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Place dossier plate
SheetTX-CLIFTON-TX · Clifton, TX 3,489 pop · income 41st pct · 7 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 Clifton
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Clifton on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Laureles · lowest
45,640
Laureles · lowest
45,640 median HH income
28.6% of the leader · rank #1
Lawrenceburg · near
63,690
Lawrenceburg · near
63,690 median HH income
39.9% of the leader · rank #2
Rio Rico · near
63,692
Rio Rico · near
63,692 median HH income
39.9% of the leader · rank #3
Clifton · this city
63,696
Clifton · this city
63,696 median HH income
40.0% of the leader · rank #4
Damariscotta · near
63,696
Damariscotta · near
63,696 median HH income
40.0% of the leader · rank #5
Los Lunas · near
63,696
Los Lunas · near
63,696 median HH income
40.0% 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Clifton 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: 3,489.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Clifton - the verdict
Nationally, Clifton sits in the 41st percentile for household income and the 94th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
41st
percentile, household income
26th
percentile, home value
40th
percentile, median rent
94th
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: Clifton, TX
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 3,489 residents in Clifton, a small town within Texas. Clifton households earn a median of $63,696 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 5.3%. Clifton's housing stock carries a median value of $147,500, and the median resident age is 47.4 years. Educational attainment runs 25.9% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 48.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 3 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 200% from five years earlier. Clifton reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 253.3 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Texas tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Texas at 97.1 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Near Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,149 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Texas's average monthly utility costs around $223 (state average). 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 Clifton'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 reported crime to housing and income to population change to comparison shortlist to schools and households to work and mobility to within-city variation; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Clifton, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, local building permits, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Clifton?
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 253.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 89% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
How far does income reach against housing in Clifton?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 5.3%, 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Clifton?
Within Texas, the closest population matches are Central Gardens (3,491 residents, $81,042 income); Springtown (3,493 residents, $70,254 income); La Blanca (3,479 residents, $50,491 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Stepney, CT (3,489 residents); Pen Argyl, PA (3,489 residents); Alexander, AR (3,488 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.
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.
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 Clifton 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 +54 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.6% 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.
Period change
+1.6%
2025 estimate
3,523
2020 estimate
3,469
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 25.9% 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 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+
25.9%
Poverty estimate
5.3%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in Clifton?
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 80.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
9.2%
Drive alone
80.4%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,281 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 5.3% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Texas average
C
City profile score · Clifton, TX
59/100
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.
Violent crime A+
28 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate C+
5.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
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 C-
25.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income D
$63,696
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Clifton profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 90/100 (A+) · 28 /100k
Poverty rate: 63/100 (C+) · 5.3%
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 51/100 (C-) · 25.9%
Household income: 40/100 (D) · $63,696
Where Clifton sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Clifton'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 - Clifton highlighted among 24 peers.Read the chart values
Clifton, TX (this city): home $147,500, crime 253/100k
Alexander, AR : home $157,700, crime 2,828/100k
Springtown, TX : home $223,600, crime 1,146/100k
Eagle Lake, TX : home $110,700, crime 850/100k
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 Clifton compare to other US cities?
Where Clifton sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income41% higher than other cities
Home value26% pricier than other cities
Median rent40% pricier than other cities
Safety94% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Texas, Clifton ranks #38 of 624 Texas cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Clifton 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 Clifton near the bottom of Texas's cities
Among the 1,663 Texas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Clifton ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Clifton only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#752 of 1,520
51st percentile in Texas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Median Home Value
#819 of 1,505
46th percentile in Texas
Poverty Rate
#1,086 of 1,663
34th percentile in Texas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#474 of 1,663
71st 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
41st percentile nationally for median household income · 94th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Clifton's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Clifton'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 Clifton's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$147,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 74% 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
Clifton's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,037 of 15,516
More affordable than 80% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,803 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.3×, Clifton sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,037 of 15,516 and #2,803 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
$63,696Clifton, TX median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Clifton, 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 Clifton, TX.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)25.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)5.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)48.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,489
Median Income
$63,696
Median Home Value
$147,500
Median Age
47.4
Poverty Rate
5.3%
Labor force participation
48.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
25.9%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
253.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
28.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
225.2
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
Clifton's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,469 residents
2021
3,492 residents
2022
3,491 residents
2023
3,533 residents
2024
3,542 residents
2025
3,523 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
3
housing units authorized
Single-Family
3
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.9
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
1
1
0
$0.3M
2020
1
1
0
$0.1M
2021
2
2
0
$0.8M
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
3
3
0
$0.9M
2024
3
3
0
$0.8M
Permit volume increased 200% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
80.4%
Carpool
4.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
2.2%
Work from Home
9.2%
Other
3.5%
Based on 1,281 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 Clifton. 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 Clifton 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 Clifton sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Clifton 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, 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.