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Place dossier plate
SheetND-STEELE-ND · Steele, ND 742 pop · income 40th pct · 1 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 Steele
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Steele on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Jasper · lowest
47,188
Jasper · lowest
47,188 median HH income
28.7% of the leader · rank #1
Steele · this city
63,000
Steele · this city
63,000 median HH income
38.4% of the leader · rank #2
Moores Hill · near
63,000
Moores Hill · near
63,000 median HH income
38.4% of the leader · rank #3
Keachi · near
63,000
Keachi · near
63,000 median HH income
38.4% of the leader · rank #4
Hatley · near
63,000
Hatley · near
63,000 median HH income
38.4% of the leader · rank #5
Exeter · near
63,000
Exeter · near
63,000 median HH income
38.4% of the leader · rank #6
Plattsville · highest
164,219
Plattsville · highest
164,219 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 Steele 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: 742.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Steele - the verdict
Steele ranks in the 40th percentile for household income and the 61st percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
40th
percentile, household income
30th
percentile, home value
7th
percentile, median rent
61st
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: Steele, ND
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 742 residents in Steele, a small town within North Dakota. Households in Steele report a median income of $63,000 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 4.2%. Home values in Steele run a median of $160,300, and the median resident age is 52.7 years. About 30.2% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 55.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 0 residential building permits were authorized in Steele (No Permits), per Census BPS data. Steele reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 1080.2 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Steele's yearly average temperature at 41.6°F with 21.4 inches of precipitation per year.
Living costs in North Dakota run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, North Dakota scores 89.0 (Well Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $965 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts North Dakota's average monthly utility costs around $200 (state average). Natural-hazard exposure scores 22.2 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Steele'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 work and mobility to comparison shortlist to population change to schools and households to within-city variation to reported crime to housing and income to climate and hazard context; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Steele, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, local building permits, annual population history.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Steele?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 76.9%. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Steele?
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 North Dakota, the closest population matches are Hebron (739 residents, $60,114 income); Mott (738 residents, $51,964 income); Richardton (761 residents, $69,844 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Plattsville, CT (742 residents); Fort Green Springs, FL (742 residents); Hopedale, IL (742 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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +1 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.2% 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.
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.
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.
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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Steele?
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 2 public schools within the city match. 30.2% 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
4.2%
Bachelor's degree+
30.2%
Matched public schools
2
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Steele?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1080.2 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 53% 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
1080.2
Violent rate
0.0
Property rate
1080.2
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
How far does income reach against housing in Steele?
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 2.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.2%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.5×
Home value
$160,300
Household income
$63,000
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
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 41.6°F, with 21.4 inches of precipitation. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for North Dakota is 22.2 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.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
22.2
Annual precipitation
21.4 in
Mean temperature
41.6°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Below median income · poverty 4.2% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
89.0 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, North Dakota average
B
City profile score · Steele, ND
70/100
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.
Violent crime A+
0 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Cost of living A
89.0 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Poverty rate B
4.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C
30.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$63,000
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Steele profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 97/100 (A+) · 0 /100k
Cost of living: 89/100 (A) · 89.0 index
Poverty rate: 71/100 (B) · 4.2%
Bachelor's+ share: 58/100 (C) · 30.2%
Household income: 39/100 (F) · $63,000
Where Steele sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Steele'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 - Steele highlighted among 21 peers.Read the chart values
Steele, ND (this city): home $160,300, crime 1,080/100k
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 Steele compare to other US cities?
Here's how Steele stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income40% higher than other cities
Home value30% pricier than other cities
Median rent7% pricier than other cities
Safety61% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just North Dakota and the picture shifts: Steele ranks #8 of 21 North Dakota cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Steele against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to North Dakota only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
North Dakota-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Steele near the bottom of North Dakota's cities
Among the 246 North Dakota cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Steele ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Steele only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#151 of 227
33rd percentile in North Dakota
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 246
0th percentile in North Dakota
Median Home Value
#81 of 226
64th percentile in North Dakota
Poverty Rate
#136 of 246
43rd percentile in North Dakota
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#52 of 246
79th percentile in North Dakota
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 North Dakota only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
40th percentile nationally for median household income · 61st percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Steele's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Steele'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 Steele's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$160,300Among the most affordablemore affordable than 70% 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
Steele's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,222 of 15,516
More affordable than 73% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,790 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.5×, Steele sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,222 of 15,516 and #3,790 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
$63,000Steele, ND median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Steele, ND median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Steele, ND.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)30.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)55.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
742
Median Income
$63,000
Median Home Value
$160,300
Median Age
52.7
Poverty Rate
4.2%
Labor force participation
55.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
30.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1080.2
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1080.2
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
41.6°F
Annual Precipitation
21.4"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Steele's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
663 residents
2021
656 residents
2022
665 residents
2023
658 residents
2024
665 residents
2025
664 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
1
1
0
$0.4M
2021
1
1
0
$0.3M
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
76.9%
Carpool
6.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.7%
Work from Home
13.9%
Other
1.4%
Based on 346 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
North Dakota statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $200
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across North Dakota at $200 (electricity about $90 , water and sewer about $40 ).
These are North Dakota statewide averages, not a meter reading for Steele. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
North Dakota's BEA cost-of-living index is 89.0 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Steele is $965/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to North Dakota statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 22.2 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a North Dakota statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Steele sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Steele compares to similar-size North Dakota 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.