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Place dossier plate
SheetMO-SEDALIA-MO · Sedalia, MO 21,869 pop · income 20th pct · 11 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 Sedalia
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Sedalia on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Rolla · lowest
42,518
Rolla · lowest
42,518 median HH income
34.9% of the leader · rank #1
Tippecanoe · near
50,667
Tippecanoe · near
50,667 median HH income
41.6% of the leader · rank #2
Houston · near
50,667
Houston · near
50,667 median HH income
41.6% of the leader · rank #3
Blawnox · near
50,667
Blawnox · near
50,667 median HH income
41.6% of the leader · rank #4
Sedalia · this city
50,668
Sedalia · this city
50,668 median HH income
41.6% of the leader · rank #5
Clearwater · near
50,669
Clearwater · near
50,669 median HH income
41.6% of the leader · rank #6
Lino Lakes · highest
121,800
Lino Lakes · highest
121,800 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 Sedalia 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: 21,869.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Sedalia - the verdict
Nationally, Sedalia sits in the 20th percentile for household income and the 14th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
20th
percentile, household income
23rd
percentile, home value
7th
percentile, median rent
14th
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: Sedalia, MO
Sedalia is a small city in Missouri, home to 21,869 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Sedalia brings in $50,668 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 12.0%. Typical homes in Sedalia are valued around $136,500, and the median resident age is 36.2 years. 17.0% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 60.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 99 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 421% from five years earlier. Sedalia's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 3180.0 crimes per 100,000 residents, above 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: 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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Missouri's average monthly utility costs around $219 (state average). FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 50.6 out of 100 (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Sedalia'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 population change to within-city variation to housing and income to comparison shortlist to reported crime to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Sedalia, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, local building permits, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Sedalia?
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 77.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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 +880 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +4.0% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 99 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
PlainCities matches 11 Census tracts to this city.
Which cities make useful reference points for Sedalia?
Within Missouri, the closest population matches are Ozark (21,953 residents, $69,372 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 Parsippany, NJ (21,869 residents); Shelby, NC (21,868 residents); Klamath Falls, OR (21,879 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.
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 Sedalia?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 12.0%, 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.
Household income
$50,668
Home value
$136,500
Value / income
2.7×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Sedalia?
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 3180.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 39% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
2635.0
Violent rate
545.0
Total reported rate
3180.0
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
The NCES join finds 11 public schools within the city match. 17.0% 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.
Matched public schools
11
Bachelor's degree+
17.0%
Poverty estimate
12.0%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
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
12.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
17.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$50,668
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
545 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Sedalia profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 83/100 (A-) · 90.8 index
Poverty rate: 32/100 (F) · 12.0%
Bachelor's+ share: 26/100 (F) · 17.0%
Household income: 21/100 (F) · $50,668
Violent crime: 13/100 (F) · 545 /100k
Where Sedalia sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Sedalia'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 - Sedalia highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Sedalia, MO (this city): home $136,500, crime 3,180/100k
Shelby, NC : home $185,400, crime 3,477/100k
Klamath Falls, OR : home $257,400, crime 3,172/100k
Darien, IL : home $386,400, crime 958/100k
Lino Lakes, MN : home $385,000, crime 697/100k
Ozark, MO : home $230,600, crime 764/100k
Rolla, MO : home $177,400, crime 2,914/100k
Webster Groves, MO : home $371,400, crime 769/100k
How does Sedalia compare to other US cities?
Sedalia measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income20% higher than other cities
Home value23% pricier than other cities
Median rent7% pricier than other cities
Safety14% 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: Sedalia ranks #191 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 Sedalia 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 Sedalia near the bottom of Missouri's cities
Among the 875 Missouri cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Sedalia ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Sedalia only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#480 of 842
43rd percentile in Missouri
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 875
0th percentile in Missouri
Median Home Value
#344 of 833
59th percentile in Missouri
Poverty Rate
#359 of 875
58th percentile in Missouri
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#388 of 875
55th 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
20th percentile nationally for median household income · 14th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Sedalia's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Sedalia'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 Sedalia's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$136,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 77% 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
Sedalia's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,002 of 15,516
More affordable than 68% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#542 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 2.7×, Sedalia sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,002 of 15,516 and #542 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
$50,668Sedalia, MO median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Sedalia, 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 Sedalia, MO.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)17.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)12.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)60.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
21,869
Median Income
$50,668
Median Home Value
$136,500
Median Age
36.2
Poverty Rate
12.0%
Labor force participation
60.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
17.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3180.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
545.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2635.0
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
11
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Sedalia's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
21,741 residents
2021
21,848 residents
2022
21,951 residents
2023
22,116 residents
2024
22,354 residents
2025
22,621 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
99
housing units authorized
Single-Family
24
detached homes
Multifamily
75
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
4.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
19
19
0
$2.0M
2020
10
10
0
$1.3M
2021
95
33
62
$9.6M
2022
82
20
62
$7.1M
2023
112
16
96
$12.8M
2024
99
24
75
$11.7M
Permit volume increased 421% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
77.8%
Carpool
13.0%
Public Transit
0.2%
Walk
1.4%
Work from Home
4.5%
Other
3.1%
Based on 10,177 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 Sedalia. 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 Sedalia 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 Sedalia sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Sedalia 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.