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Place dossier plate
SheetUT-BOULDER-UT · Boulder, UT 389 pop · income 20th 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 Boulder
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Boulder on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Fort Duchesne · lowest
40,052
Fort Duchesne · lowest
40,052 median HH income
17.8% of the leader · rank #1
McGill · near
50,446
McGill · near
50,446 median HH income
22.4% of the leader · rank #2
Northern Camb… · near
50,448
Northern Camb… · near
50,448 median HH income
22.4% of the leader · rank #3
Boulder · this city
50,450
Boulder · this city
50,450 median HH income
22.4% of the leader · rank #4
Davison · near
50,450
Davison · near
50,450 median HH income
22.4% of the leader · rank #5
Painesville · near
50,455
Painesville · near
50,455 median HH income
22.4% of the leader · rank #6
Comanche Creek · highest
225,175
Comanche Creek · highest
225,175 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 Boulder 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: 389.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Boulder lands in the 20th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
20th
percentile, household income
66th
percentile, home value
60th
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: Boulder, UT
389 people live in Boulder, Utah - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $50,450 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 23.9%. Typical homes in Boulder are valued around $304,300, and the median resident age is 37.8 years. Educational attainment runs 34.2% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 39.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 0 residential units were authorized in 2024 (No Permits), down 100% from five years earlier. The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 50.3°F with 11.8 inches of precipitation per year and 51.6 inches of snowfall.
Utah tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Utah at 98.9 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Near Average). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,313 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Utah run around $178, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 36.2 out of 100 (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Boulder'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 climate and hazard context to schools and households to work and mobility to housing and income to comparison shortlist to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Boulder, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, annual population history, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Boulder?
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 50.3°F, with 11.8 inches of precipitation and 51.6 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Utah is 36.2 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 34.2% 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Boulder?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 67.8%. 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. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Boulder?
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 Utah, the closest population matches are Altamont (390 residents, $88,750 income); Fayette (388 residents, $67,917 income); Plymouth (394 residents, $83,393 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Millerville, AL (389 residents); Comanche Creek, CO (389 residents); Stonefort, IL (389 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.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Boulder?
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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 6.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 23.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
6.0×
Home value
$304,300
Household income
$50,450
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +13 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +5.5% 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.
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.
2020 estimate
235
2025 estimate
248
Period change
+5.5%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Low income · poverty 23.9% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
98.9 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Utah average
F
City profile score · Boulder, UT
31/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share B-
34.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Cost of living D
98.9 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
$50,450
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
23.9%
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).
Boulder profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 65/100 (B-) · 34.2%
Cost of living: 44/100 (D) · 98.9 index
Household income: 21/100 (F) · $50,450
Poverty rate: 7/100 (F) · 23.9%
How does Boulder compare to other US cities?
Boulder measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income20% higher than other cities
Home value66% pricier than other cities
Median rent60% 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 Boulder against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Utah only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Utah-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Boulder near the bottom of Utah's cities
Among the 310 Utah cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Boulder ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Boulder only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#272 of 293
7th percentile in Utah
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 310
0th percentile in Utah
Median Home Value
#207 of 301
31st percentile in Utah
Poverty Rate
#13 of 310
96th percentile in Utah
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#116 of 310
62nd percentile in Utah
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 Utah only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
20th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Boulder's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$304,30034th percentilemore affordable than 34% 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
Boulder's home-value-to-income ratio: 6.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,121 of 15,516
More affordable than 9% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,474 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 6.0×, Boulder sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,121 of 15,516 and #10,474 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
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
$50,450Boulder, UT median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Boulder, UT median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Boulder, UT.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)34.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)23.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)39.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
389
Median Income
$50,450
Median Home Value
$304,300
Median Age
37.8
Poverty Rate
23.9%
Labor force participation
39.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
34.2%
Climate
Avg Temperature
50.3°F
Annual Precipitation
11.8"
Annual Snowfall
51.6"
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Boulder's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
235 residents
2021
240 residents
2022
248 residents
2023
250 residents
2024
251 residents
2025
248 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
3
3
0
$0.8M
2020
4
4
0
$1.2M
2021
0
0
0
-
Permit volume decreased 100% from 2019 to 2021.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
67.8%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
6.1%
Work from Home
20.9%
Other
5.2%
Based on 115 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Utah statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $178
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Utah at $178 (electricity about $85 , water and sewer about $45 ).
These are Utah statewide averages, not a meter reading for Boulder. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Utah's BEA cost-of-living index is 98.9 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Boulder is $1,313/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Utah statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 36.2 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Utah statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Boulder sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Boulder compares to similar-size Utah 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.