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Place dossier plate
SheetTN-PARSONS-TN · Parsons, TN 2,578 pop · income 3rd pct · 5 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 Parsons
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Parsons on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Hackensack · lowest
32,109
Hackensack · lowest
32,109 median HH income
18.0% of the leader · rank #1
Society Hill · near
32,115
Society Hill · near
32,115 median HH income
18.0% of the leader · rank #2
Parsons · this city
32,129
Parsons · this city
32,129 median HH income
18.0% of the leader · rank #3
Sardis · near
32,134
Sardis · near
32,134 median HH income
18.0% of the leader · rank #4
San Augustine · near
32,140
San Augustine · near
32,140 median HH income
18.0% of the leader · rank #5
Chelan Falls · near
32,143
Chelan Falls · near
32,143 median HH income
18.0% of the leader · rank #6
The Hills · highest
178,194
The Hills · highest
178,194 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 Parsons 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: 2,578.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Parsons - the verdict
Nationally, Parsons sits in the 3rd percentile for household income and the 27th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
3rd
percentile, household income
12th
percentile, home value
34th
percentile, median rent
27th
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: Parsons, TN
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 2,578 residents in Parsons, a small town within Tennessee. The typical household in Parsons brings in $32,129 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 18.9%. Parsons's housing stock carries a median value of $107,400, and the median resident age is 44.3 years. 6.6% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 41.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 12 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Low Activity). Crime here tracks close to the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 2268.4 in FBI UCR data, near the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. 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 Parsons'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 within-city variation to reported crime to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to population change to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Parsons, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, matched public-school count.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Parsons?
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 3.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 18.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Parsons?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2268.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, near the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 1% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Parsons?
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.
Within Tennessee, the closest population matches are Alamo (2,565 residents, $52,768 income); White Pine (2,557 residents, $55,000 income); Adamsville (2,621 residents, $50,833 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Cape Neddick, ME (2,578 residents); Falmouth, KY (2,577 residents); The Hills, TX (2,579 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 Parsons?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 75.8%. 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.
Drive alone
75.8%
Work from home
10.0%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 906 workers age 16+.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +71 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 12 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
2020 estimate
2,091
2025 estimate
2,162
Period change
+3.4%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
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. 6.6% 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.
Poverty estimate
18.9%
Bachelor's degree+
6.6%
Matched public schools
2
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 18.9% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
91.9 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Tennessee average
F
City profile score · Parsons, TN
19/100
5 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
18.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$32,129
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
6.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime F
945 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Parsons profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 78/100 (B+) · 91.9 index
Poverty rate: 15/100 (F) · 18.9%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $32,129
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 6.6%
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 945 /100k
Where Parsons sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Parsons'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 - Parsons highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Parsons, TN (this city): home $107,400, crime 2,268/100k
Falmouth, KY : home $111,300, crime 950/100k
Palisade, CO : home $295,200, crime 1,072/100k
Lincoln, ME : home $120,200, crime 164/100k
Alamo, TN : home $117,000, crime 943/100k
White Pine, TN : home $196,600, crime 1,125/100k
Adamsville, TN : home $188,000, crime 2,017/100k
Bells, TN : home $164,000, crime 524/100k
How does Parsons compare to other US cities?
Here's how Parsons stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income3% higher than other cities
Home value12% pricier than other cities
Median rent34% pricier than other cities
Safety27% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Tennessee alone, Parsons ranks #120 of 174 Tennessee cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Parsons 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 Parsons near the bottom of Tennessee's cities
Among the 482 Tennessee cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Parsons ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Parsons only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#440 of 458
4th percentile in Tennessee
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 482
0th percentile in Tennessee
Median Home Value
#399 of 455
12th percentile in Tennessee
Poverty Rate
#95 of 482
80th percentile in Tennessee
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#436 of 482
10th 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
3rd percentile nationally for median household income · 27th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Parsons's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Parsons'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 Parsons's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$107,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 88% 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
Parsons's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#8,310 of 15,516
More affordable than 46% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,779 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.3×, Parsons sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,310 of 15,516 and #6,779 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$32,129Parsons, TN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Parsons, 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 Parsons, TN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)6.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)18.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)41.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,578
Median Income
$32,129
Median Home Value
$107,400
Median Age
44.3
Poverty Rate
18.9%
Labor force participation
41.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
6.6%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2268.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
945.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1323.3
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.
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
Parsons's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,091 residents
2021
2,071 residents
2022
2,085 residents
2023
2,114 residents
2024
2,137 residents
2025
2,162 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Low Activity
Total Permits (2024)
12
housing units authorized
Single-Family
8
detached homes
Multifamily
4
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
4.7
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
3
3
0
$0.5M
2022
5
5
0
$0.7M
2023
5
5
0
$0.9M
2024
12
8
4
$1.8M
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
75.8%
Carpool
13.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.0%
Work from Home
10.0%
Based on 906 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 Parsons. 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 Parsons 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 Parsons sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Parsons 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, 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.