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Place dossier plate
SheetWA-SHADOW-LAKE-WA · Shadow Lake, WA 2,221 pop · income 92nd 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 Shadow Lake
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Shadow Lake on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Heidelberg · lowest
31,466
Heidelberg · lowest
31,466 median HH income
22.1% of the leader · rank #1
Dayton · near
137,383
Dayton · near
137,383 median HH income
96.3% of the leader · rank #2
Antioch · near
137,404
Antioch · near
137,404 median HH income
96.3% of the leader · rank #3
Shadow Lake · this city
137,407
Shadow Lake · this city
137,407 median HH income
96.4% of the leader · rank #4
Woodland Hills · near
137,426
Woodland Hills · near
137,426 median HH income
96.4% of the leader · rank #5
Leesylvania · near
137,460
Leesylvania · near
137,460 median HH income
96.4% of the leader · rank #6
Geneva · highest
142,612
Geneva · highest
142,612 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 Shadow Lake 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: 2,221.
Nationally, Shadow Lake sits in the 92nd percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
92nd
percentile, household income
95th
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: Shadow Lake, WA
Shadow Lake is a small town in Washington, home to 2,221 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Shadow Lake brings in $137,407 a year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 1.7%. Shadow Lake's housing stock carries a median value of $847,100, and the median resident age is 44.9 years. 30.5% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 64.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Washington run around $188, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Shadow Lake'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 comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Shadow Lake, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Shadow Lake?
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 Geneva (2,200 residents, $142,612 income); McCleary (2,262 residents, $75,652 income); Walla Walla East (2,264 residents, $87,723 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Heidelberg, TX (2,221 residents); Doniphan, MO (2,220 residents); Byesville, OH (2,220 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 does the journey to work look like in Shadow Lake?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 70.8%. 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Shadow Lake?
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 6.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 1.7%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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.
Household income A+
$137,407
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate A
1.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C
30.5%
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.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Shadow Lake profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 92/100 (A+) · $137,407
Poverty rate: 88/100 (A) · 1.7%
Bachelor's+ share: 59/100 (C) · 30.5%
Cost of living: 15/100 (F) · 107.0 index
How does Shadow Lake compare to other US cities?
Shadow Lake measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income92% higher than other cities
Home value95% 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 Shadow Lake 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 Shadow Lake near the bottom of Washington's cities
Among the 599 Washington cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Shadow Lake ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Shadow Lake only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#66 of 565
88th percentile in Washington
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 599
0th percentile in Washington
Median Home Value
#39 of 565
93rd percentile in Washington
Poverty Rate
#446 of 598
25th percentile in Washington
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#232 of 599
61st 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
92nd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Shadow Lake's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$847,1005th percentilemore affordable than 5% 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
Shadow Lake's home-value-to-income ratio: 6.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,222 of 15,516
More affordable than 8% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,534 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 6.2×, Shadow Lake sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,222 of 15,516 and #10,534 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
$137,407Shadow Lake, WA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Shadow Lake, 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 Shadow Lake, WA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)30.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)1.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)64.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,221
Median Income
$137,407
Median Home Value
$847,100
Median Age
44.9
Poverty Rate
1.7%
Labor force participation
64.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
30.5%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
70.8%
Carpool
3.3%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.8%
Work from Home
23.5%
Other
0.6%
Based on 1,088 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 Shadow Lake. 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 Shadow Lake 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 Shadow Lake sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Shadow Lake 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, 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.