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.
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.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Barlow 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: 187.
187 people call Barlow, Oregon home. Source: Census ACS.
66th
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: Barlow, OR
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 187 residents in Barlow, a small town within Oregon. The median resident age is 53.7 years. About 9.6% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 83.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Oregon carries a cost-of-living premium: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Oregon at 103.4 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Above Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,425 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Oregon run around $185, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 63.4 out of 100 (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Barlow'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 work and mobility to population change to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Barlow, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Barlow?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 61.5%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +1 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.8% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
Which cities make useful reference points for Barlow?
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.
Within Oregon, the closest population matches are Idanha (188 residents); Idaville (188 residents); Cape Meares (189 residents, $90,338 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Friendship, AR (187 residents); Douglas Flat, CA (187 residents); Fiddletown, CA (187 residents). These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
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.
Cost of living F
103.4 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Bachelor's+ share F
9.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income N/A
N/A
No ACS median household income on file for this place.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Barlow profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Cost of living: 25/100 (F) · 103.4 index
Bachelor's+ share: 5/100 (F) · 9.6%
How does Barlow compare to other US cities?
Where Barlow sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Median rent66% 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 Barlow against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Oregon only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Oregon-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Barlow near the bottom of Oregon's cities
Among the 395 Oregon cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Barlow ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Barlow only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 395
0th percentile in Oregon
Poverty Rate
#322 of 395
0th percentile in Oregon
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#344 of 395
12th percentile in Oregon
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 Oregon only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Income distribution context
Median household income is not available for Barlow in the current Census ACS release (common for very small places).
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)9.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)83.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
187
Median Income
N/A
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
53.7
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
83.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
9.6%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Barlow's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
133 residents
2021
132 residents
2022
133 residents
2023
132 residents
2024
131 residents
2025
134 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
61.5%
Carpool
2.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.7%
Work from Home
34.3%
Other
1.4%
Based on 143 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Oregon statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $185
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Oregon at $185 (electricity about $85 , water and sewer about $50 ).
These are Oregon statewide averages, not a meter reading for Barlow. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Oregon's BEA cost-of-living index is 103.4 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Barlow is $1,425/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Oregon statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 63.4 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Oregon statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Barlow sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Barlow compares to similar-size Oregon 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.