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Place dossier plate
SheetOH-BLUFFTON-OH · Bluffton, OH 3,799 pop · income 59th 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 Bluffton
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Bluffton on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Nelsonville · lowest
42,281
Nelsonville · lowest
42,281 median HH income
16.9% of the leader · rank #1
Flushing · near
77,372
Flushing · near
77,372 median HH income
30.9% of the leader · rank #2
Canajoharie · near
77,375
Canajoharie · near
77,375 median HH income
30.9% of the leader · rank #3
Bluffton · this city
77,382
Bluffton · this city
77,382 median HH income
31.0% of the leader · rank #4
Marquette Hei… · near
77,386
Marquette Hei… · near
77,386 median HH income
31.0% of the leader · rank #5
Hopewell Junc… · near
77,391
Hopewell Junc… · near
77,391 median HH income
31.0% of the leader · rank #6
Bunker Hill · highest
250,001
Bunker 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 Bluffton 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: 3,799.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Bluffton places in the 59th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
59th
percentile, household income
40th
percentile, home value
22nd
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: Bluffton, OH
Bluffton is a small town in Ohio, home to 3,799 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Bluffton report a median income of $77,382 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 1.5%. Home values in Bluffton run a median of $192,500, and the median resident age is 35.4 years. About 41.9% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 56.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 8 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 100% from five years earlier.
Living costs in Ohio run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Ohio scores 92.8 (Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,092 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Ohio run around $228, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Commute times here average 15.4 minutes, with 69.9% driving alone and 11.5% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. Natural-hazard exposure scores 55.0 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Bluffton'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 housing and income to comparison shortlist to schools and households to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Bluffton, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, local building permits, commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Population change
Is Bluffton growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -87 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 8 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 Bluffton?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 1.5%, 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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
Which cities make useful reference points for Bluffton?
Within Ohio, the closest population matches are Nelsonville (3,816 residents, $42,281 income); Golf Manor (3,771 residents, $44,598 income); New Lebanon (3,768 residents, $64,286 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Boonsboro, MD (3,799 residents); Williamston, MI (3,800 residents); Montgomery, NY (3,800 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.
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 41.9% 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.
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 Bluffton?
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 69.9%. The reported mean trip to work is 15.4 minutes.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
11.5%
Drive alone
69.9%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,644 workers age 16+.
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
1.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share B+
41.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Cost of living B+
92.8 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 C
$77,382
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).
Bluffton profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 89/100 (A) · 1.5%
Bachelor's+ share: 77/100 (B+) · 41.9%
Cost of living: 75/100 (B+) · 92.8 index
Household income: 57/100 (C) · $77,382
How does Bluffton compare to other US cities?
Where Bluffton sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income59% higher than other cities
Home value40% pricier than other cities
Median rent22% 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 Bluffton against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Ohio only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Ohio-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Bluffton near the bottom of Ohio's cities
Among the 1,196 Ohio cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Bluffton ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Bluffton only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#336 of 1,145
71st percentile in Ohio
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,196
0th percentile in Ohio
Median Home Value
#333 of 1,164
71st percentile in Ohio
Poverty Rate
#976 of 1,196
18th percentile in Ohio
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#155 of 1,196
87th percentile in Ohio
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 Ohio only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
59th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Bluffton's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$192,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 60% 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
Bluffton's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,937 of 15,516
More affordable than 75% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,551 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.5×, Bluffton sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,937 of 15,516 and #3,551 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
$77,382Bluffton, OH median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Bluffton, OH median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Bluffton, OH.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)41.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)1.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)56.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,799
Median Income
$77,382
Median Home Value
$192,500
Median Age
35.4
Poverty Rate
1.5%
Labor force participation
56.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
41.9%
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
Bluffton's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,962 residents
2021
3,920 residents
2022
3,910 residents
2023
3,898 residents
2024
3,892 residents
2025
3,875 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
8
housing units authorized
Single-Family
4
detached homes
Multifamily
4
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
4
4
0
$1.2M
2020
7
7
0
$2.6M
2021
5
5
0
$1.4M
2022
4
4
0
$1.6M
2023
9
5
4
$2.1M
2024
8
4
4
$2.0M
Permit volume increased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
15.4 minutes
Drive Alone
69.9%
Carpool
8.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
9.9%
Work from Home
11.5%
Based on 1,644 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Ohio statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $228
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Ohio at $228 (electricity about $105 , water and sewer about $45 ).
These are Ohio statewide averages, not a meter reading for Bluffton. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Ohio's BEA cost-of-living index is 92.8 (Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Bluffton is $1,092/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Ohio statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 55.0 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Ohio statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Bluffton sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Bluffton compares to similar-size Ohio 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.