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Place dossier plate
SheetFL-GAINESVILLE-FL · Gainesville, FL 143,611 pop · income 13th pct · 58 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 Gainesville
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Gainesville on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Hopwood · lowest
45,608
Hopwood · lowest
45,608 median HH income
40.3% of the leader · rank #1
Milan · near
45,608
Milan · near
45,608 median HH income
40.3% of the leader · rank #2
Mullen · near
45,610
Mullen · near
45,610 median HH income
40.3% of the leader · rank #3
Gainesville · this city
45,611
Gainesville · this city
45,611 median HH income
40.3% of the leader · rank #4
Potomac Park · near
45,617
Potomac Park · near
45,617 median HH income
40.3% of the leader · rank #5
Torrance · highest
113,105
Torrance · highest
113,105 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
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 Gainesville 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: 143,611.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Gainesville - the verdict
Gainesville ranks in the 13th percentile for household income and the 11th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
13th
percentile, household income
52nd
percentile, home value
73rd
percentile, median rent
11th
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: Gainesville, FL
143,611 people live in Gainesville, Florida - a mid-sized U.S. city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Gainesville report a median income of $45,611 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 12.2%. Home values in Gainesville run a median of $235,000, and the median resident age is 26.5 years. About 51.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 55.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 1,218 residential building permits were authorized in Gainesville (Stable), up 0% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Gainesville's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 3441.7 incidents per 100,000 residents, above the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 69.5°F.
Florida carries a cost-of-living premium: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Florida scores 103.4 (Above Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,526 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $225 across Florida, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 75.7 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Gainesville'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 population change to comparison shortlist to reported crime to schools and households to climate and hazard context to within-city variation to housing and income to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Gainesville, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Population change
Is Gainesville growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +6,373 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +4.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 1,218 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Which cities make useful reference points for Gainesville?
Within Florida, the closest population matches are Miramar (135,986 residents, $86,109 income); Hollywood (152,935 residents, $65,359 income); Coral Springs (133,962 residents, $90,643 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Olathe, KS (143,720 residents); Torrance, CA (143,499 residents); McAllen, TX (143,789 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.
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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Gainesville?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3441.7 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 51% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
What can 58 Census tracts reveal inside Gainesville?
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.
PlainCities matches 58 Census tracts to this city.
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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Gainesville?
The NCES join finds 43 public schools within the city match. 51.7% 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.
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.
Matched public schools
43
Bachelor's degree+
51.7%
Poverty estimate
12.2%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What physical conditions frame life in Gainesville?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 69.5°F. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Florida is 75.7 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.
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.
Mean temperature
69.5°F
FEMA risk index (state avg)
75.7
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
How far does income reach against housing in Gainesville?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 12.2%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
Household income
$45,611
Home value
$235,000
Value / income
5.2×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the journey to work look like in Gainesville?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 62.9%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
4.9%
Work from home
12.4%
Drive alone
62.9%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 67,833 workers age 16+.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Florida average
F
City profile score · Gainesville, FL
28/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share A
51.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
12.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Cost of living F
103.4 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Household income F
$45,611
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
738 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Gainesville profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 85/100 (A) · 51.7%
Poverty rate: 31/100 (F) · 12.2%
Cost of living: 25/100 (F) · 103.4 index
Household income: 14/100 (F) · $45,611
Violent crime: 4/100 (F) · 738 /100k
Where Gainesville sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Gainesville'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 - Gainesville highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Gainesville, FL (this city): home $235,000, crime 3,442/100k
Olathe, KS : home $340,600, crime 1,137/100k
Torrance, CA : home $1,036,600, crime 3,087/100k
McAllen, TX : home $173,800, crime 1,986/100k
Thornton, CO : home $482,200, crime 3,109/100k
Visalia, CA : home $340,600, crime 2,566/100k
Waco, TX : home $199,600, crime 2,552/100k
Coral Springs, FL : home $502,700, crime 1,230/100k
Palm Bay, FL : home $248,000, crime 1,365/100k
West Palm Beach, FL : home $369,800, crime 2,714/100k
How does Gainesville compare to other US cities?
Where Gainesville sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income13% higher than other cities
Home value52% pricier than other cities
Median rent73% pricier than other cities
Safety11% 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 Florida alone, Gainesville ranks #107 of 120 Florida 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 Gainesville against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Florida only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Florida-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Gainesville near the bottom of Florida's cities
Among the 930 Florida cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Gainesville ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Gainesville only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#797 of 903
12th percentile in Florida
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 930
0th percentile in Florida
Median Home Value
#610 of 894
32nd percentile in Florida
Poverty Rate
#279 of 930
70th percentile in Florida
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#120 of 930
87th percentile in Florida
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 Florida only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
13th percentile nationally for median household income · 11th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Gainesville's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Gainesville'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 Gainesville's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$235,00048th percentilemore affordable than 48% 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
Gainesville's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,132 of 15,516
More affordable than 15% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#469 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 5.2×, Gainesville sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,132 of 15,516 and #469 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
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
$45,611Gainesville, FL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Gainesville, FL median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Gainesville, FL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)51.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)12.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)55.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
143,611
Median Income
$45,611
Median Home Value
$235,000
Median Age
26.5
Poverty Rate
12.2%
Labor force participation
55.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
51.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3441.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
738.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2703.7
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
69.5°F
Annual Precipitation
N/A
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
43
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Gainesville's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
142,298 residents
2021
144,056 residents
2022
145,775 residents
2023
147,104 residents
2024
147,890 residents
2025
148,671 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
1,218
housing units authorized
Single-Family
296
detached homes
Multifamily
922
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
8.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
1,214
129
1,085
$54.2M
2020
1,055
149
906
$50.8M
2021
1,258
171
1,087
$59.9M
2022
1,309
139
1,170
$160.8M
2023
780
236
544
$117.4M
2024
1,218
296
922
$206.7M
Permit volume increased 0% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
62.9%
Carpool
9.0%
Public Transit
4.9%
Walk
5.0%
Work from Home
12.4%
Other
5.8%
Based on 67,833 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Florida statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $225
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Florida at $225 (electricity about $145 , water and sewer about $55 ).
These are Florida statewide averages, not a meter reading for Gainesville. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Florida's BEA cost-of-living index is 103.4 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Gainesville is $1,526/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Florida statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 75.7 / 100 (High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Florida statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Gainesville sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Gainesville compares to similar-size Florida 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, 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.