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.
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.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Bethlehem 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: 218.
Mississippi's Bethlehem counts 218 residents. Source: Census ACS.
0th
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: Bethlehem, MS
Bethlehem is a small town in Mississippi, home to 218 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The median resident age is 11.6 years. Educational attainment runs 9.4% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 75.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Living costs in Mississippi run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Mississippi at 87.0 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Below Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $924 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $223 across Mississippi, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Natural-hazard exposure scores 50.9 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Bethlehem'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 work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Bethlehem, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Bethlehem?
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 Mississippi, the closest population matches are Lula (218 residents, $38,333 income); Doddsville (219 residents, $31,458 income); Ethel (217 residents, $36,389 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Loachapoka, AL (218 residents); Houston, AR (218 residents); Jackson Lake, CO (218 residents). These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
What does the journey to work look like in Bethlehem?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 78.8%. 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.
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Mississippi average
F
City profile score · Bethlehem, MS
37/100
3 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+
87.0 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Bachelor's+ share F
9.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
70.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income N/A
N/A
No ACS median household income on file for this place.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Bethlehem profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 97/100 (A+) · 87.0 index
Bachelor's+ share: 5/100 (F) · 9.4%
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 70.2%
How does Bethlehem compare to other US cities?
Bethlehem measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Median rent0% 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 Bethlehem against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Mississippi only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Mississippi-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Bethlehem near the bottom of Mississippi's cities
Among the 395 Mississippi cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Bethlehem ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Bethlehem only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 395
0th percentile in Mississippi
Poverty Rate
#7 of 393
98th percentile in Mississippi
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#313 of 394
21st percentile in Mississippi
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 Mississippi only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Income distribution context
Median household income is not available for Bethlehem in the current Census ACS release (common for very small places).
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)9.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)70.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)75.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
218
Median Income
N/A
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
11.6
Poverty Rate
70.2%
Labor force participation
75.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
9.4%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
78.8%
Carpool
21.3%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 80 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Mississippi statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $223
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Mississippi at $223 (electricity about $135 , water and sewer about $38 ).
These are Mississippi statewide averages, not a meter reading for Bethlehem. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Mississippi's BEA cost-of-living index is 87.0 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Bethlehem is $924/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Mississippi statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 50.9 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Mississippi statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Bethlehem sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Bethlehem compares to similar-size Mississippi 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 ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.