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-LICKING-MO · Licking, MO 2,816 pop · income 3rd pct · 8 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 Licking
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Licking on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Abbeville · lowest
32,778
Abbeville · lowest
32,778 median HH income
13.2% of the leader · rank #1
Sabinal · near
32,800
Sabinal · near
32,800 median HH income
13.2% of the leader · rank #2
Licking · this city
32,813
Licking · this city
32,813 median HH income
13.2% of the leader · rank #3
Walnut Grove · near
32,813
Walnut Grove · near
32,813 median HH income
13.2% of the leader · rank #4
Causey · near
32,813
Causey · near
32,813 median HH income
13.2% of the leader · rank #5
Binford · near
32,813
Binford · near
32,813 median HH income
13.2% of the leader · rank #6
Lake Success · highest
248,750
Lake Success · highest
248,750 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 Licking 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: 2,816.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Licking places in the 3rd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
3rd
percentile, household income
13th
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: Licking, MO
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 2,816 residents in Licking, a small town within Missouri. Median household income here is $32,813 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 25.1%. Licking's housing stock carries a median value of $109,000, and the median resident age is 38.4 years. Educational attainment runs 6.6% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 26.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 55.3°F with 46.5 inches of precipitation per year and 11.0 inches of snowfall.
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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $972 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $219 across Missouri, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Licking'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 work and mobility to within-city variation to population change to climate and hazard context to comparison shortlist to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Licking, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Licking?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 25.1%, 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Licking?
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 64.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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 Licking?
Within Missouri, the closest population matches are Montgomery City (2,810 residents, $51,707 income); Knob Noster (2,824 residents, $60,294 income); Moline Acres (2,806 residents, $55,069 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Decherd, TN (2,816 residents); Lake Success, NY (2,817 residents); Heyworth, IL (2,818 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.
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.
Population change
Is Licking 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 +248 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +9.2% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+9.2%
2025 estimate
2,958
2020 estimate
2,710
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 55.3°F, with 46.5 inches of precipitation and 11.0 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.
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.
Mean temperature
55.3°F
Annual precipitation
46.5 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
50.6
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 6.6% 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+
6.6%
Poverty estimate
25.1%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 25.1% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.8 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Missouri average
F
City profile score · Licking, MO
22/100
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.
Poverty rate F
25.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$32,813
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
6.6%
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).
Licking profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 83/100 (A-) · 90.8 index
Poverty rate: 6/100 (F) · 25.1%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $32,813
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 6.6%
How does Licking compare to other US cities?
Here's how Licking stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income3% higher than other cities
Home value13% 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 Licking 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 Licking near the bottom of Missouri's cities
Among the 875 Missouri cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Licking ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Licking only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#780 of 842
7th percentile in Missouri
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 875
0th percentile in Missouri
Median Home Value
#473 of 833
43rd percentile in Missouri
Poverty Rate
#106 of 875
88th percentile in Missouri
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#740 of 875
15th 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
3rd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Licking's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$109,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 87% 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
Licking's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#8,217 of 15,516
More affordable than 47% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,712 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.3×, Licking sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,217 of 15,516 and #6,712 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$32,813Licking, MO median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Licking, 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 Licking, MO.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)6.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)25.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)26.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,816
Median Income
$32,813
Median Home Value
$109,000
Median Age
38.4
Poverty Rate
25.1%
Labor force participation
26.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
6.6%
Climate
Avg Temperature
55.3°F
Annual Precipitation
46.5"
Annual Snowfall
11.0"
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
Licking's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,710 residents
2021
2,743 residents
2022
2,884 residents
2023
2,971 residents
2024
2,917 residents
2025
2,958 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
64.4%
Carpool
23.5%
Public Transit
0.5%
Walk
2.6%
Work from Home
9.0%
Based on 621 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 Licking. 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 Licking 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 Licking sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Licking 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, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, 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.