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Place dossier plate
SheetTN-BRADFORD-TN · Bradford, TN 1,240 pop · income 8th 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 Bradford
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Bradford on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Wartburg · lowest
24,833
Wartburg · lowest
24,833 median HH income
21.1% of the leader · rank #1
Bradford · this city
40,536
Bradford · this city
40,536 median HH income
34.4% of the leader · rank #2
Star · near
40,536
Star · near
40,536 median HH income
34.4% of the leader · rank #3
Mackinaw City · near
40,536
Mackinaw City · near
40,536 median HH income
34.4% of the leader · rank #4
Tishomingo · near
40,536
Tishomingo · near
40,536 median HH income
34.4% of the leader · rank #5
Haleyville · near
40,538
Haleyville · near
40,538 median HH income
34.4% of the leader · rank #6
Robie Creek · highest
117,946
Robie Creek · highest
117,946 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 Bradford 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: 1,240.
Bradford ranks in the 8th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
8th
percentile, household income
10th
percentile, home value
34th
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: Bradford, TN
Bradford is a small town in Tennessee, home to 1,240 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Bradford households earn a median of $40,536 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 14.9%. Bradford's housing stock carries a median value of $101,600, and the median resident age is 39.7 years. Educational attainment runs 12.5% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 53.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 2 residential building permits were authorized in Bradford (Low Activity), per Census BPS data.
Living costs in Tennessee run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Tennessee scores 91.9 (Well Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,118 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Tennessee's average monthly utility costs around $218 (state average). FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 52.5 out of 100 (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Bradford'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 housing and income to work and mobility to population change to schools and households to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Bradford, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, commute-mode shares, annual population history, matched public-school count.
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.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Bradford?
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 2.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 14.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What does the journey to work look like in Bradford?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 81.9%. 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.
Is Bradford growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +4 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 2 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Bradford?
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 Tennessee, the closest population matches are Crump (1,240 residents, $39,032 income); Atwood (1,230 residents, $36,583 income); Rockvale (1,229 residents, $80,750 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Robie Creek, ID (1,240 residents); William Paterson University of New Jersey, NJ (1,240 residents); Tiltonsville, OH (1,240 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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Bradford?
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. 12.5% 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.
Poverty estimate
14.9%
Bachelor's degree+
12.5%
Matched public schools
2
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 14.9% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
91.9 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Tennessee average
F
City profile score · Bradford, TN
30/100
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 B+
91.9 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 F
14.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
12.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$40,536
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).
Bradford profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 78/100 (B+) · 91.9 index
Poverty rate: 23/100 (F) · 14.9%
Bachelor's+ share: 13/100 (F) · 12.5%
Household income: 8/100 (F) · $40,536
How does Bradford compare to other US cities?
Where Bradford sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income8% higher than other cities
Home value10% pricier than other cities
Median rent34% 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 Bradford against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Tennessee only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Tennessee-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Bradford near the bottom of Tennessee's cities
Among the 482 Tennessee cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Bradford ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Bradford only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#392 of 458
14th percentile in Tennessee
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 482
0th percentile in Tennessee
Median Home Value
#410 of 455
10th percentile in Tennessee
Poverty Rate
#147 of 482
69th percentile in Tennessee
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#329 of 482
31st percentile in Tennessee
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 Tennessee only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
8th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Bradford's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$101,600Among the most affordablemore affordable than 90% 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
Bradford's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,023 of 15,516
More affordable than 74% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,621 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.5×, Bradford sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,023 of 15,516 and #3,621 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
$40,536Bradford, TN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Bradford, TN median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Bradford, TN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)12.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)14.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)53.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,240
Median Income
$40,536
Median Home Value
$101,600
Median Age
39.7
Poverty Rate
14.9%
Labor force participation
53.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
12.5%
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
Bradford's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,002 residents
2021
995 residents
2022
995 residents
2023
997 residents
2024
1,006 residents
2025
1,006 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Low Activity
Total Permits (2024)
2
housing units authorized
Single-Family
2
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
5
5
0
$0.6M
2024
2
2
0
$0.2M
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
81.9%
Carpool
8.9%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
2.6%
Other
6.6%
Based on 492 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Tennessee statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $218
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Tennessee at $218 (electricity about $120 , water and sewer about $40 ).
These are Tennessee statewide averages, not a meter reading for Bradford. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Tennessee's BEA cost-of-living index is 91.9 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Bradford is $1,118/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Tennessee statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 52.5 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Tennessee statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Bradford sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Bradford compares to similar-size Tennessee 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.