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Place dossier plate
SheetNY-CLIFTON-SPRINGS-NY · Clifton Springs, NY 2,124 pop · income 39th 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 Clifton Springs
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Clifton Springs on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Cherryvale · lowest
47,411
Cherryvale · lowest
47,411 median HH income
19.0% of the leader · rank #1
Clifton Sprin… · this city
62,500
Clifton Sprin… · this city
62,500 median HH income
25.0% of the leader · rank #2
Industry · near
62,500
Industry · near
62,500 median HH income
25.0% of the leader · rank #3
Buncombe · near
62,500
Buncombe · near
62,500 median HH income
25.0% of the leader · rank #4
Colchester · near
62,500
Colchester · near
62,500 median HH income
25.0% of the leader · rank #5
Shipman · near
62,500
Shipman · near
62,500 median HH income
25.0% of the leader · rank #6
Bedford · highest
250,001
Bedford · highest
250,001 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 Clifton Springs 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: 2,124.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Clifton Springs places in the 39th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
39th
percentile, household income
32nd
percentile, home value
78th
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: Clifton Springs, NY
2,124 people live in Clifton Springs, New York - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Clifton Springs report a median income of $62,500 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 3.6%. Clifton Springs's housing stock carries a median value of $163,900, and the median resident age is 43.5 years. Educational attainment runs 23.4% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 46.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 2 residential building permits were authorized in Clifton Springs (Construction Slowdown), down 33% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data.
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. Monthly utility costs average around $285 across New York, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Clifton Springs'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 comparison shortlist to population change to housing and income to schools and households to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Clifton Springs, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, local building permits, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Clifton Springs?
Within New York, the closest population matches are Red Hook (2,119 residents, $104,022 income); Bedford (2,118 residents, $250,000+ income); Cooperstown (2,113 residents, $70,179 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Shepherd, TX (2,124 residents); Amherst, VA (2,124 residents); Danville, AR (2,123 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 Clifton Springs growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -33 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 2 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 Clifton Springs?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 3.6%, 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. 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.
What does the education layer cover for Clifton Springs?
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 23.4% 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.
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.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Clifton Springs?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 82.6%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
4.0%
Drive alone
82.6%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 772 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 3.6% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
107.9 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, New York average
D
City profile score · Clifton Springs, NY
42/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
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 B
3.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share D
23.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$62,500
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.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Clifton Springs profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 74/100 (B) · 3.6%
Bachelor's+ share: 44/100 (D) · 23.4%
Household income: 38/100 (F) · $62,500
Cost of living: 12/100 (F) · 107.9 index
How does Clifton Springs compare to other US cities?
Clifton Springs measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income39% higher than other cities
Home value32% pricier than other cities
Median rent78% 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 Clifton Springs 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 Clifton Springs near the bottom of New York's cities
Among the 1,256 New York cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Clifton Springs ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Clifton Springs only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#880 of 1,205
27th percentile in New York
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,256
0th percentile in New York
Median Home Value
#806 of 1,202
33rd percentile in New York
Poverty Rate
#705 of 1,246
43rd percentile in New York
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#896 of 1,254
28th 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
39th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Clifton Springs's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$163,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 68% 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
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,633 of 15,516
More affordable than 70% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,107 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.6×, Clifton Springs sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,633 of 15,516 and #4,107 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
$62,500Clifton Springs, NY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Clifton Springs, 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 Clifton Springs, NY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)23.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)3.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)46.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,124
Median Income
$62,500
Median Home Value
$163,900
Median Age
43.5
Poverty Rate
3.6%
Labor force participation
46.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
23.4%
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
Clifton Springs's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,203 residents
2021
2,196 residents
2022
2,183 residents
2023
2,180 residents
2024
2,175 residents
2025
2,170 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
2
housing units authorized
Single-Family
2
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.9
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
3
3
0
$0.3M
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
2
2
0
$0.5M
Permit volume decreased 33% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
82.6%
Carpool
6.3%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
5.4%
Work from Home
4.0%
Other
1.7%
Based on 772 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 Clifton Springs. 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 Clifton Springs 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 Clifton Springs sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Clifton Springs 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, 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.