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Place dossier plate
SheetPA-SLIPPERY-ROCK-PA · Slippery Rock, PA 3,434 pop · income 28th 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 Slippery Rock
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Slippery Rock on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Rochester · lowest
40,710
Rochester · lowest
40,710 median HH income
20.7% of the leader · rank #1
Wilmington · near
55,269
Wilmington · near
55,269 median HH income
28.1% of the leader · rank #2
Ponca City · near
55,270
Ponca City · near
55,270 median HH income
28.1% of the leader · rank #3
California Ci… · near
55,271
California Ci… · near
55,271 median HH income
28.1% of the leader · rank #4
Slippery Rock · this city
55,272
Slippery Rock · this city
55,272 median HH income
28.1% of the leader · rank #5
Burlington · near
55,274
Burlington · near
55,274 median HH income
28.1% of the leader · rank #6
Tashua · highest
197,000
Tashua · highest
197,000 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 Slippery Rock 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: 3,434.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Slippery Rock - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Slippery Rock places in the 28th percentile for household income and the 88th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
28th
percentile, household income
51st
percentile, home value
54th
percentile, median rent
88th
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: Slippery Rock, PA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 3,434 residents in Slippery Rock, a small town within Pennsylvania. Households in Slippery Rock report a median income of $55,272 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 8.3%. Home values in Slippery Rock run a median of $230,200, and the median resident age is 23.5 years. About 36.9% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 47.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 0 residential building permits were authorized in Slippery Rock (No Permits), down 100% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Slippery Rock reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 428.4 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Slippery Rock's yearly average temperature at 48.1°F with 45.2 inches of precipitation per year.
Pennsylvania tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Pennsylvania at 97.6 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Near Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,225 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $260 across Pennsylvania, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Workers in Slippery Rock report an average commute of 23.8 minutes, with 70.1% driving alone and 9.0% working from home. 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 Slippery Rock'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 comparison shortlist to reported crime to population change to schools and households 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 Slippery Rock, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, matched public-school count.
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. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Slippery Rock?
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 70.1%. The reported mean trip to work is 23.8 minutes.
Which cities make useful reference points for Slippery Rock?
Within Pennsylvania, the closest population matches are Malvern (3,427 residents, $106,638 income); Loyalhanna (3,425 residents, $68,611 income); Coplay (3,423 residents, $67,768 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Melody Hill, IN (3,435 residents); Tashua, CT (3,436 residents); Gothenburg, NE (3,436 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 can the FBI record say about safety in Slippery Rock?
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 428.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 81% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Is Slippery Rock growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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 +368 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +11.6% 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.
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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Slippery Rock?
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 36.9% 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 city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
Matched public schools
3
Bachelor's degree+
36.9%
Poverty estimate
8.3%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What physical conditions frame life in Slippery Rock?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 48.1°F, with 45.2 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
48.1°F
Annual precipitation
45.2 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 Slippery Rock?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.3%, 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.
Household income
$55,272
Home value
$230,200
Value / income
4.2×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Below median income · poverty 8.3% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.6 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Pennsylvania average
C
City profile score · Slippery Rock, PA
56/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share B
36.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
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
8.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$55,272
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Slippery Rock profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 97/100 (A+) · 0 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 70/100 (B) · 36.9%
Cost of living: 50/100 (C-) · 97.6 index
Poverty rate: 46/100 (D) · 8.3%
Household income: 28/100 (F) · $55,272
Where Slippery Rock sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Slippery Rock'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 - Slippery Rock highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
Slippery Rock, PA (this city): home $230,200, crime 428/100k
Gothenburg, NE : home $173,200, crime 264/100k
Wellford, SC : home $217,700, crime 1,021/100k
Malvern, PA : home $460,400, crime 233/100k
Coplay, PA : home $199,000, crime 479/100k
Rochester, PA : home $109,300, crime 3,600/100k
Wellsboro, PA : home $195,400, crime 703/100k
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 Slippery Rock compare to other US cities?
Where Slippery Rock sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income28% higher than other cities
Home value51% pricier than other cities
Median rent54% pricier than other cities
Safety88% 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: Slippery Rock ranks #102 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 Slippery Rock 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 Slippery Rock near the bottom of Pennsylvania's cities
Among the 1,865 Pennsylvania cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Slippery Rock ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Slippery Rock only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,291 of 1,765
27th percentile in Pennsylvania
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,865
0th percentile in Pennsylvania
Median Home Value
#470 of 1,790
74th percentile in Pennsylvania
Poverty Rate
#681 of 1,856
63rd percentile in Pennsylvania
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#361 of 1,861
81st 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
28th percentile nationally for median household income · 88th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Slippery Rock's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Slippery Rock'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 Slippery Rock's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$230,20049th percentilemore affordable than 49% 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
Slippery Rock's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,153 of 15,516
More affordable than 28% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,660 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.2×, Slippery Rock sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,153 of 15,516 and #8,660 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
$55,272Slippery Rock, PA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Slippery Rock, 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 Slippery Rock, PA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)36.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)47.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,434
Median Income
$55,272
Median Home Value
$230,200
Median Age
23.5
Poverty Rate
8.3%
Labor force participation
47.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
36.9%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
428.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
428.4
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
48.1°F
Annual Precipitation
45.2"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Slippery Rock's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,183 residents
2021
3,621 residents
2022
3,606 residents
2023
3,593 residents
2024
3,571 residents
2025
3,551 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
2
2
0
$0.5M
2020
2
2
0
$0.6M
2021
4
4
0
$1.7M
2022
1
1
0
$0.5M
2023
1
1
0
$0.6M
2024
0
0
0
-
Permit volume decreased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
23.8 minutes
Drive Alone
70.1%
Carpool
6.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
14.6%
Work from Home
9.0%
Based on 1,361 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 Slippery Rock. 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 Slippery Rock 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 Slippery Rock sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Slippery Rock 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.