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Place dossier plate
SheetMO-NEW-MELLE-MO · New Melle, MO 510 pop · income 80th 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 New Melle
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest New Melle on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Niangua · lowest
36,667
Niangua · lowest
36,667 median HH income
28.5% of the leader · rank #1
New Melle · this city
103,750
New Melle · this city
103,750 median HH income
80.8% of the leader · rank #2
Grantfork · near
103,750
Grantfork · near
103,750 median HH income
80.8% of the leader · rank #3
Donahue · near
103,750
Donahue · near
103,750 median HH income
80.8% of the leader · rank #4
Alexandria · near
103,750
Alexandria · near
103,750 median HH income
80.8% of the leader · rank #5
Culbertson · near
103,750
Culbertson · near
103,750 median HH income
80.8% of the leader · rank #6
West Alton · highest
128,438
West Alton · highest
128,438 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 New Melle 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: 510.
New Melle ranks in the 80th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
80th
percentile, household income
78th
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: New Melle, MO
New Melle is a small town in Missouri, home to 510 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. New Melle households earn a median of $103,750 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. New Melle's housing stock carries a median value of $407,100, and the median resident age is 54.4 years. 38.7% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 52.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 0 residential units authorized here in 2024 (No Permits).
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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $972 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Missouri run around $219, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 New Melle'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 work and mobility to housing and income to comparison shortlist to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For New Melle, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in New Melle?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 86.5%. 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.
How far does income reach against housing in New Melle?
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 3.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for New Melle?
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 Union Star (510 residents, $57,907 income); Smithton (509 residents, $51,875 income); West Alton (511 residents, $128,438 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Tull, AR (510 residents); Calhan, CO (510 residents); Bismarck, IL (510 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 New Melle growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -2 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.4% 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.
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.
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.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
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 B+
$103,750
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share B
38.7%
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).
New Melle profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Cost of living: 83/100 (A-) · 90.8 index
Household income: 79/100 (B+) · $103,750
Bachelor's+ share: 73/100 (B) · 38.7%
How does New Melle compare to other US cities?
Here's how New Melle stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income80% higher than other cities
Home value78% 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 New Melle 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 New Melle near the bottom of Missouri's cities
Among the 875 Missouri cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, New Melle ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares New Melle only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#68 of 842
92nd percentile in Missouri
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 875
0th percentile in Missouri
Median Home Value
#35 of 833
96th percentile in Missouri
Poverty Rate
#795 of 875
0th percentile in Missouri
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#98 of 875
89th 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
80th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How New Melle's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$407,10022nd percentilemore affordable than 22% 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
New Melle's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,472 of 15,516
More affordable than 33% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,216 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.9×, New Melle sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,472 of 15,516 and #8,216 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
$103,750New Melle, MO median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context New Melle, 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 New Melle, MO.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)38.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)52.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
510
Median Income
$103,750
Median Home Value
$407,100
Median Age
54.4
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
52.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
38.7%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
New Melle's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
552 residents
2021
551 residents
2022
548 residents
2023
548 residents
2024
549 residents
2025
550 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
-
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
86.5%
Carpool
3.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
9.9%
Based on 223 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 New Melle. 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 New Melle 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 New Melle sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How New Melle 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.