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
SheetAL-VALLEY-AL · Valley, AL 10,406 pop · income 28th pct · 9 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 Valley
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Valley on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Cadillac · lowest
50,512
Cadillac · lowest
50,512 median HH income
21.1% of the leader · rank #1
Emmonak · near
55,417
Emmonak · near
55,417 median HH income
23.1% of the leader · rank #2
Kipnuk · near
55,417
Kipnuk · near
55,417 median HH income
23.1% of the leader · rank #3
Biggers · near
55,417
Biggers · near
55,417 median HH income
23.1% of the leader · rank #4
Valley · this city
55,422
Valley · this city
55,422 median HH income
23.1% of the leader · rank #5
Bloomingdale · near
55,427
Bloomingdale · near
55,427 median HH income
23.1% of the leader · rank #6
Blackhawk · highest
239,681
Blackhawk · highest
239,681 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 Valley 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: 10,406.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Valley - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Valley places in the 28th percentile for household income and the 6th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
28th
percentile, household income
21st
percentile, home value
1st
percentile, median rent
6th
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: Valley, AL
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 10,406 residents in Valley, a small town within Alabama. Median household income here is $55,422 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 10.6%. Home values in Valley run a median of $130,500, and the median resident age is 31.8 years. About 17.6% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 61.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 34 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 48% from five years earlier. Valley's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 4218.3 crimes per 100,000 residents, above the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
Living costs in Alabama run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Alabama scores 88.8 (Well Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $936 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Alabama's average monthly utility costs around $245 (state average). On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 61.5 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Valley'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 schools and households to within-city variation to reported crime to population change to housing and income to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Valley, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Valley?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 87.3%. 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. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 6 public schools within the city match. 17.6% 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.
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 Valley?
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 Alabama, the closest population matches are Spanish Fort (10,377 residents, $101,574 income); Clay (10,288 residents, $86,163 income); Meridianville (10,268 residents, $93,030 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Lake Hiawatha, NJ (10,406 residents); Blackhawk, CA (10,404 residents); Cadillac, MI (10,404 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.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Valley?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 4218.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 85% higher 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
4218.3
Violent rate
380.8
Property rate
3837.5
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -124 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 34 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
10,418
2025 estimate
10,294
Period change
-1.2%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
How far does income reach against housing in Valley?
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 2.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 10.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.4×
Home value
$130,500
Household income
$55,422
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Below median income · poverty 10.6% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
88.8 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Alabama average
D
City profile score · Valley, AL
41/100
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 A+
88.8 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 F
10.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$55,422
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
17.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime F
381 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Valley profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 90/100 (A+) · 88.8 index
Poverty rate: 37/100 (F) · 10.6%
Household income: 28/100 (F) · $55,422
Bachelor's+ share: 27/100 (F) · 17.6%
Violent crime: 23/100 (F) · 381 /100k
Where Valley sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Valley'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 - Valley highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Valley, AL (this city): home $130,500, crime 4,218/100k
Cadillac, MI : home $117,500, crime 2,928/100k
Waynesville, NC : home $254,800, crime 3,311/100k
London, OH : home $194,800, crime 847/100k
Spanish Fort, AL : home $314,000, crime 1,456/100k
Rainbow City, AL : home $203,600, crime 1,013/100k
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 Valley compare to other US cities?
Where Valley sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income28% higher than other cities
Home value21% pricier than other cities
Median rent1% pricier than other cities
Safety6% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Alabama alone, Valley ranks #205 of 222 Alabama cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Valley against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Alabama only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Alabama-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Valley near the bottom of Alabama's cities
Among the 556 Alabama cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Valley ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Valley only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#242 of 530
54th percentile in Alabama
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 556
0th percentile in Alabama
Median Home Value
#284 of 517
45th percentile in Alabama
Poverty Rate
#302 of 556
45th percentile in Alabama
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#231 of 556
58th percentile in Alabama
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 Alabama only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
28th percentile nationally for median household income · 6th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Valley's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Valley'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 Valley's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$130,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 79% 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
Valley's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,252 of 15,516
More affordable than 79% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#250 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 2.4×, Valley sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,252 of 15,516 and #250 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$55,422Valley, AL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Valley, AL median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Valley, AL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)17.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)10.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)61.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
10,406
Median Income
$55,422
Median Home Value
$130,500
Median Age
31.8
Poverty Rate
10.6%
Labor force participation
61.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
17.6%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
4218.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
380.8
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3837.5
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
6
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Valley's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
10,418 residents
2021
10,380 residents
2022
10,271 residents
2023
10,303 residents
2024
10,288 residents
2025
10,294 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
34
housing units authorized
Single-Family
34
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
3.3
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
65
9
56
$5.8M
2020
19
19
0
$2.0M
2021
9
9
0
$1.3M
2022
15
15
0
$2.4M
2023
22
22
0
$3.4M
2024
34
34
0
$5.2M
Permit volume decreased 48% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
87.3%
Carpool
8.0%
Public Transit
0.3%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
3.6%
Other
0.8%
Based on 4,757 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Alabama statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $245
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Alabama at $245 (electricity about $138 , water and sewer about $45 ).
These are Alabama statewide averages, not a meter reading for Valley. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Alabama's BEA cost-of-living index is 88.8 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Valley is $936/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Alabama statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 61.5 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Alabama statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Valley sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Valley compares to similar-size Alabama 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.