City safety & data profile
CarthageMO
Carthage, MO is a 14K-resident city in Jasper County with a median household income of $51,328.
Jasper County, Missouri. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Carthage, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Carthage has a population larger than 24% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, a median home value of $146,800, and 1 hospital serving the surrounding area.
- 14K
- Population (place)
- Bottom 25%
- By size
- $51,328
- Median income (place)
- $146,800
- Median home (place)
- 27.2%
- Poverty rate (place)
The read on Carthage
Carthage posts a median household income higher than 11% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks, where 1 hospital serves the Carthage area.
- Bottom 12%
- by median income, US cities
- 1
- hospital in & near Carthage
Composite score · Carthage, MO
14/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2024
A transparent index Areazine derives from Census ACS medians (income, poverty, bachelor's share) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when published, not an official Census Bureau or FBI rating. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability rating, not a recommendation to move to or avoid any place. Missing inputs drop out and redistribute weight. How it is calculated.
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS 5-Year Estimates.
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents. State-level rate (per-city UCR reporting is incomplete/voluntary): every city in the state shares this value; lower is stronger on this axis.
Median household income vs cities tracked on Areazine; ACS 5-Year Estimates.
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis. ACS 5-Year Estimates.
Curious how Carthage stacks up nationwide? See the full tables: Healthiest Cities in America (health outcomes only) · Community Wellbeing Cities (this page's blended composite).
Where Carthage income ranks nationally
Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)
$51,328 Bottom 11% higher than 11% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles
Each bar is a $20,000-wide band; taller bars hold more places Areazine profiles. 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, American Community Survey (place-level) · 2024 ACS 5-year
MO cities ranked by population
Population among 83 MO places with 10,000+ residents and ACS income on Areazine. Tooltip shows the income rank in the same pool.
- Kansas City
Kansas City, MO
475,378 residents
- St. Louis
St. Louis, MO
279,695 residents
- Springfield 170,188
Springfield, MO
170,188 residents
- Columbia 129,330
Columbia, MO
129,330 residents
- Independence 117,255
Independence, MO
117,255 residents
- Lee's Summit 95,094
Lee's Summit, MO
95,094 residents
- O'Fallon 85,040
O'Fallon, MO
85,040 residents
- Saint Joseph 76,780
Saint Joseph, MO
76,780 residents
- Saint Charles 65,794
Saint Charles, MO
65,794 residents
- Blue Springs 54,148
Blue Springs, MO
54,148 residents
What this shows Kansas City tops this pool by population; the income lead belongs to Town and Country instead.
MO cities ranked by median household income
Median household income among the same 83-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.
- Town and Country
Town and Country, MO
$232,534 median
- Wildwood
Wildwood, MO
$161,060 median
- Dardenne Prairie
Dardenne Prairie, MO
$152,500 median
- Chesterfield
Chesterfield, MO
$133,037 median
- Creve Coeur
Creve Coeur, MO
$127,188 median
- Lake Saint Louis
Lake Saint Louis, MO
$125,693 median
- Ballwin
Ballwin, MO
$124,626 median
- Clayton
Clayton, MO
$123,000 median
- Kirkwood
Kirkwood, MO
$121,270 median
- Webster Groves
Webster Groves, MO
$115,227 median
What this shows Income honors go to Town and Country here -- by headcount, that title belongs to Kansas City.
The quick read
Reading Carthage, MO beyond the headline numbers
Carthage sits inside Jasper County, Missouri, at roughly 37.18°N, -94.31°W. Population 14,319, $51,328 median household income. Median home value $146,800, median rent $975. Poverty rate 27.2%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.
1 hospital in/around Carthage, 4/5 avg rating, 1 with an ER. Climate: 58.3°F annual average.
27.2% of Carthage, MO residents live below the poverty line, placing it in the hardest-hit quarter of reporting cities. Read every median on this page against that: half the households are above it, and a large minority are far below.
Among the CDC measures on this page, current smoking departs furthest from its peer median: 20.9% in Carthage, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,759 cities reporting that measure.
Carthage's median age is 32.2 years, in the youngest quarter of reporting cities.
Carthage's labor market runs tight: 3.2% unemployment, in the lowest quarter of reporting cities.
A typical renter in Carthage, MO pays $975/month, in the cheapest quarter of reporting cities -- rent here is not what strains a local paycheck.
Only 6.5% of Carthage workers report working from home, the lowest quarter of reporting cities -- an economy still built around showing up somewhere.
Housing is inexpensive against local pay -- the median home in Carthage runs about 2.9 years of median household income, in the cheapest quarter of reporting cities.
22.1% of Carthage adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, the lowest quarter of reporting cities.
Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Carthage from FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC. Economic comparison bars use the unweighted average across tracked Census places with a reported value, not a household-weighted national median.
Looking Back a Decade 2013–2024
County-level trend (Jasper County): Carthage's own historical series isn't separately published by the Census Bureau, so these year-over-year figures track the surrounding county, not the city alone.
Economic Snapshot
Carthage's poverty rate of 27.2% runs 119% above the tracked-city average, the most notable of the economic figures Areazine tracks here. A second figure worth noting: median household income at $51,328, 43% below the tracked-city average.
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Median Rent | |
| Poverty Rate | 27.2% +119% vs avg |
| Unemployment | 3.2% |
| Bachelor's Degree+ | 22.1% |
| Work From Home | 6.5% |
| Public Transit | 0.2% |
Headcount
Health Snapshot 15 measures
Health Indicators
Preventive Care
Other Measures
Local Hospitals 1 total
CMS Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating (1-5): a composite score across dozens of reported measures, not a single outcome guarantee for any patient. It isn't adjusted for patient case mix and isn't directly comparable across hospital types, a critical-access facility and a large teaching hospital aren't rated on the same measure set.
Climate
NOAA 1991-2020 NormalsCost of Living
BEA 202414.3% below national average
Metro area: Joplin, MO (MSA)
Source: BEA Regional Price Parities via FRED. RPP of 100 = national average.
Flood Insurance Claims History
FEMA NFIP, county-levelSince 2016, NFIP has paid out $1.5M across 54 flood insurance claims filed in Jasper County.
19 claims trace back to Late spring severe storms, the biggest named event in the county's flood-claim history.
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims, via OpenFEMA. County-level data: individual claims are not attributed to a specific city or address by FEMA.
What alerts and safety updates affect Carthage?
No area-tagged alerts are on record for Carthage right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.
City alert dispatch desk
Sheet MO-CARTHAGE · Carthage
Carthage: no area-tagged alerts on record. State hubs carry the live CAP stream.
- FEED-QUIET No tagged alerts
- LEAD-NONE Feed idle
- DESK-IDLE Awaiting feed
Counts reflect published articles tagged to Carthage; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse Missouri state hubs · Methodology
What People Ask 9
What is the population of Carthage, MO? ▼
What is the median household income in Carthage? ▼
What is the median home value in Carthage? ▼
What are the top health concerns in Carthage? ▼
How many hospitals are in Carthage? ▼
What is the median age in Carthage? ▼
What is the climate like in Carthage? ▼
What is the cost of living in Carthage? ▼
Has Carthage had flood insurance claims? ▼
Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8
Two ACS-derived peer sets for Carthage, both outside Missouri so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.
Similar poverty rate
Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside MO (27.2% here).
Similar median income
Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside MO ($51,328 here).
Compare Carthage with another city
Pick a second U.S. city to open a side-by-side profile on population, income, health, and hospitals, the same federal datasets as this page.
Nearby Places 8
Next steps for Carthage
Use this as a starting research checklist, not a verdict on whether to live here.
- Check live recalls, weather and hazard alerts scoped to the Carthage area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
- Read the poverty rate alongside the income figure, two places with the same median can have very different realities.
- Compare Carthage against Missouri peers on any ranking lens. Explore Missouri
Population and economics (income, home value, poverty, education) are place-level U.S. Census ACS; health is CDC PLACES; hospital counts reflect facilities in and around the city. County-level trends are labeled when shown.
Data Sources
All data on this page comes from official U.S. government sources. Population and economic data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates, place geography). Health data from the CDC PLACES program (2023). Hospital ratings from CMS Hospital Compare (2024). Climate data from NOAA. Education data from NCES. Cost of living from Bureau of Economic Analysis. Crime statistics, where referenced on Areazine, originate from the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Housing market figures referenced on Areazine come from HUD Fair Market Rents. Census economics and population are at place geography; some health and hospital indicators are reported at the county level (Jasper County) where that is the smallest published unit.
Every figure on Areazine is published directly from official U.S. government sources, no number is typed in by an editor. City demographic and health figures are compiled directly from U.S. Census (place-level ACS), CDC, and CMS releases, updated quarterly within 30 days of upstream release. County-level trends are labeled when shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-09-16.