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Place dossier plate
SheetFL-RAIFORD-FL · Raiford, FL 286 pop · 4 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.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Raiford 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: 286.
Raiford has 286 residents in Florida. Source: Census ACS.
10th
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: Raiford, FL
286 people live in Raiford, Florida - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Home values in Raiford run a median of $101,900, and the median resident age is 38.5 years. About 6.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 36.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Florida carries a cost-of-living premium: the state registers 103.4 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Above Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. 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). 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 Raiford'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 comparison shortlist to work and mobility to population change to within-city variation; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Raiford, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Raiford?
Within Florida, the closest population matches are Acacia Villas (289 residents, $75,500 income); Mulat (291 residents, $146,917 income); Windsor (293 residents, $234,096 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Wales, AK (286 residents); Dyess, AR (286 residents); Hood, CA (286 residents). 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Raiford?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 92.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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 +5 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.3% 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.
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.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Florida average
F
City profile score · Raiford, FL
9/100
3 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.
Poverty rate F
33.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
6.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income N/A
N/A
No ACS median household income on file for this place.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Raiford profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 25/100 (F) · 103.4 index
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 33.7%
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 6.7%
How does Raiford compare to other US cities?
Raiford measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Home value10% 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 Raiford 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 Raiford near the bottom of Florida's cities
Among the 930 Florida cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Raiford ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Raiford only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 930
0th percentile in Florida
Median Home Value
#850 of 894
5th percentile in Florida
Poverty Rate
#26 of 930
97th percentile in Florida
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#882 of 930
5th 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.
How Raiford's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$101,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 90% 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
Income distribution context
Median household income is not available for Raiford in the current Census ACS release (common for very small places).
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)6.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)33.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)36.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
286
Median Income
N/A
Median Home Value
$101,900
Median Age
38.5
Poverty Rate
33.7%
Labor force participation
36.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
6.7%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Raiford's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
221 residents
2021
226 residents
2022
229 residents
2023
229 residents
2024
227 residents
2025
226 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
92.4%
Carpool
1.3%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
3.8%
Other
2.5%
Based on 79 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 Raiford. 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 Raiford 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 Raiford sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Raiford 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, 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.