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Place dossier plate
SheetNE-ALBION-NE · Albion, NE 1,733 pop · income 50th pct · 2 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 Albion
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Albion on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Westmorland · lowest
28,929
Westmorland · lowest
28,929 median HH income
36.9% of the leader · rank #1
Borden · near
70,750
Borden · near
70,750 median HH income
90.4% of the leader · rank #2
Wasilla · near
70,756
Wasilla · near
70,756 median HH income
90.4% of the leader · rank #3
Albion · this city
70,761
Albion · this city
70,761 median HH income
90.4% of the leader · rank #4
Rustburg · near
70,771
Rustburg · near
70,771 median HH income
90.4% of the leader · rank #5
Hillside · near
70,772
Hillside · near
70,772 median HH income
90.4% of the leader · rank #6
Hartington · highest
78,304
Hartington · highest
78,304 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 Albion 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: 1,733.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Albion lands in the 50th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
50th
percentile, household income
46th
percentile, home value
15th
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: Albion, NE
1,733 people live in Albion, Nebraska - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Albion households earn a median of $70,761 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 3.1%. Typical homes in Albion are valued around $210,800, and the median resident age is 39.0 years. About 29.5% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 59.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 4 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Rapid Growth), up 33% from five years earlier. The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 48.3°F with 27.2 inches of precipitation per year and 26.6 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in Nebraska run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Nebraska scores 90.1 (Well Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,001 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $207 across Nebraska, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Commute times here average 15.5 minutes, with 74.5% driving alone and 3.2% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 25.8 out of 100 (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Albion'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 within-city variation to climate and hazard context to schools and households to comparison shortlist to population change to work and mobility to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Albion, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What can 2 Census tracts reveal inside Albion?
PlainCities matches 2 Census tracts to this city.
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.
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 48.3°F, with 27.2 inches of precipitation and 26.6 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Nebraska is 25.8 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.
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. 29.5% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Albion?
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 Nebraska, the closest population matches are Hartington (1,736 residents, $78,304 income); Tekamah (1,691 residents, $54,139 income); Mitchell (1,804 residents, $50,250 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Centennial Park, AZ (1,733 residents); West Hurley, NY (1,733 residents); Goldthwaite, TX (1,733 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.
Population change
Is Albion growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +7 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 4 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.
2020 estimate
1,728
2025 estimate
1,735
Period change
+0.4%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the journey to work look like in Albion?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 74.5%. The reported mean trip to work is 15.5 minutes.
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.
Drive alone
74.5%
Work from home
3.2%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 803 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in Albion?
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 3.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 3.1%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
3.0×
Home value
$210,800
Household income
$70,761
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
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
90.1 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+
3.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C
29.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income C-
$70,761
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Albion profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.1 index
Poverty rate: 78/100 (B+) · 3.1%
Bachelor's+ share: 57/100 (C) · 29.5%
Household income: 50/100 (C-) · $70,761
How does Albion compare to other US cities?
Albion measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income50% higher than other cities
Home value46% pricier than other cities
Median rent15% 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 Albion against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Nebraska only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Nebraska-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Albion near the bottom of Nebraska's cities
Among the 450 Nebraska cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Albion ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Albion only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#158 of 439
64th percentile in Nebraska
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 450
0th percentile in Nebraska
Median Home Value
#42 of 438
90th percentile in Nebraska
Poverty Rate
#320 of 450
28th percentile in Nebraska
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#65 of 450
85th percentile in Nebraska
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 Nebraska only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
50th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Albion's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$210,800Among the most affordablemore affordable than 54% 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
Albion's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#6,583 of 15,516
More affordable than 58% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#5,587 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.0×, Albion sits in the affordable band:
national rank #6,583 of 15,516 and #5,587 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
$70,761Albion, NE median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Albion, NE median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Albion, NE.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)29.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)3.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)59.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,733
Median Income
$70,761
Median Home Value
$210,800
Median Age
39.0
Poverty Rate
3.1%
Labor force participation
59.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
29.5%
Climate
Avg Temperature
48.3°F
Annual Precipitation
27.2"
Annual Snowfall
26.6"
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
Albion's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,728 residents
2021
1,742 residents
2022
1,735 residents
2023
1,722 residents
2024
1,752 residents
2025
1,735 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Rapid Growth
Total Permits (2024)
4
housing units authorized
Single-Family
4
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2.3
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
3
3
0
$1.2M
2020
2
2
0
$0.6M
2021
4
4
0
$1.5M
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
4
4
0
$1.2M
2024
4
4
0
$1.1M
Permit volume increased 33% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
15.5 minutes
Drive Alone
74.5%
Carpool
13.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
5.7%
Work from Home
3.2%
Other
3.0%
Based on 803 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Nebraska statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $207
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Nebraska at $207 (electricity about $100 , water and sewer about $42 ).
These are Nebraska statewide averages, not a meter reading for Albion. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Nebraska's BEA cost-of-living index is 90.1 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Albion is $1,001/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Nebraska statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 25.8 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Nebraska statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Albion sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Albion compares to similar-size Nebraska 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, 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.