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Place dossier plate
SheetNY-AUBURN-NY · Auburn, NY 26,475 pop · income 19th pct · 25 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 Auburn
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Auburn on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Elmira · lowest
43,089
Elmira · lowest
43,089 median HH income
23.2% of the leader · rank #1
Eek · near
49,375
Eek · near
49,375 median HH income
26.6% of the leader · rank #2
Hydaburg · near
49,375
Hydaburg · near
49,375 median HH income
26.6% of the leader · rank #3
Magazine · near
49,375
Magazine · near
49,375 median HH income
26.6% of the leader · rank #4
Auburn · this city
49,377
Auburn · this city
49,377 median HH income
26.6% of the leader · rank #5
Port Huron · near
49,377
Port Huron · near
49,377 median HH income
26.6% of the leader · rank #6
Plainview · highest
185,531
Plainview · highest
185,531 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Auburn 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: 26,475.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Auburn - the verdict
Nationally, Auburn sits in the 19th percentile for household income and the 43rd percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
19th
percentile, household income
25th
percentile, home value
78th
percentile, median rent
43rd
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: Auburn, NY
New York's Auburn is a small city, with 26,475 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Auburn households earn a median of $49,377 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 13.8%. Home values in Auburn run a median of $143,600, and the median resident age is 40.0 years. Educational attainment runs 20.3% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 53.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 1 residential building permits were authorized in Auburn (Stable), up 0% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Auburn reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 1587.6 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Auburn's yearly average temperature at 47.4°F with 44.3 inches of precipitation per year and 109.4 inches of snowfall.
New York carries a cost-of-living premium: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, New York scores 107.9 (Above Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,579 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts New York's average monthly utility costs around $285 (state average). The average commute for Auburn workers runs 19.0 minutes, with 77.7% driving alone and 3.8% working from home. Natural-hazard exposure scores 69.4 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Auburn'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 schools and households to housing and income to within-city variation to population change to climate and hazard context to reported crime to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Auburn, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, local building permits, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Auburn?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 77.7%. The reported mean trip to work is 19.0 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.
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 9 public schools within the city match. 20.3% 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.
PlainCities matches 25 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Auburn?
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 York, the closest population matches are West Islip (26,559 residents, $171,045 income); Elmira (26,349 residents, $43,089 income); Holbrook (26,256 residents, $139,116 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Venice, FL (26,467 residents); Owatonna, MN (26,462 residents); Paramus, NJ (26,500 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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Auburn?
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 2.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 13.8%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.9×
Home value
$143,600
Household income
$49,377
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -920 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -3.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 1 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
26,867
2025 estimate
25,947
Period change
-3.4%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
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 47.4°F, with 44.3 inches of precipitation and 109.4 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for New York is 69.4 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)
69.4
Annual precipitation
44.3 in
Mean temperature
47.4°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Auburn?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1587.6 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 30% 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.
Total reported rate
1587.6
Violent rate
245.1
Property rate
1342.5
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
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.
Violent crime D
245 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
20.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
13.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$49,377
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Cost of living F
107.9 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Auburn profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 41/100 (D) · 245 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 35/100 (F) · 20.3%
Poverty rate: 25/100 (F) · 13.8%
Household income: 19/100 (F) · $49,377
Cost of living: 12/100 (F) · 107.9 index
Where Auburn sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Auburn'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 - Auburn highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
Auburn, NY (this city): home $143,600, crime 1,588/100k
Owatonna, MN : home $234,600, crime 971/100k
Paramus, NJ : home $736,000, crime 4,928/100k
Rosemount, MN : home $406,100, crime 556/100k
Sanger, CA : home $346,000, crime 1,558/100k
Jenks, OK : home $285,600, crime 1,304/100k
Elmira, NY : home $88,200, crime 4,684/100k
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 Auburn compare to other US cities?
Here's how Auburn stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income19% higher than other cities
Home value25% pricier than other cities
Median rent78% pricier than other cities
Safety43% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just New York and the picture shifts: Auburn ranks #19 of 55 New York cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Auburn against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to New York only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
New York-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Auburn near the bottom of New York's cities
Among the 1,256 New York cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Auburn ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Auburn only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,096 of 1,205
9th percentile in New York
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,256
0th percentile in New York
Median Home Value
#899 of 1,202
25th percentile in New York
Poverty Rate
#200 of 1,246
84th percentile in New York
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#998 of 1,254
20th percentile in New York
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 York only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
19th percentile nationally for median household income · 43rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Auburn's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Auburn's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Auburn's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$143,600Among the most affordablemore affordable than 75% 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
Auburn's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#6,181 of 15,516
More affordable than 60% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#774 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 2.9×, Auburn sits in the affordable band:
national rank #6,181 of 15,516 and #774 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$49,377Auburn, NY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Auburn, NY median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Auburn, NY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)20.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)13.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)53.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
26,475
Median Income
$49,377
Median Home Value
$143,600
Median Age
40.0
Poverty Rate
13.8%
Labor force participation
53.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
20.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1587.6
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
245.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1342.5
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
47.4°F
Annual Precipitation
44.3"
Annual Snowfall
109.4"
Schools
Total Schools
9
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Auburn's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
26,867 residents
2021
26,471 residents
2022
26,112 residents
2023
25,981 residents
2024
25,948 residents
2025
25,947 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
1
housing units authorized
Single-Family
1
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
1
1
0
$0.2M
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
1
1
0
$0.1M
2022
3
3
0
$0.6M
2023
8
0
8
$0.7M
2024
1
1
0
$0.1M
Permit volume increased 0% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
19.0 minutes
Drive Alone
77.7%
Carpool
10.4%
Public Transit
1.0%
Walk
4.5%
Work from Home
3.8%
Other
2.6%
Based on 11,361 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
New York statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $285
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across New York at $285 (electricity about $130 , water and sewer about $65 ).
These are New York statewide averages, not a meter reading for Auburn. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
New York's BEA cost-of-living index is 107.9 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Auburn is $1,579/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to New York statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 69.4 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a New York statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Auburn sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Auburn compares to similar-size New York 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, 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.