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Place dossier plate
SheetWA-METALINE-FALLS-WA · Metaline Falls, WA 288 pop · income 8th 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 Metaline Falls
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Metaline Falls on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Castleberry · lowest
21,111
Castleberry · lowest
21,111 median HH income
8.4% of the leader · rank #1
Metaline Falls · this city
40,179
Metaline Falls · this city
40,179 median HH income
16.1% of the leader · rank #2
Big River · near
40,179
Big River · near
40,179 median HH income
16.1% of the leader · rank #3
Sebeka · near
40,179
Sebeka · near
40,179 median HH income
16.1% of the leader · rank #4
Gordonville · near
40,179
Gordonville · near
40,179 median HH income
16.1% of the leader · rank #5
Lewistown · near
40,179
Lewistown · near
40,179 median HH income
16.1% of the leader · rank #6
Beaux Arts · highest
250,001
Beaux Arts · highest
250,001 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 Metaline Falls 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: 288.
Nationally, Metaline Falls sits in the 8th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
8th
percentile, household income
64th
percentile, home value
70th
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: Metaline Falls, WA
288 people live in Metaline Falls, Washington - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Metaline Falls report a median income of $40,179 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 2.9%. Typical homes in Metaline Falls are valued around $291,700, and the median resident age is 58.1 years. About 22.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 33.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 1 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
Washington carries a cost-of-living premium: the state registers 107.0 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Above Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,472 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Washington's average monthly utility costs around $188 (state average). FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 70.0 out of 100 (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Metaline Falls'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 population change 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 Metaline Falls, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for 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.
1. Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Metaline Falls?
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. 22.7% 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Metaline Falls?
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 7.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Is Metaline Falls growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +7 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.6% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Metaline Falls?
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 Washington, the closest population matches are Colton (291 residents, $97,188 income); Acme (284 residents); Glacier (292 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Castleberry, AL (288 residents); Point Lay, AK (288 residents); Yuma Proving Ground, AZ (288 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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Metaline Falls?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 62.7%. 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.
Drive alone
62.7%
Work from home
14.7%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 75 workers age 16+.
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 B+
2.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share D
22.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Cost of living F
107.0 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Household income F
$40,179
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).
Metaline Falls profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 79/100 (B+) · 2.9%
Bachelor's+ share: 42/100 (D) · 22.7%
Cost of living: 15/100 (F) · 107.0 index
Household income: 7/100 (F) · $40,179
How does Metaline Falls compare to other US cities?
Metaline Falls measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income8% higher than other cities
Home value64% pricier than other cities
Median rent70% 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 Metaline Falls against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Washington only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Washington-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Metaline Falls near the bottom of Washington's cities
Among the 599 Washington cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Metaline Falls ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Metaline Falls only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#550 of 565
3rd percentile in Washington
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 599
0th percentile in Washington
Median Home Value
#408 of 565
28th percentile in Washington
Poverty Rate
#405 of 598
31st percentile in Washington
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#344 of 599
42nd percentile in Washington
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 Washington only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
8th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Metaline Falls's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$291,70036th percentilemore affordable than 36% 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
Metaline Falls's home-value-to-income ratio: 7.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,797 of 15,516
More affordable than 5% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,870 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 7.3×, Metaline Falls sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,797 of 15,516 and #10,870 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
$40,179Metaline Falls, WA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Metaline Falls, WA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Metaline Falls, WA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)22.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)33.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
288
Median Income
$40,179
Median Home Value
$291,700
Median Age
58.1
Poverty Rate
2.9%
Labor force participation
33.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
22.7%
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
Metaline Falls's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
274 residents
2021
281 residents
2022
283 residents
2023
283 residents
2024
280 residents
2025
281 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
62.7%
Carpool
17.3%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
5.3%
Work from Home
14.7%
Based on 75 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Washington statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $188
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Washington at $188 (electricity about $85 , water and sewer about $55 ).
These are Washington statewide averages, not a meter reading for Metaline Falls. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Washington's BEA cost-of-living index is 107.0 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Metaline Falls is $1,472/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Washington statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 70.0 / 100 (High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Washington statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Metaline Falls sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Metaline Falls compares to similar-size Washington 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, 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.