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Place dossier plate
SheetOH-INDEPENDENCE-OH · Independence, OH 7,543 pop · income 85th 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 Independence
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Independence on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Kenton · lowest
47,667
Kenton · lowest
47,667 median HH income
22.1% of the leader · rank #1
Independence · this city
114,049
Independence · this city
114,049 median HH income
52.8% of the leader · rank #2
Norton Center · near
114,051
Norton Center · near
114,051 median HH income
52.8% of the leader · rank #3
Hugo · near
114,057
Hugo · near
114,057 median HH income
52.9% of the leader · rank #4
Hopatcong · near
114,057
Hopatcong · near
114,057 median HH income
52.9% of the leader · rank #5
Mesa Vista · near
114,063
Mesa Vista · near
114,063 median HH income
52.9% of the leader · rank #6
Inverness · highest
215,810
Inverness · highest
215,810 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 Independence 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: 7,543.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Independence - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Independence places in the 85th percentile for household income and the 50th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
85th
percentile, household income
66th
percentile, home value
22nd
percentile, median rent
50th
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: Independence, OH
Ohio's Independence is a small town, with 7,543 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Independence households earn a median of $114,049 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 1.2%. Independence's housing stock carries a median value of $305,500, and the median resident age is 48.7 years. About 51.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 62.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 1 residential building permits were authorized in Independence (Construction Slowdown), down 96% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Independence reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 1358.2 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,092 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Ohio's average monthly utility costs around $228 (state average). On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 55.0 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Independence'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 reported crime to housing and income to comparison shortlist to schools and households to population change to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Independence, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, annual population history, local building permits, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Independence?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1358.2 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 40% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
How far does income reach against housing in Independence?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 1.2%, 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 Independence?
Within Ohio, the closest population matches are Northridge (7,546 residents, $77,130 income); Uniontown (7,571 residents, $97,976 income); Hubbard (7,600 residents, $62,468 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Gresham Park, GA (7,544 residents); Hughson, CA (7,541 residents); Inverness, IL (7,541 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 nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
What does the education layer cover for Independence?
The NCES join finds 5 public schools within the city match. 51.3% 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.
Population change
Is Independence 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 -128 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 1 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
-1.7%
2025 estimate
7,456
2020 estimate
7,584
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the journey to work look like in Independence?
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 73.6%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
17.1%
Drive alone
73.6%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 3,891 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+
1.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share A
51.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income A-
$114,049
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); 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.
Violent crime C
160 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Independence profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 91/100 (A+) · 1.2%
Bachelor's+ share: 85/100 (A) · 51.3%
Household income: 83/100 (A-) · $114,049
Cost of living: 75/100 (B+) · 92.8 index
Violent crime: 56/100 (C) · 160 /100k
Where Independence sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Independence'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 - Independence highlighted among 9 peers.Read the chart values
Independence, OH (this city): home $305,500, crime 1,358/100k
Hughson, CA : home $480,100, crime 581/100k
Inverness, IL : home $704,100, crime 416/100k
Mount Sterling, KY : home $178,200, crime 1,413/100k
Monahans, TX : home $159,000, crime 1,751/100k
Uniontown, OH : home $241,900, crime 1,525/100k
Hubbard, OH : home $123,600, crime 1,483/100k
Kenton, OH : home $98,100, crime 1,679/100k
Canfield, OH : home $225,100, crime 395/100k
How does Independence compare to other US cities?
Here's how Independence stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income85% higher than other cities
Home value66% pricier than other cities
Median rent22% pricier than other cities
Safety50% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Ohio and the picture shifts: Independence ranks #162 of 281 Ohio cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Independence 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 Independence near the bottom of Ohio's cities
Among the 1,196 Ohio cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Independence ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Independence only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#98 of 1,145
91st percentile in Ohio
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,196
0th percentile in Ohio
Median Home Value
#111 of 1,164
90th percentile in Ohio
Poverty Rate
#998 of 1,196
16th percentile in Ohio
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#104 of 1,196
91st 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
85th percentile nationally for median household income · 50th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Independence's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Independence'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 Independence's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$305,50034th percentilemore affordable than 34% 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
Independence's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,913 of 15,516
More affordable than 68% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,324 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.7×, Independence sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,913 of 15,516 and #4,324 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
$114,049Independence, OH median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Independence, 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 Independence, OH.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)51.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)1.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)62.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
7,543
Median Income
$114,049
Median Home Value
$305,500
Median Age
48.7
Poverty Rate
1.2%
Labor force participation
62.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
51.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1358.2
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
159.8
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1198.4
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.
Schools
Total Schools
5
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Independence's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
7,584 residents
2021
7,544 residents
2022
7,527 residents
2023
7,494 residents
2024
7,478 residents
2025
7,456 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
1
housing units authorized
Single-Family
1
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
27
27
0
$10.2M
2020
16
16
0
$8.1M
2021
25
25
0
$8.9M
2022
2
2
0
$0.8M
2023
2
2
0
$1.1M
2024
1
1
0
$0.6M
Permit volume decreased 96% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
73.6%
Carpool
8.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
17.1%
Other
1.2%
Based on 3,891 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 Independence. 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 Independence 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 Independence sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Independence 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, FBI UCR, 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.