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Place dossier plate
SheetGA-FITZGERALD-GA · Fitzgerald, GA 8,962 pop · income 5th pct · 6 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 Fitzgerald
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Fitzgerald on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Kaibab · lowest
36,500
Kaibab · lowest
36,500 median HH income
22.4% of the leader · rank #1
Skidmore · near
36,503
Skidmore · near
36,503 median HH income
22.4% of the leader · rank #2
Fitzgerald · this city
36,515
Fitzgerald · this city
36,515 median HH income
22.4% of the leader · rank #3
Monroe · near
36,521
Monroe · near
36,521 median HH income
22.4% of the leader · rank #4
Chataignier · near
36,528
Chataignier · near
36,528 median HH income
22.4% of the leader · rank #5
Gary City · near
36,528
Gary City · near
36,528 median HH income
22.4% of the leader · rank #6
Purcellville · highest
162,981
Purcellville · highest
162,981 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 Fitzgerald 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: 8,962.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Fitzgerald - the verdict
Fitzgerald ranks in the 5th percentile for household income and the 9th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
5th
percentile, household income
10th
percentile, home value
51st
percentile, median rent
9th
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: Fitzgerald, GA
8,962 people live in Fitzgerald, Georgia - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $36,515 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 19.9%. Home values in Fitzgerald run a median of $99,900, and the median resident age is 36.3 years. 13.7% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 53.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 1 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Stable), up 0% from five years earlier. Fitzgerald's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 3754.8 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). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 66.3°F with 47.6 inches of precipitation per year.
Living costs in Georgia run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Georgia at 96.3 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Below Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,203 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Georgia run around $225, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Fitzgerald'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 climate and hazard context to comparison shortlist to housing and income to reported crime to work and mobility to schools and households to within-city variation to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Fitzgerald, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, annual population history, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Fitzgerald?
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.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 66.3°F, with 47.6 inches of precipitation. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Georgia is 39.5 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Fitzgerald?
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 Georgia, the closest population matches are Skidaway Island (8,907 residents, $121,991 income); Panthersville (8,840 residents, $48,984 income); Fort Valley (8,808 residents, $39,714 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Orting, WA (8,957 residents); Westwood, MI (8,968 residents); Lincoln, OH (8,968 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Fitzgerald?
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 2.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 19.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What can 6 Census tracts reveal inside Fitzgerald?
PlainCities matches 6 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.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Fitzgerald?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3754.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 65% 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
3754.8
Violent rate
392.3
Property rate
3362.5
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the journey to work look like in Fitzgerald?
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.
Drive alone
87.3%
Work from home
1.1%
Public transit
1.3%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 3,752 workers age 16+.
What does the education layer cover for Fitzgerald?
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 5 public schools within the city match. 13.7% 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.
Poverty estimate
19.9%
Bachelor's degree+
13.7%
Matched public schools
5
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Is Fitzgerald growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -119 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 1 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
9,001
2025 estimate
8,882
Period change
-1.3%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 19.9% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
96.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Georgia average
F
City profile score · Fitzgerald, GA
22/100
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 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.
Violent crime F
392 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
13.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
19.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$36,515
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Fitzgerald profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.3 index
Violent crime: 23/100 (F) · 392 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 17/100 (F) · 13.7%
Poverty rate: 14/100 (F) · 19.9%
Household income: 2/100 (F) · $36,515
Where Fitzgerald sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Fitzgerald'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 - Fitzgerald highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Fitzgerald, GA (this city): home $99,900, crime 3,755/100k
Orting, WA : home $452,800, crime 1,210/100k
Aberdeen, NC : home $287,200, crime 3,512/100k
Kennedale, TX : home $356,300, crime 498/100k
Purcellville, VA : home $594,000, crime 718/100k
Toccoa, GA : home $155,200, crime 2,985/100k
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 Fitzgerald compare to other US cities?
Where Fitzgerald sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income5% higher than other cities
Home value10% pricier than other cities
Median rent51% pricier than other cities
Safety9% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Georgia and the picture shifts: Fitzgerald ranks #141 of 166 Georgia cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Fitzgerald 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 Fitzgerald near the bottom of Georgia's cities
Among the 638 Georgia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Fitzgerald ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Fitzgerald only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#513 of 610
16th percentile in Georgia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 638
0th percentile in Georgia
Median Home Value
#446 of 577
23rd percentile in Georgia
Poverty Rate
#182 of 637
71st percentile in Georgia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#398 of 638
37th 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
5th percentile nationally for median household income · 9th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Fitzgerald's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Fitzgerald'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 Fitzgerald's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$99,900Among 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
Fitzgerald's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,234 of 15,516
More affordable than 66% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,569 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.7×, Fitzgerald sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,234 of 15,516 and #4,569 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$36,515Fitzgerald, GA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Fitzgerald, 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 Fitzgerald, GA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)13.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)19.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)53.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
8,962
Median Income
$36,515
Median Home Value
$99,900
Median Age
36.3
Poverty Rate
19.9%
Labor force participation
53.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
13.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3754.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
392.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3362.5
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
66.3°F
Annual Precipitation
47.6"
Annual Snowfall
0.0"
Schools
Total Schools
5
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Fitzgerald's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
9,001 residents
2021
8,969 residents
2022
8,909 residents
2023
8,966 residents
2024
8,871 residents
2025
8,882 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
1
housing units authorized
Single-Family
1
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
1
1
0
$0.1M
2020
3
3
0
$0.4M
2021
2
2
0
$0.6M
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
2
2
0
$0.5M
2024
1
1
0
$0.4M
Permit volume increased 0% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
87.3%
Carpool
9.8%
Public Transit
1.3%
Walk
0.5%
Work from Home
1.1%
Based on 3,752 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 Fitzgerald. 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 Fitzgerald 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 Fitzgerald sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Fitzgerald 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, 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.