Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetTN-CLIFTON-TN · Clifton, TN 2,632 pop · income 12th pct · 4 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 Clifton
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Clifton on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Parsons · lowest
32,129
Parsons · lowest
32,129 median HH income
37.6% of the leader · rank #1
Clifton · this city
44,286
Clifton · this city
44,286 median HH income
51.8% of the leader · rank #2
Miami · near
44,286
Miami · near
44,286 median HH income
51.8% of the leader · rank #3
Coleta · near
44,286
Coleta · near
44,286 median HH income
51.8% of the leader · rank #4
Guide Rock · near
44,286
Guide Rock · near
44,286 median HH income
51.8% of the leader · rank #5
McClusky · near
44,286
McClusky · near
44,286 median HH income
51.8% of the leader · rank #6
Hopewell · highest
85,461
Hopewell · highest
85,461 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 Clifton 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: 2,632.
Nationally, Clifton sits in the 12th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
12th
percentile, household income
20th
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: Clifton, TN
2,632 people live in Clifton, Tennessee - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Clifton report a median income of $44,286 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 24.1%. Typical homes in Clifton are valued around $126,900, and the median resident age is 43.7 years. Educational attainment runs 4.4% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 17.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 0 residential building permits were authorized in Clifton (No Permits), 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. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,118 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Tennessee run around $218, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 52.5 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Clifton'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 comparison shortlist to population change to schools and households to within-city variation to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Clifton, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Clifton?
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 24.1%, 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Clifton?
Within Tennessee, the closest population matches are Hopewell (2,624 residents, $85,461 income); Adamsville (2,621 residents, $50,833 income); Pikeville (2,653 residents, $32,917 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Butler, IN (2,632 residents); Valentine, NE (2,632 residents); Tobaccoville, NC (2,632 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.
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -311 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -11.7% 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.
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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Clifton?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 4.4% 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.
Matched public schools
1
Bachelor's degree+
4.4%
Poverty estimate
24.1%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in Clifton?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 89.9%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
6.7%
Drive alone
89.9%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 404 workers age 16+.
Low income · poverty 24.1% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
91.9 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Tennessee average
F
City profile score · Clifton, TN
25/100
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.
Household income F
$44,286
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
24.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
4.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Clifton profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 78/100 (B+) · 91.9 index
Household income: 13/100 (F) · $44,286
Poverty rate: 7/100 (F) · 24.1%
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 4.4%
How does Clifton compare to other US cities?
Here's how Clifton stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income12% higher than other cities
Home value20% 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 Clifton 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 Clifton near the bottom of Tennessee's cities
Among the 482 Tennessee cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Clifton ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Clifton only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#353 of 458
23rd percentile in Tennessee
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 482
0th percentile in Tennessee
Median Home Value
#352 of 455
23rd percentile in Tennessee
Poverty Rate
#57 of 482
88th percentile in Tennessee
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#454 of 482
6th 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
12th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Clifton's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$126,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 80% 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
Clifton's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,940 of 15,516
More affordable than 62% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#5,117 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.9×, Clifton sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,940 of 15,516 and #5,117 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
$44,286Clifton, TN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Clifton, 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 Clifton, TN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)4.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)24.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)17.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,632
Median Income
$44,286
Median Home Value
$126,900
Median Age
43.7
Poverty Rate
24.1%
Labor force participation
17.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
4.4%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Clifton's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,655 residents
2021
2,569 residents
2022
2,530 residents
2023
2,243 residents
2024
2,114 residents
2025
2,344 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
0
0
0
-
2020
1
1
0
$0.1M
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
0
0
0
-
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
89.9%
Carpool
2.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
6.7%
Other
0.9%
Based on 404 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 Clifton. 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 Clifton 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 Clifton sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Clifton 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.