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Place dossier plate
SheetTX-LAMAR-TX · Lamar, TX 1,282 pop · income 65th 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 Lamar
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Lamar on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Bayboro · lowest
28,125
Bayboro · lowest
28,125 median HH income
17.3% of the leader · rank #1
Blue Ridge · near
83,113
Blue Ridge · near
83,113 median HH income
51.1% of the leader · rank #2
Lamar · this city
83,117
Lamar · this city
83,117 median HH income
51.1% of the leader · rank #3
Lowell · near
83,125
Lowell · near
83,125 median HH income
51.1% of the leader · rank #4
Fostoria · near
83,125
Fostoria · near
83,125 median HH income
51.1% of the leader · rank #5
Lisbon · near
83,125
Lisbon · near
83,125 median HH income
51.1% of the leader · rank #6
Dennis · highest
162,558
Dennis · highest
162,558 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 Lamar 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: 1,282.
Nationally, Lamar sits in the 65th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
65th
percentile, household income
68th
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: Lamar, TX
1,282 people live in Lamar, Texas - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Lamar brings in $83,117 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Typical homes in Lamar are valued around $323,700, and the median resident age is 60.3 years. About 42.9% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 44.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Texas run around $223, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Natural-hazard exposure scores 49.0 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Lamar'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 housing and income to comparison shortlist to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Lamar, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, matched public-school count, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Lamar?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, 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 Lamar?
Within Texas, the closest population matches are Booker (1,283 residents, $67,569 income); Seven Points (1,287 residents, $55,517 income); Milam (1,275 residents, $46,200 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Woodstock, AL (1,282 residents); Westlake, IL (1,282 residents); Bayboro, NC (1,282 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.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 58.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Above median income · poverty 0.0% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Texas average
B
City profile score · Lamar, TX
72/100
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.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share B+
42.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income C+
$83,117
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.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Lamar profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Bachelor's+ share: 78/100 (B+) · 42.9%
Household income: 62/100 (C+) · $83,117
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
How does Lamar compare to other US cities?
Where Lamar sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income65% higher than other cities
Home value68% 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 Lamar 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 Lamar near the bottom of Texas's cities
Among the 1,663 Texas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Lamar ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Lamar only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#405 of 1,520
73rd percentile in Texas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Median Home Value
#222 of 1,505
85th percentile in Texas
Poverty Rate
#1,440 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#191 of 1,663
88th 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
65th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Lamar's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$323,70032nd percentilemore affordable than 32% 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
Lamar's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,387 of 15,516
More affordable than 33% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,160 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.9×, Lamar sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,387 of 15,516 and #8,160 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
$83,117Lamar, TX median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Lamar, 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 Lamar, TX.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)42.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)44.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,282
Median Income
$83,117
Median Home Value
$323,700
Median Age
60.3
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
44.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
42.9%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
58.3%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
1.4%
Walk
1.4%
Work from Home
36.7%
Other
2.2%
Based on 515 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 Lamar. 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 Lamar 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 Lamar sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Lamar 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.