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-ZENA-NY · Zena, NY 972 pop · income 83rd pct
Nearest income peer: Seabrook, TX (+ $10 income $)
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 Zena
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Zena on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Manns Harbor · lowest
27,087
Manns Harbor · lowest
27,087 median HH income
24.7% of the leader · rank #1
Holualoa · near
109,444
Holualoa · near
109,444 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #2
Libertytown · near
109,453
Libertytown · near
109,453 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #3
Zena · this city
109,479
Zena · this city
109,479 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #4
Seabrook · near
109,489
Seabrook · near
109,489 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #5
Rancho Cucamo… · near
109,511
Rancho Cucamo… · near
109,511 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
Oak Point · highest
109,528
Oak Point · highest
109,528 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 Zena 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: 972.
Zena ranks in the 83rd percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
83rd
percentile, household income
80th
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: Zena, NY
Zena is a small town in New York, home to 972 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $109,479 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 8.4%. Typical homes in Zena are valued around $427,400, and the median resident age is 58.3 years. 64.6% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 63.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. 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 Zena'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 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 Zena, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Zena?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.4%, 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.
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 71.9%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for Zena?
Within New York, the closest population matches are Naples (971 residents, $52,750 income); Andover (968 residents, $69,375 income); Otego (965 residents, $76,908 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Valley Springs, CA (972 residents); Frederica, DE (972 residents); Manns Harbor, NC (972 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.
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 A+
64.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income A-
$109,479
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate D
8.4%
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).
Zena profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 94/100 (A+) · 64.6%
Household income: 81/100 (A-) · $109,479
Poverty rate: 46/100 (D) · 8.4%
Cost of living: 12/100 (F) · 107.9 index
How does Zena compare to other US cities?
Zena measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income83% higher than other cities
Home value80% 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 Zena 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 Zena near the bottom of New York's cities
Among the 1,256 New York cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Zena ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Zena only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#370 of 1,205
69th percentile in New York
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,256
0th percentile in New York
Median Home Value
#372 of 1,202
69th percentile in New York
Poverty Rate
#378 of 1,246
69th percentile in New York
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#149 of 1,254
88th 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
83rd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Zena's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$427,40020th percentilemore affordable than 20% 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
Zena's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,406 of 15,516
More affordable than 33% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,173 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.9×, Zena sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,406 of 15,516 and #8,173 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
$109,479Zena, NY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Zena, 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 Zena, NY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)64.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)63.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
972
Median Income
$109,479
Median Home Value
$427,400
Median Age
58.3
Poverty Rate
8.4%
Labor force participation
63.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
64.6%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
71.9%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
5.8%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
17.8%
Other
4.5%
Based on 533 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 Zena. 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 Zena 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 Zena sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Zena 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.