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Place dossier plate
SheetTN-SPENCER-TN · Spencer, TN 1,494 pop · income 15th pct · 2 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 Spencer
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Spencer on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Covelo · lowest
35,735
Covelo · lowest
35,735 median HH income
39.3% of the leader · rank #1
Spencer · this city
46,563
Spencer · this city
46,563 median HH income
51.2% of the leader · rank #2
Bellefonte · near
46,563
Bellefonte · near
46,563 median HH income
51.2% of the leader · rank #3
Tyronza · near
46,563
Tyronza · near
46,563 median HH income
51.2% of the leader · rank #4
Nilwood · near
46,563
Nilwood · near
46,563 median HH income
51.2% of the leader · rank #5
Bancroft · near
46,563
Bancroft · near
46,563 median HH income
51.2% of the leader · rank #6
Avon · highest
90,987
Avon · highest
90,987 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 Spencer 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: 1,494.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Spencer - the verdict
Spencer ranks in the 15th percentile for household income and the 74th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
15th
percentile, household income
22nd
percentile, home value
34th
percentile, median rent
74th
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: Spencer, TN
Tennessee's Spencer is a small town, with 1,494 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Median household income here is $46,563 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 10.4%. Spencer's housing stock carries a median value of $135,000, and the median resident age is 48.8 years. About 8.9% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 45.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 3 residential building permits were authorized in Spencer (Low Activity), per Census BPS data. Spencer reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR figures show 766.3 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).
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. Monthly utility costs average around $218 across Tennessee, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Spencer'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 within-city variation to reported crime to schools and households to population change to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Spencer, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares, local building permits, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Spencer?
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 Kenton (1,487 residents, $40,993 income); Watertown (1,511 residents, $62,991 income); Norris (1,472 residents, $73,448 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Hereford, PA (1,494 residents); Random Lake, WI (1,494 residents); Covelo, CA (1,495 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Spencer?
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 2.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 10.4%, 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 Spencer?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 766.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 66% 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.
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 Spencer?
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. 8.9% 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.
Poverty estimate
10.4%
Bachelor's degree+
8.9%
Matched public schools
2
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +178 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +12.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 3 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
1,458
2025 estimate
1,636
Period change
+12.2%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the journey to work look like in Spencer?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 81.2%. 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
81.2%
Work from home
2.4%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 580 workers age 16+.
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+
128 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate F
10.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$46,563
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
8.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Spencer profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 78/100 (B+) · 91.9 index
Violent crime: 64/100 (C+) · 128 /100k
Poverty rate: 38/100 (F) · 10.4%
Household income: 16/100 (F) · $46,563
Bachelor's+ share: 3/100 (F) · 8.9%
Where Spencer sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Spencer'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 - Spencer highlighted among 23 peers.Read the chart values
Spencer, TN (this city): home $135,000, crime 766/100k
Avon, MN : home $240,400, crime 292/100k
Watertown, TN : home $228,400, crime 1,418/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Spencer compare to other US cities?
Spencer measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income15% higher than other cities
Home value22% pricier than other cities
Median rent34% pricier than other cities
Safety74% 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, Spencer ranks #32 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 Spencer 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 Spencer near the bottom of Tennessee's cities
Among the 482 Tennessee cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Spencer ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Spencer only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#329 of 458
28th percentile in Tennessee
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 482
0th percentile in Tennessee
Median Home Value
#338 of 455
26th percentile in Tennessee
Poverty Rate
#232 of 482
52nd percentile in Tennessee
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#398 of 482
17th 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
15th percentile nationally for median household income · 74th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Spencer's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Spencer'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 Spencer's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$135,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 78% 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
Spencer's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#6,131 of 15,516
More affordable than 60% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#5,259 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.9×, Spencer sits in the affordable band:
national rank #6,131 of 15,516 and #5,259 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
$46,563Spencer, TN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Spencer, 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 Spencer, TN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)8.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)10.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)45.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,494
Median Income
$46,563
Median Home Value
$135,000
Median Age
48.8
Poverty Rate
10.4%
Labor force participation
45.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
8.9%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
766.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
127.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
638.6
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
Spencer's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,458 residents
2021
1,489 residents
2022
1,524 residents
2023
1,559 residents
2024
1,590 residents
2025
1,636 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Low Activity
Total Permits (2024)
3
housing units authorized
Single-Family
3
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
5
5
0
$0.6M
2021
2
2
0
$0.3M
2022
6
6
0
$0.8M
2023
7
7
0
$0.9M
2024
3
3
0
$0.8M
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
81.2%
Carpool
16.4%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
2.4%
Based on 580 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 Spencer. 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 Spencer 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 Spencer sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Spencer 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.