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Place dossier plate
SheetOH-MASON-OH · Mason, OH 35,148 pop · income 88th 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 Mason
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Mason on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Lima · lowest
43,370
Lima · lowest
43,370 median HH income
27.5% of the leader · rank #1
Dedham · near
124,375
Dedham · near
124,375 median HH income
78.8% of the leader · rank #2
Mason · this city
124,407
Mason · this city
124,407 median HH income
78.9% of the leader · rank #3
Roswell · near
124,422
Roswell · near
124,422 median HH income
78.9% of the leader · rank #4
Ranchettes · near
124,426
Ranchettes · near
124,426 median HH income
78.9% of the leader · rank #5
Elkhorn · near
124,464
Elkhorn · near
124,464 median HH income
78.9% of the leader · rank #6
Wildwood · highest
157,750
Wildwood · highest
157,750 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 Mason 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: 35,148.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Mason - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Mason lands in the 88th percentile for household income and the 83rd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
88th
percentile, household income
77th
percentile, home value
22nd
percentile, median rent
83rd
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: Mason, OH
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 35,148 residents in Mason, a small city within Ohio. The typical household in Mason brings in $124,407 a year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 3.4%. Typical homes in Mason are valued around $397,900, and the median resident age is 42.2 years. Educational attainment runs 61.6% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 67.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 16 residential building permits were authorized in Mason (Construction Slowdown), down 86% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Mason reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 565.1 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Living costs in Ohio run below the national norm: the state registers 92.8 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. 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). 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 Mason'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 population change to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to reported crime to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Mason, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, local building permits, commute-mode shares.
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.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Mason?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 3.4%, 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.
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 +952 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 16 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Which cities make useful reference points for Mason?
Within Ohio, the closest population matches are Brunswick (35,284 residents, $85,313 income); Lima (35,304 residents, $43,370 income); Gahanna (35,438 residents, $106,004 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Fair Lawn, NJ (35,153 residents); Redmond, OR (35,161 residents); Chillum, MD (35,163 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.
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 72.5%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Mason?
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 565.1 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 75% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
528.9
Violent rate
36.2
Total reported rate
565.1
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
The NCES join finds 4 public schools within the city match. 61.6% 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.
Matched public schools
4
Bachelor's degree+
61.6%
Poverty estimate
3.4%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
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+
61.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income A
$124,407
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime A
36 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate B+
3.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
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.
Mason profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 93/100 (A+) · 61.6%
Household income: 88/100 (A) · $124,407
Violent crime: 87/100 (A) · 36 /100k
Poverty rate: 76/100 (B+) · 3.4%
Cost of living: 75/100 (B+) · 92.8 index
Where Mason sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Mason'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 - Mason highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Mason, OH (this city): home $397,900, crime 565/100k
Fair Lawn, NJ : home $532,700, crime 981/100k
Redmond, OR : home $435,000, crime 2,563/100k
West Hollywood, CA : home $969,900, crime 6,375/100k
Brunswick, OH : home $233,300, crime 449/100k
Lima, OH : home $95,900, crime 4,127/100k
Gahanna, OH : home $322,300, crime 2,073/100k
Marion, OH : home $105,900, crime 1,767/100k
Fairborn, OH : home $169,600, crime 1,567/100k
Stow, OH : home $238,000, crime 1,870/100k
How does Mason compare to other US cities?
Where Mason sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income88% higher than other cities
Home value77% pricier than other cities
Median rent22% pricier than other cities
Safety83% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Ohio alone, Mason ranks #53 of 281 Ohio cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Mason 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 Mason near the bottom of Ohio's cities
Among the 1,196 Ohio cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Mason ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Mason only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#70 of 1,145
94th percentile in Ohio
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,196
0th percentile in Ohio
Median Home Value
#54 of 1,164
95th percentile in Ohio
Poverty Rate
#826 of 1,196
31st percentile in Ohio
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#63 of 1,196
95th 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
88th percentile nationally for median household income · 83rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Mason's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Mason'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 Mason's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$397,90023rd percentilemore affordable than 23% 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
Mason's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,693 of 15,516
More affordable than 50% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,172 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.2×, Mason sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,693 of 15,516 and #1,172 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$124,407Mason, OH median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Mason, 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 Mason, OH.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)61.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)3.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)67.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
35,148
Median Income
$124,407
Median Home Value
$397,900
Median Age
42.2
Poverty Rate
3.4%
Labor force participation
67.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
61.6%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
565.1
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
36.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
528.9
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
4
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Mason's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
34,882 residents
2021
35,189 residents
2022
35,566 residents
2023
35,815 residents
2024
35,901 residents
2025
35,834 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
16
housing units authorized
Single-Family
9
detached homes
Multifamily
7
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
118
118
0
$43.8M
2020
128
128
0
$57.7M
2021
149
144
5
$72.4M
2022
34
34
0
$24.1M
2023
34
29
5
$23.1M
2024
16
9
7
$8.8M
Permit volume decreased 86% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
72.5%
Carpool
5.0%
Public Transit
0.4%
Walk
0.1%
Work from Home
21.4%
Other
0.6%
Based on 18,172 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 Mason. 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 Mason 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 Mason sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Mason 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.