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Place dossier plate
SheetPA-MONTROSE-PA · Montrose, PA 1,427 pop · income 30th pct · 12 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 Montrose
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Montrose on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Canyon Day · lowest
36,563
Canyon Day · lowest
36,563 median HH income
27.6% of the leader · rank #1
Sanborn · near
56,477
Sanborn · near
56,477 median HH income
42.7% of the leader · rank #2
Montrose · this city
56,484
Montrose · this city
56,484 median HH income
42.7% of the leader · rank #3
Manassa · near
56,484
Manassa · near
56,484 median HH income
42.7% of the leader · rank #4
Berea · near
56,484
Berea · near
56,484 median HH income
42.7% of the leader · rank #5
Baconton · near
56,488
Baconton · near
56,488 median HH income
42.7% of the leader · rank #6
Woxall · highest
132,361
Woxall · highest
132,361 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 Montrose 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: 1,427.
Nationally, Montrose sits in the 30th percentile for household income and the 99th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
30th
percentile, household income
30th
percentile, home value
54th
percentile, median rent
99th
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: Montrose, PA
Montrose is a small town in Pennsylvania, home to 1,427 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Montrose brings in $56,484 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 14.8%. Montrose's housing stock carries a median value of $160,000, and the median resident age is 42.9 years. 21.6% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 55.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 4 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 300% from five years earlier. Montrose reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 0.0 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 45.2°F with 46.7 inches of precipitation per year and 82.7 inches of snowfall.
Pennsylvania tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Pennsylvania scores 97.6 (Near Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,225 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Pennsylvania's average monthly utility costs around $260 (state average). Natural-hazard exposure scores 67.4 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Montrose'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 climate and hazard context to reported crime to comparison shortlist to population change to housing and income to work and mobility to within-city variation; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Montrose, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, local building permits.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Montrose?
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.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 21.6% 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 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.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 45.2°F, with 46.7 inches of precipitation and 82.7 inches of annual snowfall. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Montrose?
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 Pennsylvania, the closest population matches are Hometown (1,426 residents, $88,333 income); Fairchance (1,429 residents, $38,427 income); Westwood CDP (Chester County) (1,432 residents, $79,953 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are East Dubuque, IL (1,427 residents); Kingsley, IA (1,427 residents); Galena, OH (1,427 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.
PlainCities matches 12 Census tracts to this city.
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.
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 Montrose?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 0.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 100% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
Total reported rate
0.0
Violent rate
0.0
Property rate
0.0
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Is Montrose growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -17 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.3% 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.
2020 estimate
1,292
2025 estimate
1,275
Period change
-1.3%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
How far does income reach against housing in Montrose?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 14.8%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.8×
Home value
$160,000
Household income
$56,484
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the journey to work look like in Montrose?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 73.2%. 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. 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.
Drive alone
73.2%
Work from home
12.2%
Public transit
0.3%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 638 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 14.8% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.6 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Pennsylvania average
D
City profile score · Montrose, PA
47/100
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.
Violent crime A+
0 /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.
Bachelor's+ share F
21.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$56,484
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
14.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Montrose profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 97/100 (A+) · 0 /100k
Cost of living: 50/100 (C-) · 97.6 index
Bachelor's+ share: 39/100 (F) · 21.6%
Household income: 29/100 (F) · $56,484
Poverty rate: 23/100 (F) · 14.8%
How does Montrose compare to other US cities?
Montrose measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income30% higher than other cities
Home value30% pricier than other cities
Median rent54% pricier than other cities
Safety99% 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 Pennsylvania alone, Montrose ranks #11 of 402 Pennsylvania 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 Montrose 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 Montrose near the bottom of Pennsylvania's cities
Among the 1,865 Pennsylvania cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Montrose ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Montrose only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,237 of 1,765
30th percentile in Pennsylvania
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,865
0th percentile in Pennsylvania
Median Home Value
#971 of 1,790
46th percentile in Pennsylvania
Poverty Rate
#331 of 1,856
82nd percentile in Pennsylvania
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#928 of 1,861
50th 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
30th percentile nationally for median household income · 99th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Montrose's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Montrose'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 Montrose's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$160,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 70% 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
Montrose's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,758 of 15,516
More affordable than 63% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,980 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.8×, Montrose sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,758 of 15,516 and #4,980 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$56,484Montrose, PA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Montrose, 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 Montrose, PA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)21.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)14.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)55.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,427
Median Income
$56,484
Median Home Value
$160,000
Median Age
42.9
Poverty Rate
14.8%
Labor force participation
55.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
21.6%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
0.0
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
45.2°F
Annual Precipitation
46.7"
Annual Snowfall
82.7"
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
Montrose's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,292 residents
2021
1,293 residents
2022
1,279 residents
2023
1,277 residents
2024
1,272 residents
2025
1,275 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
4
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
4
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2.8
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
1
1
0
$0.1M
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
1
1
0
$0.3M
2022
1
1
0
$0.3M
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
4
0
4
$0.5M
Permit volume increased 300% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
73.2%
Carpool
3.3%
Public Transit
0.3%
Walk
10.5%
Work from Home
12.2%
Based on 638 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 Montrose. 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 Montrose 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 Montrose sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Montrose 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.