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Place dossier plate
SheetMS-IUKA-MS · Iuka, MS 3,118 pop · income 14th pct · 7 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 Iuka
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Iuka on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Newton · lowest
34,286
Newton · lowest
34,286 median HH income
24.4% of the leader · rank #1
Lexa · near
45,804
Lexa · near
45,804 median HH income
32.6% of the leader · rank #2
Iuka · this city
45,805
Iuka · this city
45,805 median HH income
32.6% of the leader · rank #3
Seaside · near
45,807
Seaside · near
45,807 median HH income
32.6% of the leader · rank #4
Hampton · near
45,809
Hampton · near
45,809 median HH income
32.6% of the leader · rank #5
Pastoria · near
45,809
Pastoria · near
45,809 median HH income
32.6% of the leader · rank #6
Hollywood Park · highest
140,357
Hollywood Park · highest
140,357 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 Iuka 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: 3,118.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Iuka - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Iuka places in the 14th percentile for household income and the 54th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
14th
percentile, household income
18th
percentile, home value
0th
percentile, median rent
54th
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: Iuka, MS
Mississippi's Iuka is a small town, with 3,118 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Iuka brings in $45,805 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 14.7%. Home values in Iuka run a median of $122,200, and the median resident age is 38.8 years. About 16.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 42.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 20 residential building permits were authorized in Iuka (Building Boom), up 300% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Iuka reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 1243.5 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 59.0°F with 62.3 inches of precipitation per year.
Living costs in Mississippi run below the national norm: the state registers 87.0 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 $924 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $223 across Mississippi, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 50.9 out of 100 (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Iuka'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 climate and hazard context to work and mobility to within-city variation to housing and income to comparison shortlist to schools and households to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Iuka, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, local building permits, commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
Is Iuka growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -30 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.0% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 20 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 59.0°F, with 62.3 inches of precipitation. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Mississippi is 50.9 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Iuka?
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.
Within Mississippi, the closest population matches are Newton (3,151 residents, $34,286 income); Baldwyn (3,005 residents, $43,333 income); Magnolia (3,264 residents, $37,447 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Gillespie, IL (3,118 residents); La Salle, CO (3,119 residents); Southern Shores, NC (3,119 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.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Iuka?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 92.8%. 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. 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.
Drive alone
92.8%
Work from home
3.5%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,003 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in Iuka?
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.
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 14.7%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.7×
Home value
$122,200
Household income
$45,805
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
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.
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 16.7% 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.
Poverty estimate
14.7%
Bachelor's degree+
16.7%
Matched public schools
3
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1243.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 45% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
Total reported rate
1243.5
Violent rate
163.6
Property rate
1079.8
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Mississippi average
D
City profile score · Iuka, MS
43/100
5 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.
Violent crime C
164 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
16.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
14.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$45,805
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Iuka profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 97/100 (A+) · 87.0 index
Violent crime: 55/100 (C) · 164 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 25/100 (F) · 16.7%
Poverty rate: 23/100 (F) · 14.7%
Household income: 15/100 (F) · $45,805
Where Iuka sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Iuka'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 - Iuka highlighted among 25 peers.Read the chart values
Iuka, MS (this city): home $122,200, crime 1,244/100k
La Salle, CO : home $362,700, crime 1,096/100k
Southern Shores, NC : home $621,100, crime 1,143/100k
Hollywood Park, TX : home $428,000, crime 1,571/100k
Lucedale, MS : home $151,200, crime 4,008/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Iuka compare to other US cities?
Where Iuka sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income14% higher than other cities
Home value18% pricier than other cities
Median rent0% pricier than other cities
Safety54% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Mississippi alone, Iuka ranks #19 of 56 Mississippi cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Iuka 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 Iuka near the bottom of Mississippi's cities
Among the 395 Mississippi cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Iuka ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Iuka only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#172 of 345
50th percentile in Mississippi
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 395
0th percentile in Mississippi
Median Home Value
#137 of 348
61st percentile in Mississippi
Poverty Rate
#209 of 393
47th percentile in Mississippi
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#198 of 394
49th 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.
Gauge source note
14th percentile nationally for median household income · 54th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Iuka's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Iuka'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 Iuka's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$122,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 82% 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
Iuka's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,861 of 15,516
More affordable than 69% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,281 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.7×, Iuka sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,861 of 15,516 and #4,281 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
$45,805Iuka, MS median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Iuka, MS median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Iuka, MS.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)16.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)14.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)42.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,118
Median Income
$45,805
Median Home Value
$122,200
Median Age
38.8
Poverty Rate
14.7%
Labor force participation
42.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
16.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1243.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
163.6
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1079.8
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
59.0°F
Annual Precipitation
62.3"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Iuka's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,135 residents
2021
3,114 residents
2022
3,089 residents
2023
3,073 residents
2024
3,078 residents
2025
3,105 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
20
housing units authorized
Single-Family
20
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
6.4
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
5
5
0
$0.6M
2020
5
5
0
$0.6M
2021
6
6
0
$0.7M
2022
7
7
0
$0.8M
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
20
20
0
$6.1M
Permit volume increased 300% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
92.8%
Carpool
3.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.7%
Work from Home
3.5%
Based on 1,003 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 Iuka. 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 Iuka 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 Iuka sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Iuka 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, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.