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Place dossier plate
SheetMO-STELLA-MO · Stella, MO 252 pop · income 7th 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 Stella
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Stella on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Junction City · lowest
25,833
Junction City · lowest
25,833 median HH income
35.0% of the leader · rank #1
Piper City · near
39,338
Piper City · near
39,338 median HH income
53.3% of the leader · rank #2
Walnut Creek · near
39,342
Walnut Creek · near
39,342 median HH income
53.3% of the leader · rank #3
Stella · this city
39,345
Stella · this city
39,345 median HH income
53.3% of the leader · rank #4
Roseboro · near
39,345
Roseboro · near
39,345 median HH income
53.3% of the leader · rank #5
Douglas · near
39,350
Douglas · near
39,350 median HH income
53.4% of the leader · rank #6
Centerview · highest
73,750
Centerview · highest
73,750 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 Stella 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: 252.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Stella places in the 7th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
7th
percentile, household income
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: Stella, MO
Missouri's Stella is a small town, with 252 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Stella brings in $39,345 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 63.6%. The median resident age is 13.8 years. Educational attainment runs 0.9% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 51.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 1 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
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. Monthly utility costs average around $219 across Missouri, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Commute times here average 31.6 minutes, with 83.6% driving alone and 4.9% 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 Stella'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 schools and households to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Stella, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the education layer cover for Stella?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 0.9% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Stella?
Within Missouri, the closest population matches are High Hill (252 residents, $65,625 income); West Sullivan (252 residents, $49,500 income); Centerview (250 residents, $73,750 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Coffee Springs, AL (252 residents); Bliss, ID (252 residents); Bryant, IL (252 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Stella?
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 83.6%. The reported mean trip to work is 31.6 minutes.
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 +5 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.0% 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.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 63.6% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.8 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Missouri average
F
City profile score · Stella, MO
23/100
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
$39,345
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
63.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
0.9%
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).
Stella profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 83/100 (A-) · 90.8 index
Household income: 6/100 (F) · $39,345
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 63.6%
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 0.9%
How does Stella compare to other US cities?
Where Stella sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income7% higher 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 Stella 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 Stella near the bottom of Missouri's cities
Among the 875 Missouri cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Stella ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Stella only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#703 of 842
17th percentile in Missouri
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 875
0th percentile in Missouri
Poverty Rate
#3 of 875
100th percentile in Missouri
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#857 of 875
2nd 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
7th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$39,345Stella, MO median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Stella, 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 Stella, MO.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)0.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)63.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)51.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
252
Median Income
$39,345
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
13.8
Poverty Rate
63.6%
Labor force participation
51.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
0.9%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Stella's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
165 residents
2021
167 residents
2022
167 residents
2023
168 residents
2024
169 residents
2025
170 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
31.6 minutes
Drive Alone
83.6%
Carpool
11.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
4.9%
Based on 61 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 Stella. 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 Stella 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 Stella sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Stella 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, 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.