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Place dossier plate
SheetOR-DUNES-CITY-OR · Dunes City, OR 1,358 pop · income 51st 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 Dunes City
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Dunes City on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Mount Ida · lowest
43,114
Mount Ida · lowest
43,114 median HH income
28.3% of the leader · rank #1
Long Beach · near
71,121
Long Beach · near
71,121 median HH income
46.6% of the leader · rank #2
Delavan · near
71,121
Delavan · near
71,121 median HH income
46.6% of the leader · rank #3
Dunes City · this city
71,125
Dunes City · this city
71,125 median HH income
46.6% of the leader · rank #4
Kachemak · near
71,125
Kachemak · near
71,125 median HH income
46.6% of the leader · rank #5
Earlville · near
71,125
Earlville · near
71,125 median HH income
46.6% of the leader · rank #6
Chester · highest
152,578
Chester · highest
152,578 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 Dunes City 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: 1,358.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Dunes City places in the 51st percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
51st
percentile, household income
86th
percentile, home value
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: Dunes City, OR
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 1,358 residents in Dunes City, a small town within Oregon. Median household income here is $71,125 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 3.9%. Typical homes in Dunes City are valued around $514,900, and the median resident age is 65.1 years. Educational attainment runs 29.5% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 34.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 4 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 43% from five years earlier.
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. 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. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 63.4 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Dunes 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 comparison shortlist to housing and income 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 Dunes City, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Dunes City?
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 Merlin (1,355 residents, $66,342 income); Cannon Beach (1,368 residents, $70,815 income); Lyons (1,322 residents, $87,500 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Mount Ida, AR (1,358 residents); Pine Knot, KY (1,358 residents); Alamance, NC (1,358 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Dunes City?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 7.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 3.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Is Dunes City growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -28 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.0% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 4 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
What does the journey to work look like in Dunes City?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 74.7%. 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.
Above median income · poverty 3.9% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
103.4 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Oregon average
C-
City profile score · Dunes City, OR
51/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
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 B
3.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C
29.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income C-
$71,125
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); 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.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Dunes City profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 72/100 (B) · 3.9%
Bachelor's+ share: 57/100 (C) · 29.5%
Household income: 51/100 (C-) · $71,125
Cost of living: 25/100 (F) · 103.4 index
How does Dunes City compare to other US cities?
Where Dunes City sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income51% higher than other cities
Home value86% pricier than other cities
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 Dunes 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 Dunes City near the bottom of Oregon's cities
Among the 395 Oregon cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Dunes City ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Dunes City only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#183 of 364
50th percentile in Oregon
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 395
0th percentile in Oregon
Median Home Value
#66 of 366
82nd percentile in Oregon
Poverty Rate
#259 of 395
34th percentile in Oregon
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#120 of 395
69th 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
51st percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Dunes City's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$514,90014th percentilemore affordable than 14% 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
Dunes City's home-value-to-income ratio: 7.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,785 of 15,516
More affordable than 5% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,863 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 7.2×, Dunes City sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,785 of 15,516 and #10,863 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
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
$71,125Dunes City, OR median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Dunes 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 Dunes City, OR.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)29.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)3.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)34.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,358
Median Income
$71,125
Median Home Value
$514,900
Median Age
65.1
Poverty Rate
3.9%
Labor force participation
34.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
29.5%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Dunes City's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,428 residents
2021
1,426 residents
2022
1,414 residents
2023
1,410 residents
2024
1,410 residents
2025
1,400 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
4
housing units authorized
Single-Family
4
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2.9
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
7
7
0
$1.5M
2020
4
4
0
$1.5M
2021
8
8
0
$2.2M
2022
8
8
0
$3.1M
2023
8
8
0
$3.7M
2024
4
4
0
$1.7M
Permit volume decreased 43% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
74.7%
Carpool
6.4%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.1%
Work from Home
16.9%
Other
0.9%
Based on 438 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 Dunes 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 Dunes 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 Dunes City sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Dunes 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, 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.