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Place dossier plate
SheetVT-CHELSEA-VT · Chelsea, VT 416 pop · income 13th 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 Chelsea
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Chelsea on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Pinnacle · lowest
30,109
Pinnacle · lowest
30,109 median HH income
25.9% of the leader · rank #1
St. Francis · near
45,324
St. Francis · near
45,324 median HH income
39.1% of the leader · rank #2
Chelsea · this city
45,333
Chelsea · this city
45,333 median HH income
39.1% of the leader · rank #3
Ages · near
45,333
Ages · near
45,333 median HH income
39.1% of the leader · rank #4
Berwick · near
45,338
Berwick · near
45,338 median HH income
39.1% of the leader · rank #5
Nambe · near
45,341
Nambe · near
45,341 median HH income
39.1% of the leader · rank #6
Highgate Cent… · highest
116,049
Highgate Cent… · highest
116,049 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 Chelsea 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: 416.
Nationally, Chelsea sits in the 13th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
13th
percentile, household income
24th
percentile, home value
73rd
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: Chelsea, VT
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 416 residents in Chelsea, a small town within Vermont. Households in Chelsea report a median income of $45,333 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 13.4%. Typical homes in Chelsea are valued around $139,200, and the median resident age is 40.9 years. 20.4% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 47.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 41.9°F with 42.4 inches of precipitation per year and 88.8 inches of snowfall.
Vermont tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: the state registers 98.0 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Near Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,487 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $251 across Vermont, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 36.4 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Chelsea'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 schools and households to housing and income to climate and hazard context to work and mobility to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Chelsea, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, 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 education layer cover for Chelsea?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 20.4% 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 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Chelsea?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 13.4%, 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.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 41.9°F, with 42.4 inches of precipitation and 88.8 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Vermont is 36.4 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 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Chelsea?
Within Vermont, the closest population matches are Ascutney (413 residents, $50,161 income); Highgate Center (410 residents, $116,049 income); Wells (423 residents, $73,750 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Willisville, IL (416 residents); Little Rock, IA (416 residents); Mesick, MI (416 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.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Chelsea?
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 60.4%. 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
11.9%
Drive alone
60.4%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 159 workers age 16+.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Vermont average
F
City profile score · Chelsea, VT
29/100
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 D
98.0 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
20.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
13.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$45,333
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Chelsea profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 48/100 (D) · 98.0 index
Bachelor's+ share: 35/100 (F) · 20.4%
Poverty rate: 26/100 (F) · 13.4%
Household income: 14/100 (F) · $45,333
How does Chelsea compare to other US cities?
Where Chelsea sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income13% higher than other cities
Home value24% pricier than other cities
Median rent73% 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 Chelsea against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Vermont only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Vermont-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Chelsea near the bottom of Vermont's cities
Among the 161 Vermont cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Chelsea ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Chelsea only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#129 of 149
13th percentile in Vermont
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 161
0th percentile in Vermont
Median Home Value
#140 of 152
7th percentile in Vermont
Poverty Rate
#27 of 161
83rd percentile in Vermont
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#128 of 161
20th percentile in Vermont
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 Vermont only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
13th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Chelsea's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$139,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 76% 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
Chelsea's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,060 of 15,516
More affordable than 55% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#5,912 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.1×, Chelsea sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,060 of 15,516 and #5,912 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
$45,333Chelsea, VT median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Chelsea, VT median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Chelsea, VT.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)20.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)13.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)47.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
416
Median Income
$45,333
Median Home Value
$139,200
Median Age
40.9
Poverty Rate
13.4%
Labor force participation
47.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
20.4%
Climate
Avg Temperature
41.9°F
Annual Precipitation
42.4"
Annual Snowfall
88.8"
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
60.4%
Carpool
25.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.9%
Work from Home
11.9%
Based on 159 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Vermont statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $251
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Vermont at $251 (electricity about $105 , water and sewer about $48 ).
These are Vermont statewide averages, not a meter reading for Chelsea. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Vermont's BEA cost-of-living index is 98.0 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Chelsea is $1,487/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Vermont statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 36.4 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Vermont statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Chelsea sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Chelsea compares to similar-size Vermont 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 ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.