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Place dossier plate
SheetPA-CLARION-PA · Clarion, PA 4,202 pop · income 10th pct · 13 tracts
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 Clarion
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Clarion on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Superior · lowest
42,050
Superior · lowest
42,050 median HH income
33.6% of the leader · rank #1
Perrysville · near
42,054
Perrysville · near
42,054 median HH income
33.6% of the leader · rank #2
Waurika · near
42,054
Waurika · near
42,054 median HH income
33.6% of the leader · rank #3
Yarnell · near
42,057
Yarnell · near
42,057 median HH income
33.6% of the leader · rank #4
Clarion · this city
42,063
Clarion · this city
42,063 median HH income
33.6% of the leader · rank #5
Sebring · near
42,072
Sebring · near
42,072 median HH income
33.6% of the leader · rank #6
Jacksonwald · highest
125,143
Jacksonwald · highest
125,143 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 Clarion 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: 4,202.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Clarion - the verdict
Nationally, Clarion sits in the 10th percentile for household income and the 73rd percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
10th
percentile, household income
29th
percentile, home value
54th
percentile, median rent
73rd
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: Clarion, PA
Pennsylvania's Clarion is a small town, with 4,202 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Clarion brings in $42,063 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 7.7%. Typical homes in Clarion are valued around $155,300, and the median resident age is 23.9 years. 46.7% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 63.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 0 residential building permits were authorized in Clarion (No Permits), down 100% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Clarion reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 789.2 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 47.7°F with 46.9 inches of precipitation per year.
Pennsylvania tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: the state registers 97.6 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Near Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,225 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Pennsylvania run around $260, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 67.4 out of 100 (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Clarion'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 schools and households to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to reported crime to within-city variation to population change to climate and hazard context to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Clarion, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What does the education layer cover for Clarion?
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 46.7% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Clarion?
Within Pennsylvania, the closest population matches are Charleroi (4,203 residents, $43,487 income); Jacksonwald (4,201 residents, $125,143 income); Mount Pleasant (4,215 residents, $48,963 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Poplar Grove, IL (4,202 residents); Paxton, IL (4,201 residents); Cold Spring, MN (4,201 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 journey to work look like in Clarion?
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 66.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
PlainCities matches 13 Census tracts to this city.
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 Clarion?
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 789.2 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 65% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
676.4
Violent rate
112.7
Total reported rate
789.2
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
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 +112 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.9% 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
+2.9%
2025 estimate
4,037
2020 estimate
3,925
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 47.7°F, with 46.9 inches of precipitation. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Pennsylvania is 67.4 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
Mean temperature
47.7°F
Annual precipitation
46.9 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
67.4
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
How far does income reach against housing in Clarion?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 7.7%, 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.
Household income
$42,063
Home value
$155,300
Value / income
3.7×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 7.7% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.6 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Pennsylvania average
D
City profile score · Clarion, PA
48/100
5 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.
Bachelor's+ share A-
46.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime B-
113 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Cost of living C-
97.6 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Poverty rate D
7.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$42,063
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Clarion profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 81/100 (A-) · 46.7%
Violent crime: 68/100 (B-) · 113 /100k
Cost of living: 50/100 (C-) · 97.6 index
Poverty rate: 49/100 (D) · 7.7%
Household income: 10/100 (F) · $42,063
Where Clarion sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Clarion'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 - Clarion highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
Clarion, PA (this city): home $155,300, crime 789/100k
Paxton, IL : home $116,700, crime 788/100k
Le Sueur, MN : home $216,700, crime 260/100k
Mount Pleasant, PA : home $131,700, crime 24/100k
Kutztown, PA : home $227,500, crime 648/100k
Aldan, PA : home $227,900, crime 1,239/100k
Sharpsville, PA : home $117,200, crime 924/100k
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 Clarion compare to other US cities?
Here's how Clarion stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income10% higher than other cities
Home value29% pricier than other cities
Median rent54% pricier than other cities
Safety73% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Pennsylvania and the picture shifts: Clarion ranks #186 of 402 Pennsylvania cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Clarion against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Pennsylvania only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Pennsylvania-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Clarion near the bottom of Pennsylvania's cities
Among the 1,865 Pennsylvania cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Clarion ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Clarion only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,652 of 1,765
6th percentile in Pennsylvania
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,865
0th percentile in Pennsylvania
Median Home Value
#1,016 of 1,790
43rd percentile in Pennsylvania
Poverty Rate
#733 of 1,856
60th percentile in Pennsylvania
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#190 of 1,861
90th percentile in Pennsylvania
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 Pennsylvania only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
10th percentile nationally for median household income · 73rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Clarion's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Clarion'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 Clarion's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$155,300Among the most affordablemore affordable than 71% 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
Clarion's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,696 of 15,516
More affordable than 38% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,716 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.7×, Clarion sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,696 of 15,516 and #7,716 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
$42,063Clarion, PA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Clarion, PA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Clarion, PA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)46.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)7.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)63.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
4,202
Median Income
$42,063
Median Home Value
$155,300
Median Age
23.9
Poverty Rate
7.7%
Labor force participation
63.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
46.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
789.2
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
112.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
676.4
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
47.7°F
Annual Precipitation
46.9"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Clarion's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,925 residents
2021
4,425 residents
2022
4,320 residents
2023
4,152 residents
2024
4,045 residents
2025
4,037 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
$0.8M
2020
1
1
0
$0.9M
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
2
2
0
$0.5M
2023
1
1
0
$0.4M
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
66.8%
Carpool
5.9%
Public Transit
1.5%
Walk
17.2%
Work from Home
8.4%
Based on 2,064 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Pennsylvania statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $260
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Pennsylvania at $260 (electricity about $120 , water and sewer about $52 ).
These are Pennsylvania statewide averages, not a meter reading for Clarion. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Pennsylvania's BEA cost-of-living index is 97.6 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Clarion is $1,225/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Pennsylvania statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 67.4 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Pennsylvania statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Clarion sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Clarion compares to similar-size Pennsylvania 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.