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Place dossier plate
SheetSD-WAUBAY-SD · Waubay, SD 425 pop · income 6th 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 Waubay
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Waubay on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Camargo · lowest
36,625
Camargo · lowest
36,625 median HH income
37.3% of the leader · rank #1
Waubay · this city
36,635
Waubay · this city
36,635 median HH income
37.4% of the leader · rank #2
Idabel · near
36,638
Idabel · near
36,638 median HH income
37.4% of the leader · rank #3
Driscoll · near
36,638
Driscoll · near
36,638 median HH income
37.4% of the leader · rank #4
Troy · near
36,641
Troy · near
36,641 median HH income
37.4% of the leader · rank #5
Lake Hart · highest
98,068
Lake Hart · highest
98,068 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
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 Waubay 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: 425.
Nationally, Waubay sits in the 6th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
6th
percentile, household income
11th
percentile, home value
13th
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: Waubay, SD
425 people live in Waubay, South Dakota - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $36,635 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 4.1%. Waubay's housing stock carries a median value of $105,000, and the median resident age is 51.7 years. About 27.2% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 45.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 0 residential building permits were authorized in Waubay (No Permits), down 100% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data.
Living costs in South Dakota run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, South Dakota scores 88.6 (Well Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $990 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $200 across South Dakota, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 26.8 out of 100 (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Waubay'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 population change to schools and households to housing and income to work and mobility to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Waubay, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, local building permits, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Is Waubay growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +1 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.2% 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.
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.
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.
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 27.2% 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Waubay?
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 2.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.1%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Waubay?
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 South Dakota, the closest population matches are Iroquois (425 residents, $60,750 income); Kadoka (427 residents, $36,786 income); Ramona (427 residents, $76,042 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Lake Hart, FL (425 residents); Camak, GA (425 residents); Andover, IL (425 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.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Waubay?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 91.4%. 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. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Drive alone
91.4%
Work from home
5.6%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 162 workers age 16+.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 4.1% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
88.6 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, South Dakota average
C-
City profile score · Waubay, SD
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.
Cost of living A+
88.6 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 B
4.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C-
27.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$36,635
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Waubay profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 91/100 (A+) · 88.6 index
Poverty rate: 71/100 (B) · 4.1%
Bachelor's+ share: 53/100 (C-) · 27.2%
Household income: 2/100 (F) · $36,635
How does Waubay compare to other US cities?
Waubay measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income6% higher than other cities
Home value11% pricier than other cities
Median rent13% 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 Waubay against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to South Dakota only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
South Dakota-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Waubay near the bottom of South Dakota's cities
Among the 303 South Dakota cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Waubay ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Waubay only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#264 of 285
7th percentile in South Dakota
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 303
0th percentile in South Dakota
Median Home Value
#166 of 263
37th percentile in South Dakota
Poverty Rate
#184 of 302
39th percentile in South Dakota
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#74 of 303
75th percentile in South Dakota
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 South Dakota only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
6th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Waubay's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$105,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 89% 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
Waubay's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,946 of 15,516
More affordable than 62% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#5,122 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.9×, Waubay sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,946 of 15,516 and #5,122 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
$36,635Waubay, SD median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Waubay, SD median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Waubay, SD.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)27.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)45.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
425
Median Income
$36,635
Median Home Value
$105,000
Median Age
51.7
Poverty Rate
4.1%
Labor force participation
45.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
27.2%
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
Waubay's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
473 residents
2021
472 residents
2022
479 residents
2023
472 residents
2024
475 residents
2025
474 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
3
3
0
$0.1M
2020
3
3
0
$0.1M
2021
3
3
0
$0.1M
2022
3
3
0
$0.1M
2023
3
3
0
$0.1M
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
91.4%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
3.1%
Work from Home
5.6%
Based on 162 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
South Dakota statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $200
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across South Dakota at $200 (electricity about $95 , water and sewer about $40 ).
These are South Dakota statewide averages, not a meter reading for Waubay. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
South Dakota's BEA cost-of-living index is 88.6 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Waubay is $990/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to South Dakota statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 26.8 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a South Dakota statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Waubay sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Waubay compares to similar-size South Dakota 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, 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.