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Place dossier plate
SheetNE-BENKELMAN-NE · Benkelman, NE 946 pop · income 10th 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 Benkelman
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Benkelman on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Pawnee City · lowest
38,611
Pawnee City · lowest
38,611 median HH income
48.3% of the leader · rank #1
Benkelman · this city
42,500
Benkelman · this city
42,500 median HH income
53.1% of the leader · rank #2
Ider · near
42,500
Ider · near
42,500 median HH income
53.1% of the leader · rank #3
Mentone · near
42,500
Mentone · near
42,500 median HH income
53.1% of the leader · rank #4
Teller · near
42,500
Teller · near
42,500 median HH income
53.1% of the leader · rank #5
Tuckerman · near
42,500
Tuckerman · near
42,500 median HH income
53.1% of the leader · rank #6
Crofton · highest
80,000
Crofton · highest
80,000 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 Benkelman 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: 946.
Nationally, Benkelman sits in the 10th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
10th
percentile, household income
5th
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: Benkelman, NE
946 people live in Benkelman, Nebraska - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Benkelman households earn a median of $42,500 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 14.6%. Typical homes in Benkelman are valued around $84,800, and the median resident age is 46.0 years. About 22.9% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 60.2% 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. The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 52.3°F with 19.7 inches of precipitation per year and 27.6 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in Nebraska run below the national norm: the state registers 90.1 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Well Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,001 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Nebraska run around $207, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 25.8 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Benkelman'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 schools and households to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income to climate and hazard context to population change to within-city variation; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Benkelman, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, local building permits, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares.
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.
1. Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Benkelman?
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. 22.9% 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 Benkelman?
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 Laurel (947 residents, $56,250 income); Waterloo (950 residents, $75,417 income); Crawford (957 residents, $58,438 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Ehrenberg, AZ (946 residents); McNary, AZ (946 residents); Victor, IA (946 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Benkelman?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 75.0%. 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.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Benkelman?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 14.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.0×
Home value
$84,800
Household income
$42,500
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 52.3°F, with 19.7 inches of precipitation and 27.6 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.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
25.8
Annual precipitation
19.7 in
Mean temperature
52.3°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Is Benkelman growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -53 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -6.4% 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.
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
2020 estimate
824
2025 estimate
771
Period change
-6.4%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
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.
Bachelor's+ share D
22.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
14.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$42,500
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).
Benkelman profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 43/100 (D) · 22.9%
Poverty rate: 23/100 (F) · 14.6%
Household income: 10/100 (F) · $42,500
How does Benkelman compare to other US cities?
Where Benkelman sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income10% higher than other cities
Home value5% 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 Benkelman 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 Benkelman near the bottom of Nebraska's cities
Among the 450 Nebraska cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Benkelman ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Benkelman only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#407 of 439
7th percentile in Nebraska
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 450
0th percentile in Nebraska
Median Home Value
#322 of 438
26th percentile in Nebraska
Poverty Rate
#55 of 450
88th percentile in Nebraska
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#175 of 450
61st 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
10th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Benkelman's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$84,800Among the most affordablemore affordable than 95% 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
Benkelman's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#1,614 of 15,516
More affordable than 90% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,547 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.0×, Benkelman sits in the affordable band:
national rank #1,614 of 15,516 and #1,547 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
$42,500Benkelman, NE median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Benkelman, 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 Benkelman, NE.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)22.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)14.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)60.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
946
Median Income
$42,500
Median Home Value
$84,800
Median Age
46.0
Poverty Rate
14.6%
Labor force participation
60.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
22.9%
Climate
Avg Temperature
52.3°F
Annual Precipitation
19.7"
Annual Snowfall
27.6"
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
Benkelman's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
824 residents
2021
805 residents
2022
795 residents
2023
771 residents
2024
776 residents
2025
771 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
$0.3M
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
1
1
0
$0.2M
2022
1
1
0
$0.1M
2023
0
0
0
-
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
75.0%
Carpool
6.9%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
7.2%
Work from Home
10.9%
Based on 432 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 Benkelman. 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 Benkelman 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 Benkelman sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Benkelman 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.