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Place dossier plate
SheetWA-MONTESANO-WA · Montesano, WA 4,157 pop · income 44th 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 Montesano
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Montesano on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Sebring · lowest
48,887
Sebring · lowest
48,887 median HH income
26.8% of the leader · rank #1
Montesano · this city
65,938
Montesano · this city
65,938 median HH income
36.2% of the leader · rank #2
Plainview · near
65,938
Plainview · near
65,938 median HH income
36.2% of the leader · rank #3
Farragut · near
65,938
Farragut · near
65,938 median HH income
36.2% of the leader · rank #4
Marble Rock · near
65,938
Marble Rock · near
65,938 median HH income
36.2% of the leader · rank #5
Reading · near
65,938
Reading · near
65,938 median HH income
36.2% of the leader · rank #6
Mirrormont · highest
182,283
Mirrormont · highest
182,283 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 Montesano 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: 4,157.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Montesano - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Montesano lands in the 44th percentile for household income and the 42nd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
44th
percentile, household income
69th
percentile, home value
70th
percentile, median rent
42nd
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: Montesano, WA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 4,157 residents in Montesano, a small town within Washington. The typical household in Montesano brings in $65,938 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 1.2%. Montesano's housing stock carries a median value of $331,300, and the median resident age is 42.3 years. About 26.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 49.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 1 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 80% from five years earlier. Montesano reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 1623.3 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,472 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $188 across Washington, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 70.0 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Montesano'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 population change to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to reported crime to housing and income to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Montesano, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, local building permits, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Is Montesano growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +22 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 1 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
What does the journey to work look like in Montesano?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 77.2%. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Montesano?
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.
Within Washington, the closest population matches are Mirrormont (4,217 residents, $182,283 income); Rosedale (4,267 residents, $149,632 income); Larch Way (4,046 residents, $141,429 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Amity Gardens, PA (4,158 residents); Gardnertown, NY (4,154 residents); Surf City, NC (4,160 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Montesano?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1623.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 29% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
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 Montesano?
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 5.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 1.2%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
5.0×
Home value
$331,300
Household income
$65,938
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the education layer cover for Montesano?
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.
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 26.7% 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.
Poverty estimate
1.2%
Bachelor's degree+
26.7%
Matched public schools
3
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Below median income · poverty 1.2% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
107.0 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, Washington average
C-
City profile score · Montesano, WA
54/100
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.
Poverty rate A+
1.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime B
96 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C-
26.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income D
$65,938
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); 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.
Montesano profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 91/100 (A+) · 1.2%
Violent crime: 72/100 (B) · 96 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 52/100 (C-) · 26.7%
Household income: 43/100 (D) · $65,938
Cost of living: 15/100 (F) · 107.0 index
Where Montesano sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Montesano'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 - Montesano highlighted among 25 peers.Read the chart values
Montesano, WA (this city): home $331,300, crime 1,623/100k
Surf City, NC : home $478,600, crime 2,070/100k
Sebring, OH : home $95,600, crime 1,747/100k
Whitesboro, TX : home $211,900, crime 902/100k
Riverside, MO : home $314,600, crime 5,325/100k
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 Montesano compare to other US cities?
Here's how Montesano stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income44% higher than other cities
Home value69% pricier than other cities
Median rent70% pricier than other cities
Safety42% 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 Washington, Montesano ranks #61 of 156 Washington 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 Montesano 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 Montesano near the bottom of Washington's cities
Among the 599 Washington cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Montesano ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Montesano only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#410 of 565
27th percentile in Washington
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 599
0th percentile in Washington
Median Home Value
#367 of 565
35th percentile in Washington
Poverty Rate
#466 of 598
22nd percentile in Washington
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#282 of 599
52nd 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
44th percentile nationally for median household income · 42nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Montesano's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Montesano'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 Montesano's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$331,30031st percentilemore affordable than 31% 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
Montesano's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#12,928 of 15,516
More affordable than 17% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,781 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 5.0×, Montesano sits in the pressured band:
national rank #12,928 of 15,516 and #9,781 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
$65,938Montesano, WA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Montesano, 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 Montesano, WA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)26.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)1.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)49.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
4,157
Median Income
$65,938
Median Home Value
$331,300
Median Age
42.3
Poverty Rate
1.2%
Labor force participation
49.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
26.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1623.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
95.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1527.8
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
Montesano's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
4,159 residents
2021
4,200 residents
2022
4,201 residents
2023
4,200 residents
2024
4,202 residents
2025
4,181 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
1
housing units authorized
Single-Family
1
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
5
5
0
$1.3M
2020
1
1
0
$0.2M
2021
5
5
0
$1.4M
2022
18
8
10
$3.8M
2023
6
6
0
$1.8M
2024
1
1
0
$0.5M
Permit volume decreased 80% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
77.2%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.2%
Walk
11.6%
Work from Home
10.5%
Based on 1,556 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 Montesano. 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 Montesano 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 Montesano sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Montesano 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, 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.