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.
Place dossier plate
SheetNY-POUGHKEEPSIE-NY · Poughkeepsie, NY 31,778 pop · income 35th pct · 82 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 Poughkeepsie
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Poughkeepsie on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Ithaca · lowest
48,617
Ithaca · lowest
48,617 median HH income
33.5% of the leader · rank #1
Moreland · near
60,048
Moreland · near
60,048 median HH income
41.3% of the leader · rank #2
Calabash · near
60,048
Calabash · near
60,048 median HH income
41.3% of the leader · rank #3
Warren AFB · near
60,048
Warren AFB · near
60,048 median HH income
41.3% of the leader · rank #4
Alcoa · near
60,049
Alcoa · near
60,049 median HH income
41.3% of the leader · rank #5
Poughkeepsie · this city
60,050
Poughkeepsie · this city
60,050 median HH income
41.3% of the leader · rank #6
Oceanside · highest
145,282
Oceanside · highest
145,282 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 Poughkeepsie 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: 31,778.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Poughkeepsie - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Poughkeepsie lands in the 35th percentile for household income and the 26th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
35th
percentile, household income
58th
percentile, home value
78th
percentile, median rent
26th
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: Poughkeepsie, NY
Poughkeepsie is a small city in New York, home to 31,778 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Poughkeepsie households earn a median of $60,050 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 15.8%. Poughkeepsie's housing stock carries a median value of $259,200, and the median resident age is 37.9 years. About 31.5% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 58.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 117 residential building permits were authorized in Poughkeepsie (Stable), down 1% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 2279.9 incidents per 100,000 residents, near the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Poughkeepsie's yearly average temperature at 50.5°F with 47.2 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. 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). 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 Poughkeepsie'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 reported crime to within-city variation to schools and households to housing and income 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 Poughkeepsie, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Poughkeepsie?
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 Ithaca (31,792 residents, $48,617 income); Rome (31,795 residents, $58,857 income); Oceanside (31,907 residents, $145,282 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are San Pablo, CA (31,771 residents); Seguin, TX (31,789 residents); Sun City Center, FL (31,801 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.
Is Poughkeepsie growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +928 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.9% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 117 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 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Poughkeepsie?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2279.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, near the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 0% 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.
What can 82 Census tracts reveal inside Poughkeepsie?
PlainCities matches 82 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.
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 Poughkeepsie?
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 21 public schools within the city match. 31.5% 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.
Poverty estimate
15.8%
Bachelor's degree+
31.5%
Matched public schools
21
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Poughkeepsie?
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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 15.8%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
4.3×
Home value
$259,200
Household income
$60,050
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the journey to work look like in Poughkeepsie?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 63.5%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Drive alone
63.5%
Work from home
8.3%
Public transit
6.4%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 14,960 workers age 16+.
What physical conditions frame life in Poughkeepsie?
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 50.5°F, with 47.2 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.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
69.4
Annual precipitation
47.2 in
Mean temperature
50.5°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Below median income · poverty 15.8% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
107.9 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, New York average
F
City profile score · Poughkeepsie, NY
26/100
5 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.
Bachelor's+ share C+
31.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$60,050
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
15.8%
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.
Violent crime F
644 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poughkeepsie profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 61/100 (C+) · 31.5%
Household income: 35/100 (F) · $60,050
Poverty rate: 21/100 (F) · 15.8%
Cost of living: 12/100 (F) · 107.9 index
Violent crime: 8/100 (F) · 644 /100k
Where Poughkeepsie sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Poughkeepsie'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 - Poughkeepsie highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Poughkeepsie, NY (this city): home $259,200, crime 2,280/100k
San Pablo, CA : home $516,000, crime 3,135/100k
Seguin, TX : home $227,000, crime 1,927/100k
Carlsbad, NM : home $187,900, crime 3,316/100k
Ithaca, NY : home $330,100, crime 3,412/100k
Rome, NY : home $137,200, crime 2,293/100k
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 Poughkeepsie compare to other US cities?
Poughkeepsie measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income35% higher than other cities
Home value58% pricier than other cities
Median rent78% pricier than other cities
Safety26% 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: Poughkeepsie ranks #32 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 Poughkeepsie 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 Poughkeepsie near the bottom of New York's cities
Among the 1,256 New York cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Poughkeepsie ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Poughkeepsie only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#929 of 1,205
23rd percentile in New York
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,256
0th percentile in New York
Median Home Value
#563 of 1,202
53rd percentile in New York
Poverty Rate
#163 of 1,246
87th percentile in New York
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#657 of 1,254
48th 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
35th percentile nationally for median household income · 26th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Poughkeepsie's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Poughkeepsie'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 Poughkeepsie's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$259,20042nd percentilemore affordable than 42% 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
Poughkeepsie's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,570 of 15,516
More affordable than 25% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,239 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 4.3×, Poughkeepsie sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,570 of 15,516 and #2,239 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$60,050Poughkeepsie, NY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Poughkeepsie, 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 Poughkeepsie, NY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)31.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)15.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
31,778
Median Income
$60,050
Median Home Value
$259,200
Median Age
37.9
Poverty Rate
15.8%
Labor force participation
58.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
31.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2279.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
643.8
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1636.2
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
50.5°F
Annual Precipitation
47.2"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
21
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Poughkeepsie's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
31,571 residents
2021
32,043 residents
2022
31,960 residents
2023
31,843 residents
2024
32,248 residents
2025
32,499 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
117
housing units authorized
Single-Family
3
detached homes
Multifamily
114
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
3.7
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
118
2
116
$16.4M
2020
171
2
169
$19.6M
2021
33
2
31
$4.5M
2022
19
1
18
$2.5M
2023
194
4
190
$58.2M
2024
117
3
114
$17.9M
Permit volume decreased 1% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
63.5%
Carpool
11.8%
Public Transit
6.4%
Walk
6.0%
Work from Home
8.3%
Other
4.0%
Based on 14,960 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 Poughkeepsie. 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 Poughkeepsie 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 Poughkeepsie sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Poughkeepsie 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.