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Place dossier plate
SheetMO-ST-MARY-MO · St. Mary, MO 255 pop · income 31st 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 St. Mary
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest St. Mary on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Pleasant Grove · lowest
21,953
Pleasant Grove · lowest
21,953 median HH income
12.5% of the leader · rank #1
St. Mary · this city
57,500
St. Mary · this city
57,500 median HH income
32.8% of the leader · rank #2
Pitkas Point · near
57,500
Pitkas Point · near
57,500 median HH income
32.8% of the leader · rank #3
Meredosia · near
57,500
Meredosia · near
57,500 median HH income
32.8% of the leader · rank #4
Wataga · near
57,500
Wataga · near
57,500 median HH income
32.8% of the leader · rank #5
Auburn · near
57,500
Auburn · near
57,500 median HH income
32.8% of the leader · rank #6
Jamestown · highest
175,125
Jamestown · highest
175,125 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 St. Mary 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: 255.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, St. Mary places in the 31st percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
31st
percentile, household income
9th
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: St. Mary, MO
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 255 residents in St. Mary, a small town within Missouri. Households in St. Mary report a median income of $57,500 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 14.5%. Typical homes in St. Mary are valued around $97,500, and the median resident age is 52.2 years. Educational attainment runs 10.6% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 47.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 0 residential building permits were authorized in St. Mary (No Permits), per Census BPS data.
Living costs in Missouri run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Missouri at 90.8 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Below Average). 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. 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 St. Mary'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 population change to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For St. Mary, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history, local building permits.
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.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in St. Mary?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 14.5%, 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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
What does the journey to work look like in St. Mary?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 90.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Is St. Mary growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +3 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.0% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for St. Mary?
Within Missouri, the closest population matches are Houstonia (255 residents, $37,396 income); Junction City (254 residents, $25,833 income); Rushville (254 residents, $58,750 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Pleasant Grove, AR (255 residents); Jamestown, CO (255 residents); Victoria, IL (255 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.
Below median income · poverty 14.5% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.8 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Missouri average
F
City profile score · St. Mary, MO
38/100
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
$57,500
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
14.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
10.6%
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).
St. Mary profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 83/100 (A-) · 90.8 index
Household income: 31/100 (F) · $57,500
Poverty rate: 24/100 (F) · 14.5%
Bachelor's+ share: 8/100 (F) · 10.6%
How does St. Mary compare to other US cities?
Where St. Mary sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income31% higher than other cities
Home value9% 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 St. Mary 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 St. Mary near the bottom of Missouri's cities
Among the 875 Missouri cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, St. Mary ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares St. Mary only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#342 of 842
59th percentile in Missouri
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 875
0th percentile in Missouri
Median Home Value
#536 of 833
36th percentile in Missouri
Poverty Rate
#277 of 875
68th percentile in Missouri
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#617 of 875
29th 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
31st percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How St. Mary's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$97,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 91% 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
St. Mary's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#736 of 15,516
More affordable than 95% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#719 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.7×, St. Mary sits in the affordable band:
national rank #736 of 15,516 and #719 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$57,500St. Mary, MO median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context St. Mary, 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 St. Mary, MO.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)10.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)14.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)47.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
255
Median Income
$57,500
Median Home Value
$97,500
Median Age
52.2
Poverty Rate
14.5%
Labor force participation
47.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
10.6%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
St. Mary's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
309 residents
2021
311 residents
2022
311 residents
2023
312 residents
2024
310 residents
2025
312 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
Drive Alone
90.8%
Carpool
9.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 87 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 St. Mary. 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 St. Mary 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 St. Mary sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How St. Mary 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.