Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetMO-CHAIN-O-LAKES-MO · Chain-O-Lakes, MO 136 pop · income 2nd 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 Chain-O-Lakes
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Chain-O-Lakes on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
University Pa… · lowest
25,433
University Pa… · lowest
25,433 median HH income
10.2% of the leader · rank #1
Georgiana · near
25,469
Georgiana · near
25,469 median HH income
10.2% of the leader · rank #2
Newellton · near
25,477
Newellton · near
25,477 median HH income
10.2% of the leader · rank #3
Chain-O-Lakes · this city
25,500
Chain-O-Lakes · this city
25,500 median HH income
10.2% of the leader · rank #4
Dermott · near
25,518
Dermott · near
25,518 median HH income
10.2% of the leader · rank #5
Metompkin · near
25,527
Metompkin · near
25,527 median HH income
10.2% of the leader · rank #6
Sail Harbor · highest
250,001
Sail Harbor · highest
250,001 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 Chain-O-Lakes 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: 136.
Chain-O-Lakes ranks in the 2nd percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
2nd
percentile, household income
32nd
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: Chain-O-Lakes, MO
136 people live in Chain-O-Lakes, Missouri - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $25,500 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 57.5%. Typical homes in Chain-O-Lakes are valued around $164,500, and the median resident age is 60.3 years. About 7.2% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 33.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 0 residential building permits were authorized in Chain-O-Lakes (No Permits), 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. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Missouri run around $219, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Workers in Chain-O-Lakes report an average commute of 29.5 minutes, with 100.0% driving alone and 0.0% working from home. Natural-hazard exposure scores 50.6 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Chain-O-Lakes'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 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 Chain-O-Lakes, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Chain-O-Lakes?
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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 6.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 57.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Chain-O-Lakes?
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 Louisburg (135 residents, $52,813 income); Ludlow (135 residents, $56,000 income); McFall (135 residents, $79,167 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Huslia, AK (136 residents); Bethesda, AR (136 residents); Uniontown, AR (136 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.
Is Chain-O-Lakes growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +3 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.9% 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.
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.
What does the journey to work look like in Chain-O-Lakes?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 100.0%. The reported mean trip to work is 29.5 minutes.
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.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 57.5% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.8 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Missouri average
F
City profile score · Chain-O-Lakes, MO
21/100
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 F
$25,500
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
57.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
7.2%
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).
Chain-O-Lakes profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 83/100 (A-) · 90.8 index
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $25,500
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 57.5%
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 7.2%
How does Chain-O-Lakes compare to other US cities?
Here's how Chain-O-Lakes stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income2% higher than other cities
Home value32% 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 Chain-O-Lakes 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 Chain-O-Lakes near the bottom of Missouri's cities
Among the 875 Missouri cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Chain-O-Lakes ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Chain-O-Lakes only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#827 of 842
2nd percentile in Missouri
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 875
0th percentile in Missouri
Median Home Value
#266 of 833
68th percentile in Missouri
Poverty Rate
#9 of 875
99th percentile in Missouri
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#718 of 875
18th 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
2nd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Chain-O-Lakes's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$164,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 68% 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
Chain-O-Lakes's home-value-to-income ratio: 6.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,412 of 15,516
More affordable than 7% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,653 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 6.5×, Chain-O-Lakes sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,412 of 15,516 and #10,653 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
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
$25,500Chain-O-Lakes, MO median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Chain-O-Lakes, 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 Chain-O-Lakes, MO.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)7.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)57.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)33.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
136
Median Income
$25,500
Median Home Value
$164,500
Median Age
60.3
Poverty Rate
57.5%
Labor force participation
33.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
7.2%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Chain-O-Lakes's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
104 residents
2021
105 residents
2022
105 residents
2023
106 residents
2024
107 residents
2025
107 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
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
0
0
0
-
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
29.5 minutes
Drive Alone
100.0%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 29 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 Chain-O-Lakes. 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 Chain-O-Lakes 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 Chain-O-Lakes sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Chain-O-Lakes 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, 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.