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Place dossier plate
SheetNY-DUNKIRK-NY · Dunkirk, NY 12,597 pop · income 18th 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 Dunkirk
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Dunkirk on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Melvindale · lowest
41,356
Melvindale · lowest
41,356 median HH income
22.9% of the leader · rank #1
London · near
49,000
London · near
49,000 median HH income
27.2% of the leader · rank #2
Marvell · near
49,000
Marvell · near
49,000 median HH income
27.2% of the leader · rank #3
Piney · near
49,002
Piney · near
49,002 median HH income
27.2% of the leader · rank #4
Dunkirk · this city
49,003
Dunkirk · this city
49,003 median HH income
27.2% of the leader · rank #5
Wolf Lake · near
49,005
Wolf Lake · near
49,005 median HH income
27.2% of the leader · rank #6
Lansdowne · highest
180,379
Lansdowne · highest
180,379 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 Dunkirk 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: 12,597.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Dunkirk - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Dunkirk lands in the 18th percentile for household income and the 28th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
18th
percentile, household income
7th
percentile, home value
78th
percentile, median rent
28th
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: Dunkirk, NY
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 12,597 residents in Dunkirk, a small town within New York. Dunkirk households earn a median of $49,003 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 17.9%. Home values in Dunkirk run a median of $91,200, and the median resident age is 43.1 years. 15.4% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 52.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 1 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 94% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 2194.7 crimes per 100,000 residents, near the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 48.4°F with 46.8 inches of precipitation per year.
New York carries a cost-of-living premium: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts New York at 107.9 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Above Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,579 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in New York run around $285, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 69.4 out of 100 (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Dunkirk'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 housing and income to reported crime to population change to schools and households to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to climate and hazard context; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Dunkirk, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Dunkirk?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 17.9%, 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Dunkirk?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2194.7 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, near the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 4% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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 -405 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -3.2% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Dunkirk?
Within New York, the closest population matches are Geneva (12,573 residents, $68,242 income); North Merrick (12,544 residents, $156,023 income); Ridge (12,506 residents, $88,266 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Guymon, OK (12,596 residents); Goldenrod, FL (12,603 residents); Lansdowne, VA (12,603 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Dunkirk?
The NCES join finds 5 public schools within the city match. 15.4% 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 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.
Matched public schools
5
Bachelor's degree+
15.4%
Poverty estimate
17.9%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in Dunkirk?
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 81.3%. 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
4.7%
Drive alone
81.3%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 5,343 workers age 16+.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 48.4°F, with 46.8 inches of precipitation. 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.
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.
Mean temperature
48.4°F
Annual precipitation
46.8 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
69.4
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
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 F
275 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
15.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$49,003
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
17.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
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.
Dunkirk profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 37/100 (F) · 275 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 21/100 (F) · 15.4%
Household income: 19/100 (F) · $49,003
Poverty rate: 17/100 (F) · 17.9%
Cost of living: 12/100 (F) · 107.9 index
Where Dunkirk sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Dunkirk'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 - Dunkirk highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Dunkirk, NY (this city): home $91,200, crime 2,195/100k
Guymon, OK : home $171,800, crime 1,216/100k
Kingsburg, CA : home $356,900, crime 1,498/100k
Melvindale, MI : home $113,100, crime 1,467/100k
Lewisburg, TN : home $183,400, crime 2,648/100k
Geneva, NY : home $140,300, crime 3,109/100k
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 Dunkirk compare to other US cities?
Where Dunkirk sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income18% higher than other cities
Home value7% pricier than other cities
Median rent78% pricier than other cities
Safety28% 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: Dunkirk ranks #31 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 Dunkirk 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 Dunkirk near the bottom of New York's cities
Among the 1,256 New York cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Dunkirk ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Dunkirk only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,104 of 1,205
8th percentile in New York
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,256
0th percentile in New York
Median Home Value
#1,136 of 1,202
5th percentile in New York
Poverty Rate
#116 of 1,246
90th percentile in New York
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1,131 of 1,254
10th 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
18th percentile nationally for median household income · 28th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Dunkirk's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Dunkirk'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 Dunkirk's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$91,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 93% 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
Dunkirk's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#1,184 of 15,516
More affordable than 92% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#38 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 1.9×, Dunkirk sits in the affordable band:
national rank #1,184 of 15,516 and #38 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
$49,003Dunkirk, NY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Dunkirk, 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 Dunkirk, NY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)15.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)17.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)52.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
12,597
Median Income
$49,003
Median Home Value
$91,200
Median Age
43.1
Poverty Rate
17.9%
Labor force participation
52.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
15.4%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2194.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
275.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1919.3
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
48.4°F
Annual Precipitation
46.8"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
5
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Dunkirk's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
12,731 residents
2021
12,652 residents
2022
12,502 residents
2023
12,443 residents
2024
12,398 residents
2025
12,326 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
1
housing units authorized
Single-Family
1
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
16
16
0
$2.3M
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
1
1
0
$0.1M
Permit volume decreased 94% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
81.3%
Carpool
9.3%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.7%
Work from Home
4.7%
Other
3.0%
Based on 5,343 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 Dunkirk. 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 Dunkirk 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 Dunkirk sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Dunkirk 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.