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Place dossier plate
SheetMO-OZARK-MO · Ozark, MO 21,953 pop · income 49th 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 Ozark
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Ozark on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Rolla · lowest
42,518
Rolla · lowest
42,518 median HH income
30.5% of the leader · rank #1
Moorhead · near
69,371
Moorhead · near
69,371 median HH income
49.7% of the leader · rank #2
Ozark · this city
69,372
Ozark · this city
69,372 median HH income
49.7% of the leader · rank #3
Modesto · near
69,375
Modesto · near
69,375 median HH income
49.7% of the leader · rank #4
Seaton · near
69,375
Seaton · near
69,375 median HH income
49.7% of the leader · rank #5
Hawarden · near
69,375
Hawarden · near
69,375 median HH income
49.7% of the leader · rank #6
Mililani Mauka · highest
139,564
Mililani Mauka · highest
139,564 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 Ozark 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: 21,953.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Ozark - the verdict
Ozark ranks in the 49th percentile for household income and the 74th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
49th
percentile, household income
51st
percentile, home value
7th
percentile, median rent
74th
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: Ozark, MO
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 21,953 residents in Ozark, a small city within Missouri. Households in Ozark report a median income of $69,372 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 11.2%. Typical homes in Ozark are valued around $230,600, and the median resident age is 33.5 years. Educational attainment runs 33.0% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 63.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 189 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Stable), down 2% from five years earlier. Ozark reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 763.9 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 56.1°F with 45.3 inches of precipitation per year and 6.8 inches of snowfall.
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. 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). Commute times here average 21.7 minutes, with 75.7% driving alone and 8.3% working from home, per Census ACS commuting 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 Ozark'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 comparison shortlist to schools and households to work and mobility to housing and income to climate and hazard context to reported crime to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Ozark, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares.
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
Which cities make useful reference points for Ozark?
Within Missouri, the closest population matches are Sedalia (21,869 residents, $50,668 income); Old Jamestown (21,121 residents, $107,250 income); Arnold (20,884 residents, $75,194 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Chillicothe, OH (21,958 residents); Lorton, VA (21,961 residents); Mililani Mauka, HI (21,967 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
The NCES join finds 8 public schools within the city match. 33.0% 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 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.
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 75.7%. The reported mean trip to work is 21.7 minutes.
How far does income reach against housing in Ozark?
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 11.2%, 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.
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.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Ozark?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 56.1°F, with 45.3 inches of precipitation and 6.8 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
56.1°F
Annual precipitation
45.3 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Ozark?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 763.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 67% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
682.8
Violent rate
81.1
Total reported rate
763.9
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
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 +2,144 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +10.0% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 189 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+10.0%
2025 estimate
23,544
2020 estimate
21,400
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Below median income · poverty 11.2% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.8 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Missouri average
C+
City profile score · Ozark, MO
60/100
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.
Violent crime B+
81 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C+
33.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income D
$69,372
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
11.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Ozark profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 83/100 (A-) · 90.8 index
Violent crime: 75/100 (B+) · 81 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 63/100 (C+) · 33.0%
Household income: 48/100 (D) · $69,372
Poverty rate: 35/100 (F) · 11.2%
Where Ozark sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Ozark'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 - Ozark highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Ozark, MO (this city): home $230,600, crime 764/100k
Chillicothe, OH : home $145,900, crime 4,847/100k
Golden Valley, MN : home $423,500, crime 1,053/100k
Duarte, CA : home $710,700, crime 1,471/100k
Sedalia, MO : home $136,500, crime 3,180/100k
Rolla, MO : home $177,400, crime 2,914/100k
Webster Groves, MO : home $371,400, crime 769/100k
Raymore, MO : home $318,000, crime 1,259/100k
How does Ozark compare to other US cities?
Here's how Ozark stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income49% higher than other cities
Home value51% pricier than other cities
Median rent7% pricier than other cities
Safety74% 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: Ozark ranks #47 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 Ozark 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 Ozark near the bottom of Missouri's cities
Among the 875 Missouri cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Ozark ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Ozark only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#218 of 842
74th percentile in Missouri
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 875
0th percentile in Missouri
Median Home Value
#118 of 833
86th percentile in Missouri
Poverty Rate
#389 of 875
55th percentile in Missouri
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#131 of 875
85th 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
49th percentile nationally for median household income · 74th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Ozark's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Ozark'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 Ozark's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$230,60049th percentilemore affordable than 49% 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
Ozark'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
#8,223 of 15,516
More affordable than 47% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,314 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.3×, Ozark sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,223 of 15,516 and #1,314 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$69,372Ozark, MO median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Ozark, 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 Ozark, MO.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)33.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)63.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
21,953
Median Income
$69,372
Median Home Value
$230,600
Median Age
33.5
Poverty Rate
11.2%
Labor force participation
63.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
33.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
763.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
81.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
682.8
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
56.1°F
Annual Precipitation
45.3"
Annual Snowfall
6.8"
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
Ozark's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
21,400 residents
2021
21,989 residents
2022
22,522 residents
2023
22,923 residents
2024
23,240 residents
2025
23,544 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
189
housing units authorized
Single-Family
166
detached homes
Multifamily
23
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
8.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
193
145
48
$30.0M
2020
162
156
6
$27.9M
2021
251
229
22
$50.1M
2022
194
174
20
$37.3M
2023
170
149
21
$34.5M
2024
189
166
23
$38.0M
Permit volume decreased 2% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
21.7 minutes
Drive Alone
75.7%
Carpool
13.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.7%
Work from Home
8.3%
Other
1.1%
Based on 10,372 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 Ozark. 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 Ozark 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 Ozark sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Ozark 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.