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Place dossier plate
SheetND-TOWER-CITY-ND · Tower City, ND 345 pop · income 82nd 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 Tower City
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Tower City on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Madrone · lowest
18,241
Madrone · lowest
18,241 median HH income
16.9% of the leader · rank #1
Avery Creek · near
107,684
Avery Creek · near
107,684 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #2
Tower City · this city
107,708
Tower City · this city
107,708 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #3
Stockertown · near
107,708
Stockertown · near
107,708 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #4
East Patchogue · near
107,721
East Patchogue · near
107,721 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #5
Eddington · near
107,727
Eddington · near
107,727 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
Brandermill · highest
107,748
Brandermill · highest
107,748 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 Tower City 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: 345.
Nationally, Tower City sits in the 82nd percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
82nd
percentile, household income
40th
percentile, home value
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: Tower City, ND
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 345 residents in Tower City, a small town within North Dakota. Households in Tower City report a median income of $107,708 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 6.7%. Tower City's housing stock carries a median value of $189,700, and the median resident age is 39.6 years. 36.3% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 79.1% 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), down 100% from five years earlier.
Living costs in North Dakota run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts North Dakota at 89.0 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Below Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $965 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in North Dakota run around $200, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 22.2 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Tower City'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 population change to housing and income to schools and households to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Tower City, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history, matched public-school count, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Tower City?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 87.0%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Is Tower City growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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 +7 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.6% 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Tower City?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 6.7%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
Which cities make useful reference points for Tower City?
Within North Dakota, the closest population matches are Rolette (347 residents, $90,179 income); McVille (338 residents, $58,750 income); Neche (355 residents, $80,625 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are River Pines, CA (345 residents); Milton, IN (345 residents); Henrietta, MO (345 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.
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 Tower City?
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 36.3% 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 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.
Matched public schools
3
Bachelor's degree+
36.3%
Poverty estimate
6.7%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
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
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.
Household income A-
$107,708
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share B-
36.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate C-
6.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Tower City profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 89/100 (A) · 89.0 index
Household income: 80/100 (A-) · $107,708
Bachelor's+ share: 69/100 (B-) · 36.3%
Poverty rate: 54/100 (C-) · 6.7%
How does Tower City compare to other US cities?
Tower City measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income82% higher than other cities
Home value40% pricier 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 Tower City 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 Tower City near the bottom of North Dakota's cities
Among the 246 North Dakota cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Tower City ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Tower City only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#13 of 227
94th percentile in North Dakota
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 246
0th percentile in North Dakota
Median Home Value
#57 of 226
75th percentile in North Dakota
Poverty Rate
#103 of 246
58th percentile in North Dakota
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#24 of 246
90th 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
82nd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Tower City's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$189,700Among the most affordablemore affordable than 60% 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
Tower City's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#904 of 15,516
More affordable than 94% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#877 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.8×, Tower City sits in the affordable band:
national rank #904 of 15,516 and #877 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
$107,708Tower City, ND median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Tower City, 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 Tower City, ND.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)36.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)79.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
345
Median Income
$107,708
Median Home Value
$189,700
Median Age
39.6
Poverty Rate
6.7%
Labor force participation
79.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
36.3%
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
Tower City's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
266 residents
2021
265 residents
2022
271 residents
2023
275 residents
2024
273 residents
2025
273 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
1
1
0
$0.1M
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
3
3
0
$0.8M
2022
2
2
0
$0.9M
2023
1
1
0
$0.4M
2024
0
0
0
-
Permit volume decreased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
87.0%
Carpool
4.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
2.8%
Work from Home
4.2%
Other
1.4%
Based on 216 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 Tower City. 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 Tower City 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 Tower City sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Tower City 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, 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.