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Place dossier plate
SheetMO-BELTON-MO · Belton, MO 24,618 pop · income 50th pct · 24 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 Belton
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Belton on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Grandview · lowest
53,431
Grandview · lowest
53,431 median HH income
33.4% of the leader · rank #1
Valencia CDP… · near
70,521
Valencia CDP… · near
70,521 median HH income
44.1% of the leader · rank #2
Hammondsport · near
70,521
Hammondsport · near
70,521 median HH income
44.1% of the leader · rank #3
Lakewood · near
70,524
Lakewood · near
70,524 median HH income
44.1% of the leader · rank #4
Belton · this city
70,525
Belton · this city
70,525 median HH income
44.1% of the leader · rank #5
Balch Springs · near
70,528
Balch Springs · near
70,528 median HH income
44.1% of the leader · rank #6
Bainbridge Is… · highest
159,882
Bainbridge Is… · highest
159,882 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 Belton 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: 24,618.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Belton - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Belton places in the 50th percentile for household income and the 28th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
50th
percentile, household income
38th
percentile, home value
7th
percentile, median rent
28th
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: Belton, MO
Belton is a small city in Missouri, home to 24,618 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Belton households earn a median of $70,525 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 8.9%. Typical homes in Belton are valued around $185,400, and the median resident age is 37.0 years. About 25.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 65.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 88 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Growing), up 5% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 2206.6 crimes per 100,000 residents, near the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
Living costs in Missouri run below the national norm: the state registers 90.8 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Well Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $972 per month. 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 Belton'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 reported crime to within-city variation to housing and income to population change to comparison shortlist to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Belton, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, local building permits.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Belton?
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 8 public schools within the city match. 25.7% 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Belton?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2206.6 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, near the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 3% 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.
PlainCities matches 24 Census tracts to this city.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Belton?
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 Nixa (24,131 residents, $80,491 income); Hazelwood (25,214 residents, $55,930 income); Raymore (23,849 residents, $103,158 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Port St. John, FL (24,617 residents); Socastee, SC (24,629 residents); Bainbridge Island, WA (24,607 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 Belton?
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 2.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.6×
Home value
$185,400
Household income
$70,525
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +2,155 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +9.0% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 88 housing units authorized in 2024. 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.
2020 estimate
24,038
2025 estimate
26,193
Period change
+9.0%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the journey to work look like in Belton?
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.
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.
Drive alone
79.9%
Work from home
9.9%
Public transit
0.1%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 12,700 workers age 16+.
Above median income · poverty 8.9% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.8 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Missouri average
C-
City profile score · Belton, MO
51/100
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.
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.
Bachelor's+ share C-
25.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income C-
$70,525
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate D
8.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
334 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Belton profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 83/100 (A-) · 90.8 index
Bachelor's+ share: 51/100 (C-) · 25.7%
Household income: 50/100 (C-) · $70,525
Poverty rate: 44/100 (D) · 8.9%
Violent crime: 28/100 (F) · 334 /100k
Where Belton sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Belton'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 - Belton highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Belton, MO (this city): home $185,400, crime 2,207/100k
Bainbridge Island, WA : home $1,076,200, crime 989/100k
Maywood, CA : home $595,000, crime 1,921/100k
Wyandotte, MI : home $159,700, crime 1,064/100k
Nixa, MO : home $238,300, crime 652/100k
Hazelwood, MO : home $154,900, crime 3,011/100k
Raymore, MO : home $318,000, crime 1,259/100k
Webster Groves, MO : home $371,400, crime 769/100k
Grandview, MO : home $171,200, crime 4,456/100k
Gladstone, MO : home $217,900, crime 2,073/100k
How does Belton compare to other US cities?
Belton measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income50% higher than other cities
Home value38% pricier than other cities
Median rent7% pricier than other cities
Safety28% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Missouri, Belton ranks #157 of 234 Missouri cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Belton 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 Belton near the bottom of Missouri's cities
Among the 875 Missouri cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Belton ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Belton only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#207 of 842
75th percentile in Missouri
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 875
0th percentile in Missouri
Median Home Value
#203 of 833
76th percentile in Missouri
Poverty Rate
#491 of 875
44th percentile in Missouri
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#208 of 875
76th 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
50th percentile nationally for median household income · 28th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Belton's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Belton'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 Belton's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$185,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 62% 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
Belton's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,667 of 15,516
More affordable than 70% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#479 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 2.6×, Belton sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,667 of 15,516 and #479 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
$70,525Belton, MO median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Belton, 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 Belton, MO.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)25.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)65.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
24,618
Median Income
$70,525
Median Home Value
$185,400
Median Age
37.0
Poverty Rate
8.9%
Labor force participation
65.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
25.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2206.6
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
333.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1872.7
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.
Schools
Total Schools
8
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Belton's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
24,038 residents
2021
24,273 residents
2022
25,414 residents
2023
25,553 residents
2024
25,878 residents
2025
26,193 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Growing
Total Permits (2024)
88
housing units authorized
Single-Family
86
detached homes
Multifamily
2
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
3.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
84
50
34
$16.0M
2020
203
52
151
$33.3M
2021
799
43
756
$86.5M
2022
189
117
72
$41.2M
2023
32
30
2
$8.0M
2024
88
86
2
$19.3M
Permit volume increased 5% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
79.9%
Carpool
7.9%
Public Transit
0.1%
Walk
1.4%
Work from Home
9.9%
Other
0.8%
Based on 12,700 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 Belton. 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 Belton 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 Belton sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Belton 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, 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.