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Place dossier plate
SheetNE-BROWNVILLE-NE · Brownville, NE 137 pop · income 60th 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 Brownville
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Brownville on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Tryon · lowest
47,292
Tryon · lowest
47,292 median HH income
39.1% of the leader · rank #1
Brownville · this city
78,750
Brownville · this city
78,750 median HH income
65.0% of the leader · rank #2
Phoenix Lake · near
78,750
Phoenix Lake · near
78,750 median HH income
65.0% of the leader · rank #3
Kurtistown · near
78,750
Kurtistown · near
78,750 median HH income
65.0% of the leader · rank #4
De Witt · near
78,750
De Witt · near
78,750 median HH income
65.0% of the leader · rank #5
Muncie · near
78,750
Muncie · near
78,750 median HH income
65.0% of the leader · rank #6
Hemlock · highest
121,083
Hemlock · highest
121,083 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 Brownville 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: 137.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Brownville places in the 60th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
60th
percentile, household income
14th
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: Brownville, NE
137 people live in Brownville, Nebraska - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $78,750 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 3.3%. Brownville's housing stock carries a median value of $112,500, and the median resident age is 43.6 years. Educational attainment runs 26.0% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 50.0% 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 Nebraska run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Nebraska at 90.1 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Below Average). 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. 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 Brownville'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 housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Brownville, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, 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 Brownville?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 70.6%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for Brownville?
Within Nebraska, the closest population matches are Stella (138 residents, $53,750 income); Tryon (136 residents, $47,292 income); Craig (139 residents, $48,750 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Mosquito Lake, AK (137 residents); Mettler, CA (137 residents); Otterville, IL (137 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.
Is Brownville growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population was unchanged by +0 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.0% 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 Brownville?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 3.3%, 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.
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+
3.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income C
$78,750
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share C-
26.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Brownville profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.1 index
Poverty rate: 76/100 (B+) · 3.3%
Household income: 58/100 (C) · $78,750
Bachelor's+ share: 51/100 (C-) · 26.0%
How does Brownville compare to other US cities?
Here's how Brownville stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income60% higher than other cities
Home value14% 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 Brownville 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 Brownville near the bottom of Nebraska's cities
Among the 450 Nebraska cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Brownville ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Brownville only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#92 of 439
79th percentile in Nebraska
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 450
0th percentile in Nebraska
Median Home Value
#225 of 438
48th percentile in Nebraska
Poverty Rate
#305 of 450
31st percentile in Nebraska
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#116 of 450
74th 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
60th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Brownville's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$112,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 86% 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
Brownville's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#303 of 15,516
More affordable than 98% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#298 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.4×, Brownville sits in the affordable band:
national rank #303 of 15,516 and #298 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
$78,750Brownville, NE median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Brownville, 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 Brownville, NE.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)26.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)3.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)50.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
137
Median Income
$78,750
Median Home Value
$112,500
Median Age
43.6
Poverty Rate
3.3%
Labor force participation
50.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
26.0%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Brownville's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
141 residents
2021
141 residents
2022
142 residents
2023
142 residents
2024
141 residents
2025
141 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
2
2
0
$0.6M
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
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
70.6%
Carpool
3.9%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
2.0%
Work from Home
19.6%
Other
3.9%
Based on 51 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 Brownville. 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 Brownville 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 Brownville sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Brownville 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, 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.