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Place dossier plate
SheetNY-RIFTON-NY · Rifton, NY 462 pop · income 0th 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 Rifton
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Rifton on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Rifton · this city · lowest
2,499
Rifton · this city · lowest
2,499 median HH income
1.0% of the leader · rank #1
Belmont · near
2,499
Belmont · near
2,499 median HH income
1.0% of the leader · rank #2
St. Maurice · near
2,499
St. Maurice · near
2,499 median HH income
1.0% of the leader · rank #3
Cearfoss · near
2,499
Cearfoss · near
2,499 median HH income
1.0% of the leader · rank #4
Birch Creek C… · near
2,499
Birch Creek C… · near
2,499 median HH income
1.0% of the leader · rank #5
Mamanasco Lake · highest
243,750
Mamanasco Lake · highest
243,750 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
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 Rifton 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: 462.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Rifton lands in the 0th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
0th
percentile, household income
51st
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: Rifton, NY
New York's Rifton is a small town, with 462 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The Census ACS reports Rifton's median household income as under $2,500 (bottom-coded); the true median is below that floor and is not published exactly, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Home values in Rifton run a median of $232,500, and the median resident age is 58.7 years. 27.5% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 32.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,579 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $285 across New York, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Commute times here average 23.9 minutes, with 74.5% driving alone and 25.5% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. 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 Rifton'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 comparison shortlist to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Rifton, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Rifton?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 93.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, 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. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Rifton?
Within New York, the closest population matches are Elba (464 residents, $67,321 income); Milford (467 residents, $63,750 income); North Creek (457 residents, $54,856 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Black, AL (462 residents); Shishmaref, AK (462 residents); Jasper, AR (462 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Rifton?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 74.5%. The reported mean trip to work is 23.9 minutes.
Bottom-coded income · poverty 0.0% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
107.9 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, New York average
Note: Census ACS censors the tails of median household income ($250,000+ / under $2,500) and median home value ($2,000,000+ / under $10,000).
Rifton's income is shown as under $2,500, a bound, not an exact annual figure.
F
City profile score · Rifton, NY
38/100
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 A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C-
27.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; 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.
Household income F
under $2,500
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Rifton profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Bachelor's+ share: 54/100 (C-) · 27.5%
Cost of living: 12/100 (F) · 107.9 index
Household income: 0/100 (F) · under $2,500
How does Rifton compare to other US cities?
Rifton measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income0% higher than other cities
Home value51% 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 Rifton 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 Rifton near the bottom of New York's cities
Among the 1,256 New York cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Rifton ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Rifton only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,205 of 1,205
0th percentile in New York
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,256
0th percentile in New York
Median Home Value
#598 of 1,202
50th percentile in New York
Poverty Rate
#1,032 of 1,246
0th percentile in New York
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#756 of 1,254
40th 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
0th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Rifton's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$232,50049th percentilemore affordable than 49% 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
Rifton's home-value-to-income ratio: 93.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#15,517 of 15,516
More affordable than 0% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#11,324 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 93.0×, Rifton sits in the pressured band:
national rank #15,517 of 15,516 and #11,324 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
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
under $2,500Rifton, NY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Rifton, 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 Rifton, NY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)27.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)32.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
462
Median Income
under $2,500
Median Home Value
$232,500
Median Age
58.7
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
32.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
27.5%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
23.9 minutes
Drive Alone
74.5%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
25.5%
Based on 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 Rifton. 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 Rifton 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 Rifton sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Rifton 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, 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.