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
SheetWY-CHUGWATER-WY · Chugwater, WY 200 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 Chugwater
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Chugwater on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
East Thermopo… · lowest
20,865
East Thermopo… · lowest
20,865 median HH income
12.6% of the leader · rank #1
Shreve · near
66,011
Shreve · near
66,011 median HH income
39.9% of the leader · rank #2
Chugwater · this city
66,016
Chugwater · this city
66,016 median HH income
39.9% of the leader · rank #3
Latimer · near
66,016
Latimer · near
66,016 median HH income
39.9% of the leader · rank #4
Harrisville · near
66,016
Harrisville · near
66,016 median HH income
39.9% of the leader · rank #5
Barry · near
66,017
Barry · near
66,017 median HH income
39.9% of the leader · rank #6
Albin · highest
165,469
Albin · highest
165,469 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 Chugwater 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: 200.
Chugwater ranks in the 44th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
44th
percentile, household income
57th
percentile, home value
18th
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: Chugwater, WY
200 people live in Chugwater, Wyoming - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Chugwater brings in $66,016 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 4.4%. Home values in Chugwater run a median of $254,400, and the median resident age is 69.4 years. 13.0% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 39.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 0 residential building permits were authorized in Chugwater (No Permits), per Census BPS data. The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 47.8°F with 16.8 inches of precipitation per year and 69.8 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in Wyoming run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Wyoming scores 92.7 (Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,044 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Wyoming run around $180, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Natural-hazard exposure scores 37.9 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Chugwater'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 work and mobility to comparison shortlist to schools and households to housing and income to population change to climate and hazard context; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Chugwater, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, matched public-school count, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for 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 journey to work look like in Chugwater?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 69.1%. 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 Chugwater?
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 Wyoming, the closest population matches are Albin (198 residents, $165,469 income); Wamsutter (206 residents, $67,813 income); Fort Bridger (193 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Gakona, AK (200 residents); Day, FL (200 residents); Laclede, ID (200 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 education layer cover for Chugwater?
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. 13.0% 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 Chugwater?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.4%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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.
Population change
Is Chugwater growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -7 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -4.0% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 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 downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
2020 estimate
177
2025 estimate
170
Period change
-4.0%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
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.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 47.8°F, with 16.8 inches of precipitation and 69.8 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Wyoming is 37.9 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.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
37.9
Annual precipitation
16.8 in
Mean temperature
47.8°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Below median income · poverty 4.4% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
92.7 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Wyoming average
C-
City profile score · Chugwater, WY
52/100
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 B+
92.7 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Poverty rate B-
4.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income D
$66,016
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
13.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Chugwater profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 75/100 (B+) · 92.7 index
Poverty rate: 69/100 (B-) · 4.4%
Household income: 43/100 (D) · $66,016
Bachelor's+ share: 15/100 (F) · 13.0%
How does Chugwater compare to other US cities?
Where Chugwater sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income44% higher than other cities
Home value57% pricier than other cities
Median rent18% 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 Chugwater against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Wyoming only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Wyoming-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Chugwater near the bottom of Wyoming's cities
Among the 150 Wyoming cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Chugwater ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Chugwater only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#81 of 135
40th percentile in Wyoming
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 150
0th percentile in Wyoming
Median Home Value
#54 of 128
58th percentile in Wyoming
Poverty Rate
#84 of 149
44th percentile in Wyoming
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#103 of 150
31st percentile in Wyoming
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 Wyoming only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
44th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Chugwater's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$254,40043rd percentilemore affordable than 43% 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
Chugwater's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,234 of 15,516
More affordable than 34% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,065 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.9×, Chugwater sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,234 of 15,516 and #8,065 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
$66,016Chugwater, WY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Chugwater, WY median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Chugwater, WY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)13.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)39.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
200
Median Income
$66,016
Median Home Value
$254,400
Median Age
69.4
Poverty Rate
4.4%
Labor force participation
39.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
13.0%
Climate
Avg Temperature
47.8°F
Annual Precipitation
16.8"
Annual Snowfall
69.8"
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
Chugwater's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
177 residents
2021
177 residents
2022
175 residents
2023
172 residents
2024
170 residents
2025
170 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
0
0
0
-
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
69.1%
Carpool
11.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
11.8%
Work from Home
7.4%
Based on 68 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Wyoming statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $180
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Wyoming at $180 (electricity about $85 , water and sewer about $40 ).
These are Wyoming statewide averages, not a meter reading for Chugwater. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Wyoming's BEA cost-of-living index is 92.7 (Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Chugwater is $1,044/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Wyoming statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 37.9 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Wyoming statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Chugwater sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Chugwater compares to similar-size Wyoming 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 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.