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
SheetOR-COLUMBIA-CITY-OR · Columbia City, OR 1,806 pop · income 78th 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 Columbia City
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Columbia City on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Quartzsite · lowest
24,359
Quartzsite · lowest
24,359 median HH income
24.1% of the leader · rank #1
White Horse · near
100,896
White Horse · near
100,896 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #2
North Rock Sp… · near
100,896
North Rock Sp… · near
100,896 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #3
Columbia City · this city
100,912
Columbia City · this city
100,912 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #4
Harrison · near
100,913
Harrison · near
100,913 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #5
Washougal · near
100,916
Washougal · near
100,916 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
Garwood · highest
100,948
Garwood · highest
100,948 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 Columbia City 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: 1,806.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Columbia City - the verdict
Columbia City ranks in the 78th percentile for household income and the 94th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
78th
percentile, household income
81st
percentile, home value
66th
percentile, median rent
94th
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: Columbia City, OR
Oregon's Columbia City is a small town, with 1,806 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Median household income here is $100,912 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 6.8%. Columbia City's housing stock carries a median value of $441,700, and the median resident age is 49.9 years. About 20.8% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 55.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 0 residential building permits were authorized in Columbia City (No Permits), down 100% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Columbia City reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 257.6 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Oregon carries a cost-of-living premium: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Oregon scores 103.4 (Above Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,425 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $185 across Oregon, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Columbia City'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 comparison shortlist to housing and income to work and mobility to population change to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Columbia City, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, annual population history, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, 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.
1. Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Columbia City?
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 257.6 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 89% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Which cities make useful reference points for Columbia City?
Within Oregon, the closest population matches are Lakeside (1,839 residents, $57,829 income); Keno (1,853 residents, $71,643 income); Rainier (1,859 residents, $62,847 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Huntsville, MO (1,806 residents); Shortsville, NY (1,806 residents); Hico, TX (1,806 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Columbia City?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 6.8%, 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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
What does the journey to work look like in Columbia City?
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 75.8%. 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.
Population change
Is Columbia City growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -9 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 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
-0.5%
2025 estimate
1,946
2020 estimate
1,955
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the education layer cover for Columbia City?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 20.8% 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 matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
Matched public schools
1
Bachelor's degree+
20.8%
Poverty estimate
6.8%
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.
Violent crime A+
0 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income B+
$100,912
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate C-
6.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
20.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
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.
Columbia City profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 97/100 (A+) · 0 /100k
Household income: 77/100 (B+) · $100,912
Poverty rate: 54/100 (C-) · 6.8%
Bachelor's+ share: 37/100 (F) · 20.8%
Cost of living: 25/100 (F) · 103.4 index
Where Columbia City sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Columbia City'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 - Columbia City highlighted among 25 peers.Read the chart values
Columbia City, OR (this city): home $441,700, crime 258/100k
Hico, TX : home $122,600, crime 266/100k
Sardis City, AL : home $207,300, crime 1,631/100k
Quartzsite, AZ : home $72,800, crime 3,065/100k
Rainier, OR : home $310,200, crime 2,277/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Columbia City compare to other US cities?
Columbia City measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income78% higher than other cities
Home value81% pricier than other cities
Median rent66% pricier than other cities
Safety94% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Oregon, Columbia City ranks #1 of 85 Oregon cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Columbia City 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 Columbia City near the bottom of Oregon's cities
Among the 395 Oregon cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Columbia City ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Columbia City only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#56 of 364
85th percentile in Oregon
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 395
0th percentile in Oregon
Median Home Value
#98 of 366
73rd percentile in Oregon
Poverty Rate
#192 of 395
51st percentile in Oregon
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#214 of 395
46th 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.
Gauge source note
78th percentile nationally for median household income · 94th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Columbia City's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Columbia City'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 Columbia City's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$441,70019th percentilemore affordable than 19% 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
Columbia City's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,712 of 15,516
More affordable than 25% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,008 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.4×, Columbia City sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,712 of 15,516 and #9,008 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
$100,912Columbia City, OR median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Columbia City, OR median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Columbia City, OR.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)20.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)55.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,806
Median Income
$100,912
Median Home Value
$441,700
Median Age
49.9
Poverty Rate
6.8%
Labor force participation
55.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
20.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
257.6
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
257.6
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
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Columbia City's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,955 residents
2021
1,963 residents
2022
1,950 residents
2023
1,948 residents
2024
1,948 residents
2025
1,946 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
1
1
0
$0.3M
2020
2
2
0
$0.5M
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
1
1
0
$0.2M
2024
0
0
0
-
Permit volume decreased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
75.8%
Carpool
14.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.9%
Work from Home
9.2%
Based on 815 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 Columbia City. 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 Columbia City 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 Columbia City sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Columbia City 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, 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.