Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
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.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Alton on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. 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: 416.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Alton - the verdict
Nationally, Alton sits in the 79th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
73rd
percentile, home value
86th
percentile, median rent
79th
percentile, safety
📝 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: Alton, NH
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 416 residents in Alton, a small town within New Hampshire. Typical homes in Alton are valued around $358,200, and the median resident age is 58.8 years. Educational attainment runs 10.3% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 45.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Alton reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR figures show 657.1 crimes per 100,000 residents, below the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
New Hampshire carries a cost-of-living premium: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts New Hampshire at 104.2 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Above Average). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,894 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in New Hampshire run around $307, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Commute times here average 13.4 minutes, with 92.9% driving alone and 7.1% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 69.9 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Alton'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 reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Alton, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; 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 Alton?
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. 10.3% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Alton?
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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within New Hampshire, the closest population matches are Bradford (399 residents, $80,288 income); Walpole (447 residents, $71,563 income); Milton (382 residents, $55,313 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Willisville, IL (416 residents); Little Rock, IA (416 residents); Mesick, MI (416 residents). These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 92.9%. The reported mean trip to work is 13.4 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. 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Alton?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 657.1 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 71% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
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.
Violent crime B
99 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Cost of living F
104.2 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
10.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income N/A
N/A
No ACS median household income on file for this place.
Alton profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Violent crime: 71/100 (B) · 99 /100k
Cost of living: 23/100 (F) · 104.2 index
Bachelor's+ share: 7/100 (F) · 10.3%
Where Alton sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Alton's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Alton highlighted among 25 peers.Read the chart values
Alton, NH (this city): home $358,200, crime 657/100k
Bradford, NH : home $309,300, crime 115/100k
Walpole, NH : home $380,000, crime 162/100k
Milton, NH : home $225,000, crime 806/100k
Warner, NH : home $310,900, crime 202/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Alton compare to other US cities?
Alton measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Home value73% pricier than other cities
Median rent86% pricier than other cities
Safety79% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at New Hampshire, Alton ranks #20 of 53 New Hampshire cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Alton against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to New Hampshire only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
New Hampshire-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Alton near the bottom of New Hampshire's cities
Among the 100 New Hampshire cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Alton ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Alton only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 100
0th percentile in New Hampshire
Median Home Value
#27 of 94
71st percentile in New Hampshire
Poverty Rate
#71 of 99
0th percentile in New Hampshire
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#92 of 100
8th percentile in New Hampshire
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 New Hampshire only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
79th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Alton's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$358,20027th percentilemore affordable than 27% 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
Income distribution context
Median household income is not available for Alton in the current Census ACS release (common for very small places).
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)10.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)45.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
416
Median Income
N/A
Median Home Value
$358,200
Median Age
58.8
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
45.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
10.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
657.1
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
98.6
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
558.6
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
13.4 minutes
Drive Alone
92.9%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
7.1%
Based on 183 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
New Hampshire statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $307
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across New Hampshire at $307 (electricity about $150 , water and sewer about $52 ).
These are New Hampshire statewide averages, not a meter reading for Alton. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
New Hampshire's BEA cost-of-living index is 104.2 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Alton is $1,894/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to New Hampshire statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 69.9 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a New Hampshire statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Alton sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Alton compares to similar-size New Hampshire 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, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, 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.