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Place dossier plate
SheetTN-DRESDEN-TN · Dresden, TN 2,974 pop · income 21st 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 Dresden
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Dresden on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Tazewell · lowest
41,852
Tazewell · lowest
41,852 median HH income
32.6% of the leader · rank #1
Dresden · this city
50,998
Dresden · this city
50,998 median HH income
39.8% of the leader · rank #2
Briarcliff · near
51,000
Briarcliff · near
51,000 median HH income
39.8% of the leader · rank #3
Aurora · near
51,000
Aurora · near
51,000 median HH income
39.8% of the leader · rank #4
Lost Nation · near
51,000
Lost Nation · near
51,000 median HH income
39.8% of the leader · rank #5
Clyde · near
51,000
Clyde · near
51,000 median HH income
39.8% of the leader · rank #6
Sewanee · highest
128,295
Sewanee · highest
128,295 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 Dresden 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: 2,974.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Dresden - the verdict
Nationally, Dresden sits in the 21st percentile for household income and the 64th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
21st
percentile, household income
11th
percentile, home value
34th
percentile, median rent
64th
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: Dresden, TN
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 2,974 residents in Dresden, a small town within Tennessee. The typical household in Dresden brings in $50,998 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 9.8%. Dresden's housing stock carries a median value of $104,200, and the median resident age is 42.3 years. Educational attainment runs 15.6% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 58.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 0 residential units authorized here in 2024 (No Permits). Dresden reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR figures show 988.1 crimes per 100,000 residents, below the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 58.6°F with 53.6 inches of precipitation per year and 0.4 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in Tennessee run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Tennessee at 91.9 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Below Average). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,118 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Tennessee run around $218, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Natural-hazard exposure scores 52.5 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Dresden'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 comparison shortlist to housing and income to reported crime to work and mobility to population change to schools and households to climate and hazard context; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Dresden, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, commute-mode shares, local building permits, 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.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Dresden?
Within Tennessee, the closest population matches are Bean Station (2,990 residents, $50,114 income); Sewanee (3,000 residents, $128,295 income); South Pittsburg (3,040 residents, $54,347 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Whitehall, MI (2,974 residents); Eglin AFB, FL (2,975 residents); Lakewood, NY (2,975 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Dresden?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 9.8%, 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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Dresden?
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 988.1 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 57% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
What does the journey to work look like in Dresden?
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 91.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Population change
Is Dresden growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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 -75 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.5% 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.
Period change
-2.5%
2025 estimate
2,911
2020 estimate
2,986
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 15.6% 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 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+
15.6%
Poverty estimate
9.8%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 58.6°F, with 53.6 inches of precipitation and 0.4 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Tennessee is 52.5 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
58.6°F
Annual precipitation
53.6 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
52.5
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
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.
Violent crime C+
136 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate D
9.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$50,998
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
15.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Dresden profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 78/100 (B+) · 91.9 index
Violent crime: 62/100 (C+) · 136 /100k
Poverty rate: 40/100 (D) · 9.8%
Household income: 22/100 (F) · $50,998
Bachelor's+ share: 22/100 (F) · 15.6%
Where Dresden sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Dresden'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 - Dresden highlighted among 9 peers.Read the chart values
Dresden, TN (this city): home $104,200, crime 988/100k
Whitehall, MI : home $205,800, crime 1,199/100k
Jones, OK : home $204,500, crime 827/100k
Elkton, VA : home $232,300, crime 1,076/100k
Sandwich, MA : home $511,000, crime 473/100k
Bean Station, TN : home $156,400, crime 579/100k
South Pittsburg, TN : home $160,700, crime 375/100k
Brighton, TN : home $190,500, crime 1,146/100k
Tazewell, TN : home $163,900, crime 1,570/100k
How does Dresden compare to other US cities?
Dresden measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income21% higher than other cities
Home value11% pricier than other cities
Median rent34% pricier than other cities
Safety64% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Tennessee and the picture shifts: Dresden ranks #51 of 174 Tennessee cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Dresden 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 Dresden near the bottom of Tennessee's cities
Among the 482 Tennessee cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Dresden ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Dresden only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#283 of 458
38th percentile in Tennessee
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 482
0th percentile in Tennessee
Median Home Value
#405 of 455
11th percentile in Tennessee
Poverty Rate
#244 of 482
49th percentile in Tennessee
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#256 of 482
47th 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
21st percentile nationally for median household income · 64th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Dresden's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Dresden'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 Dresden's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$104,200Among 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
Dresden's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#1,784 of 15,516
More affordable than 89% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,704 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.0×, Dresden sits in the affordable band:
national rank #1,784 of 15,516 and #1,704 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
$50,998Dresden, TN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Dresden, 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 Dresden, TN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)15.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)9.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,974
Median Income
$50,998
Median Home Value
$104,200
Median Age
42.3
Poverty Rate
9.8%
Labor force participation
58.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
15.6%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
988.1
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
136.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
851.8
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
58.6°F
Annual Precipitation
53.6"
Annual Snowfall
0.4"
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
Dresden's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,986 residents
2021
2,935 residents
2022
2,929 residents
2023
2,935 residents
2024
2,924 residents
2025
2,911 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
0
0
0
-
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
91.3%
Carpool
1.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.3%
Work from Home
5.7%
Based on 1,482 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 Dresden. 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 Dresden 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 Dresden sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Dresden 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, 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.