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Place dossier plate
SheetTN-WILDWOOD-LAKE-TN · Wildwood Lake, TN 3,490 pop · income 38th 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 Wildwood Lake
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Wildwood Lake on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Somerville · lowest
31,063
Somerville · lowest
31,063 median HH income
19.5% of the leader · rank #1
Bluewater · near
61,818
Bluewater · near
61,818 median HH income
38.8% of the leader · rank #2
Underwood · near
61,818
Underwood · near
61,818 median HH income
38.8% of the leader · rank #3
Buenaventura… · near
61,822
Buenaventura… · near
61,822 median HH income
38.8% of the leader · rank #4
Wildwood Lake · this city
61,824
Wildwood Lake · this city
61,824 median HH income
38.8% of the leader · rank #5
Vassar · near
61,827
Vassar · near
61,827 median HH income
38.8% of the leader · rank #6
Hidden Springs · highest
159,439
Hidden Springs · highest
159,439 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 Wildwood Lake 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: 3,490.
Nationally, Wildwood Lake sits in the 38th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
38th
percentile, household income
42nd
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: Wildwood Lake, TN
3,490 people live in Wildwood Lake, Tennessee - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Wildwood Lake brings in $61,824 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 19.5%. Wildwood Lake's housing stock carries a median value of $196,600, and the median resident age is 42.7 years. About 15.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 57.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,118 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Tennessee run around $218, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. The average commute for Wildwood Lake workers runs 20.1 minutes, with 82.3% driving alone and 5.0% 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 Wildwood Lake'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 comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Wildwood Lake, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, annual population history, local building permits, 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 Wildwood Lake?
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 82.3%. The reported mean trip to work is 20.1 minutes.
How far does income reach against housing in Wildwood Lake?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 19.5%, 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. 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 Wildwood Lake?
Within Tennessee, the closest population matches are Somerville (3,439 residents, $31,063 income); Centerville (3,543 residents, $51,250 income); Dandridge (3,426 residents, $56,367 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Hidden Springs, ID (3,490 residents); Stepney, CT (3,489 residents); Pen Argyl, PA (3,489 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.
Below median income · poverty 19.5% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
91.9 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Tennessee average
F
City profile score · Wildwood Lake, TN
39/100
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
$61,824
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
15.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
19.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Wildwood Lake profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 78/100 (B+) · 91.9 index
Household income: 37/100 (F) · $61,824
Bachelor's+ share: 21/100 (F) · 15.3%
Poverty rate: 14/100 (F) · 19.5%
How does Wildwood Lake compare to other US cities?
Where Wildwood Lake sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income38% higher than other cities
Home value42% 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 Wildwood Lake 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 Wildwood Lake near the bottom of Tennessee's cities
Among the 482 Tennessee cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Wildwood Lake ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Wildwood Lake only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#186 of 458
59th percentile in Tennessee
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 482
0th percentile in Tennessee
Median Home Value
#189 of 455
58th percentile in Tennessee
Poverty Rate
#91 of 482
81st percentile in Tennessee
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#264 of 482
45th 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
38th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Wildwood Lake's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$196,600Among the most affordablemore affordable than 58% 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
Wildwood Lake's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,591 of 15,516
More affordable than 51% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,283 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.2×, Wildwood Lake sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,591 of 15,516 and #6,283 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
$61,824Wildwood Lake, TN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Wildwood Lake, 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 Wildwood Lake, TN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)15.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)19.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)57.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,490
Median Income
$61,824
Median Home Value
$196,600
Median Age
42.7
Poverty Rate
19.5%
Labor force participation
57.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
15.3%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
20.1 minutes
Drive Alone
82.3%
Carpool
12.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
5.0%
Based on 1,479 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 Wildwood Lake. 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 Wildwood Lake 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 Wildwood Lake sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Wildwood Lake 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.