What is the population of Wellston, MO?

The resident count for Wellston is an ACS 5-year sample estimate (B01001); this FAQ does not restate it, see Data Snapshot.

What is the median household income in Wellston, MO?

Look at the Data Snapshot for Wellston's household-income dollar amount, it is ACS B19013, a sample estimate with a margin of error, not tax-return wage data.

City profile · Missouri · Census ACS 2023

Wellston, MO

Name: Wellston, MO City Data
Creator: PlainCities
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Wellston's Census ACS profile: residents, income, housing, and the joined public-record layers available for this place.

Compiled by PlainCities

1,690
Residents: $39,474
Median income: $972
Median rent (state)

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Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.

Place dossier plate

Sheet MO-WELLSTON-MO · Wellston, MO 1,690 pop · income 7th pct

POP-VILLAGE · INC-LOW · COL-BELOW · SAFE-UNK · RANK-BOTTOM · PHOTO-FINISH · HOME-UNK · BOOK-UNK

POP-VILLAGE 1,690
INC-LOW $39,474
COL-BELOW 90.8
SAFE-UNK Safety pending
RANK-BOTTOM 7th
PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Benwood
HOME-UNK Homes pending
BOOK-UNK Tracts pending

Nearest income peer: Benwood, WV (+ $0 income $)

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.

Purvis · lowest

34,688
Dixon · near

39,464
Vienna · near

39,471
Wellston · this city

39,474
Benwood · near

39,474
Lebanon · near

39,483
Arden on the… · highest

117,188

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 Wellston 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: 1,690.

4 peers

Similar household income

Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS median household income. This city: $39,474. Population peers are excluded.

4 peers

Wellston - the verdict

Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Wellston lands 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: Wellston, MO

Missouri's Wellston is a small town, with 1,690 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Wellston report a median income of $39,474 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 22.3%. The median resident age is 38.3 years. About 9.9% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 55.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.

Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 0 residential units were authorized 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. Monthly utility costs average around $219 across Missouri, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Wellston'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 population change to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.

For Wellston, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history, matched public-school count, local building permits. No matched row is reported here for 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

Is Wellston growing, shrinking, or holding steady?

Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +45 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.9% 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.

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.

See the national growth ranking →

2. Comparison shortlist

Which cities make useful reference points for Wellston?

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 Bourbon (1,694 residents, $63,125 income); Noel (1,679 residents, $39,196 income); Gower (1,677 residents, $80,057 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Wilder, ID (1,690 residents); New Hartford Center, CT (1,691 residents); Arden on the Severn, MD (1,691 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.

Open a side-by-side comparison →

Question 3

What does the journey to work look like in Wellston?

Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 80.5%. 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. 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.

Compare commute patterns →

4. Schools and households

What does the education layer cover for Wellston?

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.

The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 9.9% 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.

See how the family ranking is built →

Population

1,690 residents

Micro place (under 10k)

Median Household Income

$39,474 /yr

Lowest-decile income · poverty 22.3% (Highest-decile poverty)

Cost of Living Index (state)

90.8 (US=100)

Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Missouri average

City profile score · Wellston, MO

26/100

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.

Poverty rate F

22.3%

Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.

Household income F

$39,474

Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.

Bachelor's+ share F

9.9%

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).

Wellston profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)

Read the chart values

Cost of living: 83/100 (A-) · 90.8 index
Poverty rate: 9/100 (F) · 22.3%
Household income: 6/100 (F) · $39,474
Bachelor's+ share: 6/100 (F) · 9.9%

How does Wellston compare to other US cities?

Where Wellston sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.

Household income 7% higher than other cities

Median rent 7% 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 Wellston 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 Wellston near the bottom of Missouri's cities

Among the 875 Missouri cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Wellston ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Wellston only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.

Median Household Income

#701 of 842

17th percentile in Missouri

Median Gross Rent

#1 of 875

0th percentile in Missouri

Poverty Rate

#134 of 875

85th percentile in Missouri

Bachelor's Degree or Higher

#637 of 875

27th 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

$39,474 Wellston, MO median household income (Census ACS)

Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context

Wellston, 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 Wellston, MO.

Key socioeconomic indicators

Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+) 9.9%

Census ACS S1501, educational attainment

Poverty rate (households below FPL) 22.3%

Census ACS S1701, poverty status

Labor force participation (adults 16+) 55.6%

Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force

Population

1,690

Median Income

$39,474

Median Home Value

N/A

Median Age

38.3

Poverty Rate

22.3%

Labor force participation

55.6%

Bachelor's Degree+

9.9%

Schools

Total Schools

Public schools in this city

Population Change

PEP vintage

Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025

See the fastest-growing cities →

Wellston's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.

Read the chart as text

Period	Population
2020	1,535 residents
2021	1,566 residents
2022	1,582 residents
2023	1,586 residents
2024	1,585 residents
2025	1,580 residents

Housing Supply

BPS source

Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized

Total Permits (2024)

housing units authorized

Single-Family

detached homes

Multifamily

apartments & condos

5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)

Year	Total	Single-Family	Est. Value
2019	0	0	-
2020	23	23	$6.4M
2021	16	16	$1.4M
2022	8	8	$0.8M
2023	0	0	-
2024	0	0	-

Commute Patterns

Commute source

How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023

Drive Alone

80.5%

Carpool

3.4%

Public Transit

12.6%

Walk

0.5%

Work from Home

3.0%

Based on 737 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 Wellston. 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 Wellston 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 Wellston sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.

How Wellston 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.

City	Population	Median Household Income
Wellston (this city)	1,690	$39,474
Bourbon	1,694	$63,125
Noel	1,679	$39,196
Gower	1,677	$80,057

NCES CCD Census BPS 2024

Primary sources on this page

Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, 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.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Citation & verification links

Data sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCities

Primary sources: Census ACS, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES. Joins use OMB Bulletin 23-01 / FIPS keys.

Browse all city profiles → · Explore city rankings →

Verify with HUD →

Verify with FBI →

Verify with NOAA →

Verify with U.S. Census Bureau →

Estimate caveats

ACS and UCR figures are citywide estimates with vintage lags; they do not replace a local visit, school visit, or insurance quote.

Editorial standards, provenance, and how to cite this page

Every figure on PlainCities is rendered directly from Census ACS source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on Census ACS source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.

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