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Place dossier plate
SheetGA-BLUE-RIDGE-GA · Blue Ridge, GA 1,688 pop · income 14th pct · 5 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 Blue Ridge
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Blue Ridge on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Malvern · lowest
28,327
Malvern · lowest
28,327 median HH income
32.4% of the leader · rank #1
Blue Ridge · this city
45,938
Blue Ridge · this city
45,938 median HH income
52.6% of the leader · rank #2
Angoon · near
45,938
Angoon · near
45,938 median HH income
52.6% of the leader · rank #3
Indian Wells · near
45,938
Indian Wells · near
45,938 median HH income
52.6% of the leader · rank #4
Douglas · near
45,938
Douglas · near
45,938 median HH income
52.6% of the leader · rank #5
Nelson · near
45,938
Nelson · near
45,938 median HH income
52.6% of the leader · rank #6
Santa Nella · highest
87,375
Santa Nella · highest
87,375 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 Blue Ridge 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: 1,688.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Blue Ridge places in the 14th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
14th
percentile, household income
57th
percentile, home value
51st
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: Blue Ridge, GA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 1,688 residents in Blue Ridge, a small town within Georgia. Blue Ridge households earn a median of $45,938 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 16.5%. Typical homes in Blue Ridge are valued around $258,700, and the median resident age is 42.5 years. 22.3% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 48.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 4 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
Living costs in Georgia run below the national norm: the state registers 96.3 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,203 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Georgia's average monthly utility costs around $225 (state average). Natural-hazard exposure scores 39.5 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Blue Ridge'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 schools and households to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to within-city variation to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Blue Ridge, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Is Blue Ridge growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +35 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.8% 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.
What does the education layer cover for Blue Ridge?
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 4 public schools within the city match. 22.3% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Blue Ridge?
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 Georgia, the closest population matches are Lincolnton (1,695 residents, $40,372 income); Ellaville (1,698 residents, $53,750 income); Arcade (1,705 residents, $58,750 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Morrisonville, NY (1,688 residents); Bull Shoals, AR (1,687 residents); Malvern, OH (1,687 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.
What can 5 Census tracts reveal inside Blue Ridge?
PlainCities matches 5 Census tracts to this city.
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.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Blue Ridge?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 76.5%. 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. 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.
Drive alone
76.5%
Work from home
7.7%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 652 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in Blue Ridge?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 16.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
5.6×
Home value
$258,700
Household income
$45,938
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Georgia average
F
City profile score · Blue Ridge, GA
32/100
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 C
96.3 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 D
22.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
16.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$45,938
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).
Blue Ridge profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.3 index
Bachelor's+ share: 41/100 (D) · 22.3%
Poverty rate: 20/100 (F) · 16.5%
Household income: 15/100 (F) · $45,938
How does Blue Ridge compare to other US cities?
Blue Ridge measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income14% higher than other cities
Home value57% pricier than other cities
Median rent51% 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 Blue Ridge against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Georgia only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Georgia-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Blue Ridge near the bottom of Georgia's cities
Among the 638 Georgia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Blue Ridge ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Blue Ridge only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#395 of 610
35th percentile in Georgia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 638
0th percentile in Georgia
Median Home Value
#136 of 577
76th percentile in Georgia
Poverty Rate
#237 of 637
63rd percentile in Georgia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#228 of 638
64th percentile in Georgia
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 Georgia only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
14th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Blue Ridge's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$258,70043rd percentilemore affordable than 43% 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
Blue Ridge's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,737 of 15,516
More affordable than 11% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,249 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 5.6×, Blue Ridge sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,737 of 15,516 and #10,249 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$45,938Blue Ridge, GA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Blue Ridge, GA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Blue Ridge, GA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)22.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)16.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)48.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,688
Median Income
$45,938
Median Home Value
$258,700
Median Age
42.5
Poverty Rate
16.5%
Labor force participation
48.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
22.3%
Schools
Total Schools
4
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Blue Ridge's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,262 residents
2021
1,240 residents
2022
1,239 residents
2023
1,246 residents
2024
1,264 residents
2025
1,297 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
76.5%
Carpool
7.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
6.9%
Work from Home
7.7%
Other
1.4%
Based on 652 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Georgia statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $225
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Georgia at $225 (electricity about $125 , water and sewer about $45 ).
These are Georgia statewide averages, not a meter reading for Blue Ridge. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Georgia's BEA cost-of-living index is 96.3 (Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Blue Ridge is $1,203/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Georgia statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 39.5 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Georgia statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Blue Ridge sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Blue Ridge compares to similar-size Georgia 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.