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Place dossier plate
SheetNY-PENN-YAN-NY · Penn Yan, NY 4,800 pop · income 22nd pct · 8 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 Penn Yan
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Penn Yan on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Carrizo Sprin… · lowest
36,077
Carrizo Sprin… · lowest
36,077 median HH income
14.4% of the leader · rank #1
Royal Palm Es… · near
51,461
Royal Palm Es… · near
51,461 median HH income
20.6% of the leader · rank #2
Polson · near
51,463
Polson · near
51,463 median HH income
20.6% of the leader · rank #3
Penn Yan · this city
51,466
Penn Yan · this city
51,466 median HH income
20.6% of the leader · rank #4
Waco · near
51,468
Waco · near
51,468 median HH income
20.6% of the leader · rank #5
Richland Cent… · near
51,472
Richland Cent… · near
51,472 median HH income
20.6% of the leader · rank #6
Flower Hill · highest
250,001
Flower Hill · 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 Penn Yan 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: 4,800.
Nationally, Penn Yan sits in the 22nd percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
22nd
percentile, household income
25th
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: Penn Yan, NY
4,800 people live in Penn Yan, New York - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Penn Yan households earn a median of $51,466 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 6.3%. Penn Yan's housing stock carries a median value of $143,000, and the median resident age is 44.6 years. Educational attainment runs 25.7% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 55.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 41 residential building permits were authorized in Penn Yan (Slowing), down 20% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 48.7°F with 30.2 inches of precipitation per year.
New York carries a cost-of-living premium: the state registers 107.9 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Above Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,579 monthly. 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 Penn Yan'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 population change to climate and hazard context to comparison shortlist to schools and households to within-city variation to work and mobility to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Penn Yan, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Population change
Is Penn Yan growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +158 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.1% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 41 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 48.7°F, with 30.2 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Penn Yan?
Within New York, the closest population matches are Flower Hill (4,793 residents, $250,000+ income); Searingtown (4,786 residents, $215,817 income); Wellsville (4,846 residents, $51,005 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Ogallala, NE (4,800 residents); Carrizo Springs, TX (4,800 residents); Stafford Springs, CT (4,801 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.
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.
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 Penn Yan?
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 25.7% 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
3
Bachelor's degree+
25.7%
Poverty estimate
6.3%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in Penn Yan?
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 84.1%. 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
84.1%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 2,149 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in Penn Yan?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 6.3%, 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.
Household income
$51,466
Home value
$143,000
Value / income
2.8×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
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 C
6.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C-
25.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$51,466
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).
Penn Yan profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 57/100 (C) · 6.3%
Bachelor's+ share: 51/100 (C-) · 25.7%
Household income: 22/100 (F) · $51,466
Cost of living: 12/100 (F) · 107.9 index
How does Penn Yan compare to other US cities?
Where Penn Yan sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income22% higher than other cities
Home value25% 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 Penn Yan 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 Penn Yan near the bottom of New York's cities
Among the 1,256 New York cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Penn Yan ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Penn Yan only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,068 of 1,205
11th percentile in New York
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,256
0th percentile in New York
Median Home Value
#904 of 1,202
25th percentile in New York
Poverty Rate
#492 of 1,246
60th percentile in New York
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#826 of 1,254
34th 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
22nd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Penn Yan's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$143,000Among 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
Penn Yan's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,462 of 15,516
More affordable than 65% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,751 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.8×, Penn Yan sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,462 of 15,516 and #4,751 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
$51,466Penn Yan, NY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Penn Yan, 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 Penn Yan, NY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)25.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)55.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
4,800
Median Income
$51,466
Median Home Value
$143,000
Median Age
44.6
Poverty Rate
6.3%
Labor force participation
55.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
25.7%
Climate
Avg Temperature
48.7°F
Annual Precipitation
30.2"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Penn Yan's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
5,114 residents
2021
5,087 residents
2022
5,045 residents
2023
5,082 residents
2024
5,104 residents
2025
5,272 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Slowing
Total Permits (2024)
41
housing units authorized
Single-Family
9
detached homes
Multifamily
32
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
8.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
51
9
42
$6.6M
2020
1
1
0
$0.1M
2021
13
3
10
$3.9M
2022
9
7
2
$2.6M
2023
7
5
2
$1.3M
2024
41
9
32
$11.1M
Permit volume decreased 20% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
84.1%
Carpool
7.4%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
3.4%
Work from Home
4.7%
Based on 2,149 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 Penn Yan. 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 Penn Yan 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 Penn Yan sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Penn Yan 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, 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.