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Place dossier plate
SheetTN-WATERTOWN-TN · Watertown, TN 1,511 pop · income 40th 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 Watertown
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Watertown on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Stamps · lowest
33,152
Stamps · lowest
33,152 median HH income
13.3% of the leader · rank #1
Green Valley · near
62,986
Green Valley · near
62,986 median HH income
25.2% of the leader · rank #2
Brookshire · near
62,987
Brookshire · near
62,987 median HH income
25.2% of the leader · rank #3
Watertown · this city
62,991
Watertown · this city
62,991 median HH income
25.2% of the leader · rank #4
Sidney · near
62,992
Sidney · near
62,992 median HH income
25.2% of the leader · rank #5
Indianapolis · near
62,995
Indianapolis · near
62,995 median HH income
25.2% of the leader · rank #6
Rolling Hills · highest
250,001
Rolling Hills · highest
250,001 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 Watertown 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: 1,511.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Watertown - the verdict
Watertown ranks in the 40th percentile for household income and the 49th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
40th
percentile, household income
50th
percentile, home value
34th
percentile, median rent
49th
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: Watertown, TN
Watertown is a small town in Tennessee, home to 1,511 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Watertown brings in $62,991 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 5.4%. Typical homes in Watertown are valued around $228,400, and the median resident age is 41.2 years. Educational attainment runs 14.6% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 58.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 0 residential building permits were authorized in Watertown (No Permits), down 100% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Watertown reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 1418.0 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. Monthly utility costs average around $218 across Tennessee, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Watertown'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 population change to work and mobility to housing and income to schools and households to comparison shortlist to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Watertown, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates.
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.
1. Population change
Is Watertown growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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 +136 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +8.7% 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Watertown?
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 86.5%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
How far does income reach against housing in Watertown?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 5.4%, 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. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Watertown?
Within Tennessee, the closest population matches are Banner Hill (1,519 residents, $66,270 income); Rutledge (1,521 residents, $41,000 income); Spencer (1,494 residents, $46,563 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Rolling Hills, CA (1,511 residents); Warsaw, IL (1,511 residents); Franklin Furnace, OH (1,511 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.
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 Watertown?
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 14.6% 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+
14.6%
Poverty estimate
5.4%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Watertown?
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 1418.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 38% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
1233.0
Violent rate
185.0
Total reported rate
1418.0
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Below median income · poverty 5.4% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
91.9 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Tennessee average
C-
City profile score · Watertown, TN
51/100
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 C+
5.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime C-
185 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income F
$62,991
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
14.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Watertown profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 78/100 (B+) · 91.9 index
Poverty rate: 63/100 (C+) · 5.4%
Violent crime: 50/100 (C-) · 185 /100k
Household income: 39/100 (F) · $62,991
Bachelor's+ share: 19/100 (F) · 14.6%
Where Watertown sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Watertown'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 - Watertown highlighted among 24 peers.Read the chart values
Watertown, TN (this city): home $228,400, crime 1,418/100k
Rolling Hills, CA : home $2,000,000+, crime 62/100k
Spencer, TN : home $135,000, crime 766/100k
Chapel Hill, TN : home $276,700, crime 369/100k
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 Watertown compare to other US cities?
Watertown measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income40% higher than other cities
Home value50% pricier than other cities
Median rent34% pricier than other cities
Safety49% 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, Watertown ranks #80 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 Watertown 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 Watertown near the bottom of Tennessee's cities
Among the 482 Tennessee cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Watertown ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Watertown only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#179 of 458
61st percentile in Tennessee
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 482
0th percentile in Tennessee
Median Home Value
#143 of 455
68th percentile in Tennessee
Poverty Rate
#335 of 482
30th percentile in Tennessee
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#280 of 482
41st 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
40th percentile nationally for median household income · 49th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Watertown's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Watertown'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 Watertown's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$228,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 50% 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
Watertown's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,454 of 15,516
More affordable than 39% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,567 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.6×, Watertown sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,454 of 15,516 and #7,567 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
$62,991Watertown, TN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Watertown, 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 Watertown, TN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)14.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)5.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,511
Median Income
$62,991
Median Home Value
$228,400
Median Age
41.2
Poverty Rate
5.4%
Labor force participation
58.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
14.6%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1418.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
185.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1233.0
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
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Watertown's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,555 residents
2021
1,558 residents
2022
1,598 residents
2023
1,632 residents
2024
1,666 residents
2025
1,691 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
2
2
0
$0.3M
2020
0
0
0
-
Permit volume decreased 100% from 2019 to 2020.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
86.5%
Carpool
2.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.3%
Work from Home
9.4%
Based on 682 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 Watertown. 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 Watertown 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 Watertown sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Watertown 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.