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Place dossier plate
SheetTN-PALMER-TN · Palmer, TN 734 pop · income 9th 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 Palmer
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Palmer on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Bethel Springs · lowest
40,592
Bethel Springs · lowest
40,592 median HH income
49.4% of the leader · rank #1
Palmer · this city
41,250
Palmer · this city
41,250 median HH income
50.2% of the leader · rank #2
Gu-Win · near
41,250
Gu-Win · near
41,250 median HH income
50.2% of the leader · rank #3
Mount Vernon · near
41,250
Mount Vernon · near
41,250 median HH income
50.2% of the leader · rank #4
Kaltag · near
41,250
Kaltag · near
41,250 median HH income
50.2% of the leader · rank #5
Cave City · near
41,250
Cave City · near
41,250 median HH income
50.2% of the leader · rank #6
Rarity Bay · highest
82,143
Rarity Bay · highest
82,143 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 Palmer 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: 734.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Palmer lands in the 9th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
9th
percentile, household income
5th
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: Palmer, TN
Palmer is a small town in Tennessee, home to 734 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Palmer report a median income of $41,250 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 23.3%. Home values in Palmer run a median of $86,500, and the median resident age is 44.2 years. About 2.6% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 39.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Living costs in Tennessee run below the national norm: the state registers 91.9 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Well Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,118 monthly. 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 Palmer'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 population change to comparison shortlist to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Palmer, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Palmer?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 23.3%, 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. 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.
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 +28 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +5.0% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Which cities make useful reference points for Palmer?
Within Tennessee, the closest population matches are Niota (735 residents, $46,188 income); Wartrace (737 residents, $57,917 income); Rarity Bay (728 residents, $82,143 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Miracle Valley, AZ (734 residents); Lakeside CDP (Kern County), CA (734 residents); Waverly Hall, GA (734 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Palmer?
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 79.9%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 23.3% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
91.9 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Tennessee average
F
City profile score · Palmer, TN
24/100
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
$41,250
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
23.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
2.6%
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).
Palmer profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 78/100 (B+) · 91.9 index
Household income: 8/100 (F) · $41,250
Poverty rate: 8/100 (F) · 23.3%
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 2.6%
How does Palmer compare to other US cities?
Where Palmer sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income9% higher than other cities
Home value5% 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 Palmer 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 Palmer near the bottom of Tennessee's cities
Among the 482 Tennessee cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Palmer ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Palmer only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#384 of 458
16th percentile in Tennessee
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 482
0th percentile in Tennessee
Median Home Value
#437 of 455
4th percentile in Tennessee
Poverty Rate
#61 of 482
87th percentile in Tennessee
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#463 of 482
4th 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
9th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Palmer's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$86,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 95% 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
Palmer's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#1,995 of 15,516
More affordable than 87% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,890 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.1×, Palmer sits in the affordable band:
national rank #1,995 of 15,516 and #1,890 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
$41,250Palmer, TN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Palmer, 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 Palmer, TN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)2.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)23.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)39.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
734
Median Income
$41,250
Median Home Value
$86,500
Median Age
44.2
Poverty Rate
23.3%
Labor force participation
39.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
2.6%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Palmer's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
556 residents
2021
562 residents
2022
572 residents
2023
579 residents
2024
584 residents
2025
584 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
79.9%
Carpool
4.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
7.1%
Work from Home
0.9%
Other
8.1%
Based on 224 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 Palmer. 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 Palmer 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 Palmer sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Palmer 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, 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.