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-RENSSELAER-NY · Rensselaer, NY 9,247 pop · income 44th 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 Rensselaer
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Rensselaer on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Middlesborough · lowest
34,349
Middlesborough · lowest
34,349 median HH income
18.9% of the leader · rank #1
Blaine · near
66,042
Blaine · near
66,042 median HH income
36.4% of the leader · rank #2
Beavertown · near
66,042
Beavertown · near
66,042 median HH income
36.4% of the leader · rank #3
Springdale · near
66,044
Springdale · near
66,044 median HH income
36.4% of the leader · rank #4
Rensselaer · this city
66,046
Rensselaer · this city
66,046 median HH income
36.4% of the leader · rank #5
Glencoe · near
66,050
Glencoe · near
66,050 median HH income
36.4% of the leader · rank #6
Woodbury · highest
181,667
Woodbury · highest
181,667 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 Rensselaer 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: 9,247.
Rensselaer ranks in the 44th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
44th
percentile, household income
44th
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: Rensselaer, NY
New York's Rensselaer is a small town, with 9,247 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Rensselaer households earn a median of $66,046 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 13.0%. Home values in Rensselaer run a median of $202,600, and the median resident age is 38.9 years. 26.5% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 63.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 15 residential building permits were authorized in Rensselaer (Slowing), down 12% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data.
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). 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. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 69.4 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Rensselaer'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 schools and households to population change to housing and income to work and mobility to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Rensselaer, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, matched public-school count, annual population history, 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
What does the education layer cover for Rensselaer?
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 26.5% 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.
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.
Is Rensselaer 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 +213 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 15 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 Rensselaer?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 13.0%, 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Rensselaer?
Within New York, the closest population matches are Woodbury (9,270 residents, $181,667 income); Bohemia (9,306 residents, $120,094 income); Mahopac (9,171 residents, $114,867 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Sandpoint, ID (9,244 residents); Bethalto, IL (9,244 residents); Pine Lake Park, NJ (9,251 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.
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 Rensselaer?
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 65.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
5.5%
Work from home
12.4%
Drive alone
65.8%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 4,811 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 13.0% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
107.9 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, New York average
F
City profile score · Rensselaer, NY
33/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share C-
26.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income D
$66,046
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
13.0%
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 N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Rensselaer profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 52/100 (C-) · 26.5%
Household income: 43/100 (D) · $66,046
Poverty rate: 28/100 (F) · 13.0%
Cost of living: 12/100 (F) · 107.9 index
How does Rensselaer compare to other US cities?
Here's how Rensselaer stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income44% higher than other cities
Home value44% 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 Rensselaer 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 Rensselaer near the bottom of New York's cities
Among the 1,256 New York cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Rensselaer ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Rensselaer only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#830 of 1,205
31st percentile in New York
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,256
0th percentile in New York
Median Home Value
#666 of 1,202
45th percentile in New York
Poverty Rate
#228 of 1,246
82nd percentile in New York
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#791 of 1,254
37th 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
44th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Rensselaer's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$202,600Among the most affordablemore affordable than 56% 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
Rensselaer's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,045 of 15,516
More affordable than 55% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#5,900 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.1×, Rensselaer sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,045 of 15,516 and #5,900 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$66,046Rensselaer, NY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Rensselaer, 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 Rensselaer, NY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)26.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)13.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)63.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
9,247
Median Income
$66,046
Median Home Value
$202,600
Median Age
38.9
Poverty Rate
13.0%
Labor force participation
63.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
26.5%
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
Rensselaer's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
9,208 residents
2021
9,239 residents
2022
9,219 residents
2023
9,317 residents
2024
9,408 residents
2025
9,421 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Slowing
Total Permits (2024)
15
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
15
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
17
2
15
$1.6M
2020
34
5
29
$2.3M
2021
44
6
38
$2.9M
2022
61
6
55
$3.7M
2023
53
3
50
$2.9M
2024
15
0
15
$0.7M
Permit volume decreased 12% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
65.8%
Carpool
12.3%
Public Transit
5.5%
Walk
2.8%
Work from Home
12.4%
Other
1.2%
Based on 4,811 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 Rensselaer. 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 Rensselaer 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 Rensselaer sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Rensselaer 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.