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Place dossier plate
SheetTX-BEN-WHEELER-TX · Ben Wheeler, TX 1,793 pop · income 86th 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 Ben Wheeler
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Ben Wheeler on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Munfordville · lowest
23,879
Munfordville · lowest
23,879 median HH income
20.2% of the leader · rank #1
Barnum Island · near
118,160
Barnum Island · near
118,160 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #2
Godfrey · near
118,164
Godfrey · near
118,164 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #3
Avilla · near
118,171
Avilla · near
118,171 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #4
Ben Wheeler · this city
118,174
Ben Wheeler · this city
118,174 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #5
Bear River · near
118,185
Bear River · near
118,185 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
Solvang · highest
118,208
Solvang · highest
118,208 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 Ben Wheeler 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: 1,793.
Ben Wheeler ranks in the 86th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
86th
percentile, household income
57th
percentile, home value
40th
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: Ben Wheeler, TX
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 1,793 residents in Ben Wheeler, a small town within Texas. Ben Wheeler households earn a median of $118,174 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Typical homes in Ben Wheeler are valued around $258,600, and the median resident age is 29.3 years. 12.1% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 58.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Texas tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Texas scores 97.1 (Near Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,149 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $223 across Texas, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 49.0 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Ben Wheeler'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 Ben Wheeler, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, matched public-school count, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Ben Wheeler?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 70.5%. 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Ben Wheeler?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Ben Wheeler?
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.
Within Texas, the closest population matches are Eden (1,793 residents, $45,694 income); Eldorado (1,793 residents, $66,125 income); Clarendon (1,789 residents, $54,441 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Rainbow, CA (1,793 residents); Wanchese, NC (1,793 residents); Big Beaver, PA (1,793 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.
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.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income A
$118,174
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Cost of living C-
97.1 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Bachelor's+ share F
12.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Ben Wheeler profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Household income: 85/100 (A) · $118,174
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 12/100 (F) · 12.1%
How does Ben Wheeler compare to other US cities?
Here's how Ben Wheeler stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income86% higher than other cities
Home value57% pricier than other cities
Median rent40% 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 Ben Wheeler against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Texas only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Texas-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Ben Wheeler near the bottom of Texas's cities
Among the 1,663 Texas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Ben Wheeler ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Ben Wheeler only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#145 of 1,520
90th percentile in Texas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Median Home Value
#369 of 1,505
75th percentile in Texas
Poverty Rate
#1,440 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1,138 of 1,663
31st percentile in Texas
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 Texas only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
86th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Ben Wheeler's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$258,60043rd percentilemore affordable than 43% 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
Ben Wheeler's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,402 of 15,516
More affordable than 85% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,258 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.2×, Ben Wheeler sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,402 of 15,516 and #2,258 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
$118,174Ben Wheeler, TX median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Ben Wheeler, TX median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Ben Wheeler, TX.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)12.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,793
Median Income
$118,174
Median Home Value
$258,600
Median Age
29.3
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
58.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
12.1%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
70.5%
Carpool
23.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
6.5%
Based on 722 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Texas statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $223
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Texas at $223 (electricity about $130 , water and sewer about $48 ).
These are Texas statewide averages, not a meter reading for Ben Wheeler. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Texas's BEA cost-of-living index is 97.1 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Ben Wheeler is $1,149/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Texas statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 49.0 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Texas statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Ben Wheeler sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Ben Wheeler compares to similar-size Texas 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.