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Place dossier plate
SheetTN-RUTHERFORD-TN · Rutherford, TN 1,203 pop · income 19th 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 Rutherford
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Rutherford on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Erin · lowest
34,500
Erin · lowest
34,500 median HH income
16.4% of the leader · rank #1
Rutherford · this city
50,000
Rutherford · this city
50,000 median HH income
23.7% of the leader · rank #2
Paint Rock · near
50,000
Paint Rock · near
50,000 median HH income
23.7% of the leader · rank #3
Woodville · near
50,000
Woodville · near
50,000 median HH income
23.7% of the leader · rank #4
Adak · near
50,000
Adak · near
50,000 median HH income
23.7% of the leader · rank #5
Calhan · near
50,000
Calhan · near
50,000 median HH income
23.7% of the leader · rank #6
Poplar Plains · highest
210,625
Poplar Plains · highest
210,625 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 Rutherford 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: 1,203.
Rutherford ranks in the 19th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
19th
percentile, household income
7th
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: Rutherford, TN
Rutherford is a small town in Tennessee, home to 1,203 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $50,000 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 8.5%. Typical homes in Rutherford are valued around $91,500, and the median resident age is 35.8 years. About 19.9% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 59.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 0 residential building permits were authorized in Rutherford (No Permits), down 100% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data.
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. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,118 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $218 across Tennessee, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. The average commute for Rutherford workers runs 26.1 minutes, with 83.7% driving alone and 3.7% working from home. 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 Rutherford'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 work and mobility to housing and income to schools and households to population change to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Rutherford, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history, matched public-school count, local building permits.
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. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Rutherford?
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 83.7%. The reported mean trip to work is 26.1 minutes.
How far does income reach against housing in Rutherford?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.5%, 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 does the education layer cover for Rutherford?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 19.9% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Rutherford?
Within Tennessee, the closest population matches are Erin (1,212 residents, $34,500 income); Gleason (1,179 residents, $58,906 income); Rockvale (1,229 residents, $80,750 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Fruitdale, CA (1,203 residents); Mount Hermon, CA (1,203 residents); Poplar Plains, CT (1,203 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.
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 Rutherford growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -10 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.9% 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
-0.9%
2025 estimate
1,147
2020 estimate
1,157
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
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 D
8.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
19.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$50,000
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).
Rutherford profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 78/100 (B+) · 91.9 index
Poverty rate: 46/100 (D) · 8.5%
Bachelor's+ share: 34/100 (F) · 19.9%
Household income: 20/100 (F) · $50,000
How does Rutherford compare to other US cities?
Where Rutherford sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income19% higher than other cities
Home value7% 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 Rutherford 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 Rutherford near the bottom of Tennessee's cities
Among the 482 Tennessee cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Rutherford ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Rutherford only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#297 of 458
35th percentile in Tennessee
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 482
0th percentile in Tennessee
Median Home Value
#428 of 455
6th percentile in Tennessee
Poverty Rate
#267 of 482
44th percentile in Tennessee
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#189 of 482
61st 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
19th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Rutherford's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$91,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 93% 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
Rutherford's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#1,090 of 15,516
More affordable than 93% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,054 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.8×, Rutherford sits in the affordable band:
national rank #1,090 of 15,516 and #1,054 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
$50,000Rutherford, TN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Rutherford, 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 Rutherford, TN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)19.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)59.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,203
Median Income
$50,000
Median Home Value
$91,500
Median Age
35.8
Poverty Rate
8.5%
Labor force participation
59.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
19.9%
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
Rutherford's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,157 residents
2021
1,149 residents
2022
1,147 residents
2023
1,147 residents
2024
1,154 residents
2025
1,147 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
3
3
0
$0.3M
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
4
4
0
$0.3M
2024
0
0
0
-
Permit volume decreased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
26.1 minutes
Drive Alone
83.7%
Carpool
6.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
3.7%
Other
5.8%
Based on 541 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 Rutherford. 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 Rutherford 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 Rutherford sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Rutherford 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.