Mason City, NE

The affordability dashboard for Mason City, NE aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 417 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of B- (69/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $78,750, median home value of $235,000, median rent of $879 per month, and 30.3% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $961 per month (studio $666, 1BR $732, 3BR $1,337, 4BR $1,472). Department of Labor data lists infant center-based childcare at $9,737 per year, consuming 12% of the local median household income.

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages — so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Strengths visible in the raw data for Mason City, NE include rent. Unemployment currently reads 0.0% and poverty 5.3% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.