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.
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 Jay
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Jay on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Ariton · lowest
34,943
Ariton · lowest
34,943 median HH income
23.3% of the leader · rank #1
Jay · this city
36,964
Jay · this city
36,964 median HH income
24.7% of the leader · rank #2
Lockhart · near
36,964
Lockhart · near
36,964 median HH income
24.7% of the leader · rank #3
Stearns · near
36,964
Stearns · near
36,964 median HH income
24.7% of the leader · rank #4
Calvin · near
36,964
Calvin · near
36,964 median HH income
24.7% of the leader · rank #5
Rand · near
36,964
Rand · near
36,964 median HH income
24.7% of the leader · rank #6
Chaires · highest
149,750
Chaires · highest
149,750 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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Jay on ACS population and median household income
. 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: 706.
Nationally, Jay sits in the 6th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
6th
percentile, household income
20th
percentile, home value
73rd
percentile, median rent
📝 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: Jay, FL
Florida's Jay is a small town, with 706 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Jay households earn a median of $36,964 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 19.2%. Jay's housing stock carries a median value of $126,800, and the median resident age is 37.0 years. 14.4% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 43.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 3 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,526 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Florida's average monthly utility costs around $225 (state average). The average commute for Jay workers runs 34.6 minutes, with 67.3% driving alone and 3.3% working from home. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 75.7 out of 100 (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Jay'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 comparison shortlist to population change to schools and households to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Jay, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Jay?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 67.3%. The reported mean trip to work is 34.6 minutes.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Jay?
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.
Within Florida, the closest population matches are Raleigh (699 residents, $67,725 income); White Springs (717 residents, $40,972 income); Vernon (723 residents, $41,364 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Ariton, AL (706 residents); Clarks Hill, IN (706 residents); San Antonito CDP (Bernalillo County), NM (706 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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +65 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +12.3% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
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 3 public schools within the city match. 14.4% 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.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Jay?
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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 19.2%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
3.4×
Home value
$126,800
Household income
$36,964
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 19.2% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
103.4 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Florida average
F
City profile score · Jay, FL
14/100
4 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 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.
Bachelor's+ share F
14.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
19.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$36,964
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Jay profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 25/100 (F) · 103.4 index
Bachelor's+ share: 18/100 (F) · 14.4%
Poverty rate: 15/100 (F) · 19.2%
Household income: 3/100 (F) · $36,964
How does Jay compare to other US cities?
Here's how Jay stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income6% higher than other cities
Home value20% pricier than other cities
Median rent73% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Jay 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 Jay near the bottom of Florida's cities
Among the 930 Florida cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Jay ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Jay only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#863 of 903
4th percentile in Florida
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 930
0th percentile in Florida
Median Home Value
#806 of 894
10th percentile in Florida
Poverty Rate
#136 of 930
85th percentile in Florida
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#736 of 930
21st 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
6th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Jay's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$126,800Among the most affordablemore affordable than 80% 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
Jay's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#8,698 of 15,516
More affordable than 44% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,049 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.4×, Jay sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,698 of 15,516 and #7,049 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$36,964Jay, FL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Jay, 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 Jay, FL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)14.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)19.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)43.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
706
Median Income
$36,964
Median Home Value
$126,800
Median Age
37.0
Poverty Rate
19.2%
Labor force participation
43.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
14.4%
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Jay's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
529 residents
2021
543 residents
2022
557 residents
2023
572 residents
2024
583 residents
2025
594 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
34.6 minutes
Drive Alone
67.3%
Carpool
21.3%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
3.3%
Other
8.1%
Based on 211 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 Jay. 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 Jay 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 Jay sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Jay 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, NCES CCD, 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.