Call it learning by numbers.

The U.S. Census Bureau — through its American Community Survey program — released a large new batch of statistics for every community in the U.S. on Thursday.

All the numbers are a five-year average from 2006 to 2010. The numbers are garnered from a continuous survey that the Census Bureau conducts throughout the country. The five-year average is meant to lower the margin of error on the statistics, but some of the margins of error are still significant. But they’re the best numbers that will be released.

So dive in and learn how Lawrence or your community stacks up to others in the area.

Median age of residents

No surprise here. Lawrence is young, but we’re more mature than our friends in Manhattan.

1. Manhattan: 23.4 years

2. Lawrence: 25.6

3. Eudora: 31

4. Tonganoxie: 31.2

5. Baldwin City: 31.7

6. Olathe: 32.4

7. Bonner Springs: 33.8

8. De Soto: 34.5

9. Shawnee: 35.0

10. Topeka: 36.0

11. Basehor: 38.9

Percent of population that is white

Here’s a measure to show you how racially diverse a community is:

1. De Soto: 99.3 percent white

2. Tonganoxie: 97.5 percent

3. Baldwin City: 97.4 percent

4. Basehor: 96.0 percent

5. Eudora: 95.7 percent

6. Bonner Springs: 89.7 percent

7. Manhattan: 88.7 percent

8. Shawnee: 86.8 percent

9. Olathe: 84.2 percent

10. Lawrence: 82.5 percent

11. Topeka: 75.7 percent

Percent of owner-occupied homes

Everybody knows Lawrence is a big rental community, but here’s a look at just how big.

1. Basehor: 81.6 percent owner-occupied

2. Bonner Springs: 75.2 percent

3. Olathe: 74.1 percent

4. Shawnee: 73.3 percent

5. Eudora: 72.5 percent

6. De Soto: 70.6 percent

7. Tonganoxie: 67.9 percent

8. Baldwin: 62.4 percent

9. Topeka: 59.6 percent

10. Lawrence: 46.7 percent

11. Manhattan: 41 percent

Median price of a home

Lawrence is no Johnson County, but it’s more expensive than much of the pack.

1. De Soto: $220,100

2. Shawnee: $198,600

3. Olathe: $193,300

4. Basehor: $183,000

5. Lawrence: $172,900

6. Manhattan: $163,800

7. Tonganoxie: $151,800

8. Eudora: $151,200

9. Baldwin: $150,600

10. Bonner Springs: $147,100

11. Topeka: $94,200

Spending on housing costs

Percent of homeowners who spend more than 35 percent of their household income on housing costs. If you hear people say Lawrence has a high cost of housing, this may be what they’re really talking about.

1. Bonner Springs: 25.2 percent of homeowners

2. Lawrence: 22.4 percent

3. Baldwin City 20.2 percent

4. Topeka: 19.1 percent

5. Shawnee: 18.1 percent

6. Basehor: 17.2 percent

7. Tonganoxie: 16.8 percent

8. Olathe: 16.7 percent

9. Manhattan: 16.6 percent

10. Eudora: 15.3 percent

11. De Soto: 11 percent

Median monthly rent

Lawrence may not rank as high as some would think, although some of these communities may be more focused on renting houses than apartments.

1. Basehor: $921

2. Baldwin: $826

3. Olathe: $801

4. Eudora: $777

5. Lawrence: $774

6. Tonganoxie: $765

7. Shawnee: $753

8. Manhattan: $739

9. Bonner Springs: $697

10. De Soto: $680

11. Topeka: $628

Median household income

Students who earn part-time incomes do drag Lawrence’s numbers down in this category.

1. Olathe: $75,228

2. Shawnee: $72,122

3. Basehor: $72,120

4. Baldwin City: $65,053

5. De Soto: $61,915

6. Eudora: $60,544

7. Tonganoxie: $58,672

8. Bonner Springs: $56,630

9. Lawrence: $41,290

10. Topeka: $40,342

11. Manhattan: $36,630

Median earnings for a male, full-time, year-round worker

These numbers don’t include many undergraduate college students, but Lawrence is still near the bottom of the list.

1. Basehor: $60,326

2. Olathe: $56,934

3. Shawnee: $56,312

4. Baldwin City: $50,833

5. Bonner Springs: $47,670

6. Tonganoxie: $47,500

7. Eudora: $45,861

8. De Soto: $45,000

9. Lawrence: $42,362

10. Topeka: $40,832

11. Manhattan: $39,095

Percent of households receiving food stamps.

There are several ways to measure poverty in a community, and this is one.

1. Topeka: 11.9 percent of households

2. Bonner Springs: 7.4 percent

3. Eudora: 5.3 percent

4. Lawrence: 5.1 percent

5. Baldwin City: 4.7 percent

6. Manhattan: 4.1 percent

7. Olathe: 3.7 percent

8. De Soto: 3.4 percent

9. Shawnee: 3.1 percent

10. Basehor: 2.1 percent

11. Tonganoxie: 0.8 percent