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Place dossier plate
SheetNE-CRESTON-NE · Creston, NE 149 pop · income 19th 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 Creston
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Creston on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Hyannis · lowest
37,500
Hyannis · lowest
37,500 median HH income
39.0% of the leader · rank #1
Phenix City · near
49,715
Phenix City · near
49,715 median HH income
51.7% of the leader · rank #2
El Cerro Miss… · near
49,719
El Cerro Miss… · near
49,719 median HH income
51.7% of the leader · rank #3
Creston · this city
49,722
Creston · this city
49,722 median HH income
51.7% of the leader · rank #4
Potts Camp · near
49,722
Potts Camp · near
49,722 median HH income
51.7% of the leader · rank #5
Springdale · near
49,722
Springdale · near
49,722 median HH income
51.7% of the leader · rank #6
Bellville · highest
96,140
Bellville · highest
96,140 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 Creston 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: 149.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Creston lands in the 19th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
19th
percentile, household income
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: Creston, NE
Nebraska's Creston is a small town, with 149 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Creston brings in $49,722 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. The median resident age is 44.4 years. About 16.0% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 71.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,001 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Nebraska's average monthly utility costs around $207 (state average). Natural-hazard exposure scores 25.8 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Creston'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 comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Creston, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, 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 Creston?
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 93.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Which cities make useful reference points for Creston?
Within Nebraska, the closest population matches are Melbeta (149 residents, $47,083 income); Denton (147 residents, $54,063 income); Grafton (146 residents, $73,750 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Rudy, AR (149 residents); El Rancho, CA (149 residents); Segundo, CO (149 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.
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.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
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 F
16.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$49,722
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).
Creston profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 23/100 (F) · 16.0%
Household income: 20/100 (F) · $49,722
How does Creston compare to other US cities?
Where Creston sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income19% higher 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 Creston 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 Creston near the bottom of Nebraska's cities
Among the 450 Nebraska cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Creston ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Creston only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#370 of 439
16th percentile in Nebraska
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 450
0th percentile in Nebraska
Poverty Rate
#388 of 450
0th percentile in Nebraska
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#303 of 450
32nd 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
19th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$49,722Creston, NE median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Creston, 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 Creston, NE.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)16.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)71.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
149
Median Income
$49,722
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
44.4
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
71.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
16.0%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Creston's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
174 residents
2021
173 residents
2022
173 residents
2023
174 residents
2024
175 residents
2025
174 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
93.3%
Carpool
4.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
2.7%
Based on 75 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 Creston. 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 Creston 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 Creston sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Creston 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 ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.