the median resident age is 38.3 years. About 19.4% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 50.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 8 residential building permits were authorized in Ash Grove (Low Activity), per Census BPS data. Ash Grove reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 1399.1 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 57.3°F with 43.5 inches of precipitation per year and 9.3 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in Missouri run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Missouri at 90.8 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Below Average). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $972 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Missouri's average monthly utility costs around $219 (state average). On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 50.6 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Ash Grove'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 climate and hazard context to reported crime to comparison shortlist to housing and income to schools and households to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Ash Grove, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, local building permits, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Is Ash Grove growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +15 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.0% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 8 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.
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 57.3°F, with 43.5 inches of precipitation and 9.3 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Missouri is 50.6 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Ash Grove?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1399.1 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 39% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Ash Grove?
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 Missouri, the closest population matches are Taos (1,334 residents, $103,594 income); Archie (1,340 residents, $68,125 income); Sarcoxie (1,344 residents, $37,868 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Richmond, MN (1,336 residents); Ellicott, CO (1,337 residents); Russell, GA (1,335 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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Ash Grove?
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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 3.4%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.4×
Home value
$120,900
Household income
$50,078
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the education layer cover for Ash Grove?
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. 19.4% 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
3.4%
Bachelor's degree+
19.4%
Matched public schools
2
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in Ash Grove?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 76.3%. 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. 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
76.3%
Work from home
16.5%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 503 workers age 16+.
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.
Poverty rate B+
3.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
19.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$50,078
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
466 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Ash Grove profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 83/100 (A-) · 90.8 index
Poverty rate: 76/100 (B+) · 3.4%
Bachelor's+ share: 33/100 (F) · 19.4%
Household income: 20/100 (F) · $50,078
Violent crime: 18/100 (F) · 466 /100k
Where Ash Grove sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Ash Grove'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 - Ash Grove highlighted among 23 peers.Read the chart values
Ash Grove, MO (this city): home $120,900, crime 1,399/100k
Archie, MO : home $166,500, crime 477/100k
Cole Camp, MO : home $143,500, crime 168/100k
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 Ash Grove compare to other US cities?
Ash Grove measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income20% higher than other cities
Home value18% pricier than other cities
Median rent7% pricier than other cities
Safety49% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Missouri and the picture shifts: Ash Grove ranks #117 of 234 Missouri cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Ash Grove 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 Ash Grove near the bottom of Missouri's cities
Among the 875 Missouri cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Ash Grove ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Ash Grove only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#496 of 842
41st percentile in Missouri
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 875
0th percentile in Missouri
Median Home Value
#410 of 833
51st percentile in Missouri
Poverty Rate
#674 of 875
22nd percentile in Missouri
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#317 of 875
64th 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
20th percentile nationally for median household income · 49th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Ash Grove's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Ash Grove'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 Ash Grove's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$120,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 82% 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
Ash Grove's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,561 of 15,516
More affordable than 77% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,239 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.4×, Ash Grove sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,561 of 15,516 and #3,239 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
$50,078Ash Grove, MO median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Ash Grove, 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 Ash Grove, MO.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)19.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)3.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)50.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,336
Median Income
$50,078
Median Home Value
$120,900
Median Age
38.3
Poverty Rate
3.4%
Labor force participation
50.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
19.4%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1399.1
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
466.4
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
932.7
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
57.3°F
Annual Precipitation
43.5"
Annual Snowfall
9.3"
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
Ash Grove's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,517 residents
2021
1,510 residents
2022
1,501 residents
2023
1,507 residents
2024
1,519 residents
2025
1,532 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Low Activity
Total Permits (2024)
8
housing units authorized
Single-Family
8
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
4
4
0
$1.0M
2023
7
7
0
$1.8M
2024
8
8
0
$1.8M
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
76.3%
Carpool
5.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
2.0%
Work from Home
16.5%
Based on 503 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 Ash Grove. 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 Ash Grove 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 Ash Grove sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Ash Grove 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, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.