Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetWI-DARLINGTON-WI · Darlington, WI 2,473 pop · income 39th pct · 5 tracts
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 Darlington
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Darlington on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Abbeville · lowest
32,778
Abbeville · lowest
32,778 median HH income
19.1% of the leader · rank #1
Stewart · near
62,692
Stewart · near
62,692 median HH income
36.6% of the leader · rank #2
Darlington · this city
62,695
Darlington · this city
62,695 median HH income
36.6% of the leader · rank #3
Waynesville · near
62,702
Waynesville · near
62,702 median HH income
36.6% of the leader · rank #4
Fruitland · near
62,703
Fruitland · near
62,703 median HH income
36.6% of the leader · rank #5
Cross Lanes · near
62,704
Cross Lanes · near
62,704 median HH income
36.6% of the leader · rank #6
Owings · highest
171,194
Owings · highest
171,194 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 Darlington 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: 2,473.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Darlington - the verdict
Darlington ranks in the 39th percentile for household income and the 89th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
39th
percentile, household income
22nd
percentile, home value
29th
percentile, median rent
89th
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: Darlington, WI
2,473 people live in Darlington, Wisconsin - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $62,695 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 11.3%. Darlington's housing stock carries a median value of $134,300, and the median resident age is 35.9 years. Educational attainment runs 21.4% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 62.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 2 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Low Activity). Darlington reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 395.6 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Living costs in Wisconsin run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Wisconsin scores 94.1 (Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,097 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Wisconsin's average monthly utility costs around $225 (state average). Natural-hazard exposure scores 59.1 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Darlington'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 schools and households to within-city variation to comparison shortlist to housing and income to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Darlington, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, matched public-school count, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
Is Darlington growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +34 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 2 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Darlington?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 69.0%. 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.
What can 5 Census tracts reveal inside Darlington?
PlainCities matches 5 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
Which cities make useful reference points for Darlington?
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 Wisconsin, the closest population matches are Denmark (2,472 residents, $72,083 income); Ixonia (2,470 residents, $110,000 income); St. Croix Falls (2,469 residents, $63,179 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Milan, NM (2,473 residents); Hebron, OH (2,474 residents); Owings, MD (2,475 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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Darlington?
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 2 public schools within the city match. 21.4% 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.
Poverty estimate
11.3%
Bachelor's degree+
21.4%
Matched public schools
2
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Darlington?
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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 11.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.1×
Home value
$134,300
Household income
$62,695
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Darlington?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 395.6 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 83% 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.
Total reported rate
395.6
Violent rate
118.7
Property rate
276.9
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Below median income · poverty 11.3% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Wisconsin average
D
City profile score · Darlington, WI
49/100
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.
Cost of living B-
94.1 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 B-
119 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income F
$62,695
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
21.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
11.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Darlington profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 68/100 (B-) · 94.1 index
Violent crime: 66/100 (B-) · 119 /100k
Household income: 39/100 (F) · $62,695
Bachelor's+ share: 38/100 (F) · 21.4%
Poverty rate: 35/100 (F) · 11.3%
Where Darlington sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Darlington'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 - Darlington highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Darlington, WI (this city): home $134,300, crime 396/100k
Milan, NM : home $71,300, crime 1,140/100k
Hebron, OH : home $168,500, crime 1,124/100k
Abbeville, AL : home $98,000, crime 1,928/100k
Superior, AZ : home $136,700, crime 3,396/100k
Wellton, AZ : home $82,900, crime 379/100k
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 Darlington compare to other US cities?
Where Darlington sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income39% higher than other cities
Home value22% pricier than other cities
Median rent29% pricier than other cities
Safety89% 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 Wisconsin, Darlington ranks #33 of 202 Wisconsin 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 Darlington against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Wisconsin only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Wisconsin-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Darlington near the bottom of Wisconsin's cities
Among the 761 Wisconsin cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Darlington ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Darlington only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#470 of 753
38th percentile in Wisconsin
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 761
0th percentile in Wisconsin
Median Home Value
#579 of 754
23rd percentile in Wisconsin
Poverty Rate
#141 of 761
81st percentile in Wisconsin
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#382 of 761
50th percentile in Wisconsin
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 Wisconsin only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
39th percentile nationally for median household income · 89th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Darlington's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Darlington'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 Darlington's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$134,300Among the most affordablemore affordable than 78% 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
Darlington's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,189 of 15,516
More affordable than 86% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,069 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.1×, Darlington sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,189 of 15,516 and #2,069 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$62,695Darlington, WI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Darlington, WI median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Darlington, WI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)21.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)62.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,473
Median Income
$62,695
Median Home Value
$134,300
Median Age
35.9
Poverty Rate
11.3%
Labor force participation
62.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
21.4%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
395.6
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
118.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
276.9
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
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Darlington's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,456 residents
2021
2,459 residents
2022
2,459 residents
2023
2,466 residents
2024
2,484 residents
2025
2,490 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Low Activity
Total Permits (2024)
2
housing units authorized
Single-Family
2
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.8
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
32
0
32
$5.2M
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
2
2
0
$0.4M
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
69.0%
Carpool
11.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
7.3%
Work from Home
12.1%
Based on 1,132 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Wisconsin statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $225
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Wisconsin at $225 (electricity about $100 , water and sewer about $45 ).
These are Wisconsin statewide averages, not a meter reading for Darlington. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Wisconsin's BEA cost-of-living index is 94.1 (Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Darlington is $1,097/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Wisconsin statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 59.1 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Wisconsin statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Darlington sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Darlington compares to similar-size Wisconsin 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.