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Place dossier plate
SheetGA-GAINESVILLE-GA · Gainesville, GA 44,051 pop · income 42nd pct · 50 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
North Fort My… · lowest
55,696
North Fort My… · lowest
55,696 median HH income
36.8% of the leader · rank #1
McConnell AFB · near
64,632
McConnell AFB · near
64,632 median HH income
42.7% of the leader · rank #2
Southgate · near
64,635
Southgate · near
64,635 median HH income
42.7% of the leader · rank #3
Gainesville · this city
64,636
Gainesville · this city
64,636 median HH income
42.7% of the leader · rank #4
Marshall · near
64,636
Marshall · near
64,636 median HH income
42.7% of the leader · rank #5
Wildwood · near
64,643
Wildwood · near
64,643 median HH income
42.7% of the leader · rank #6
Milton · highest
151,235
Milton · highest
151,235 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 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: 44,051.
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 42nd percentile for household income and the 18th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
42nd
percentile, household income
70th
percentile, home value
51st
percentile, median rent
18th
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, GA
Gainesville is a small city in Georgia, home to 44,051 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Gainesville brings in $64,636 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 16.9%. Gainesville's housing stock carries a median value of $337,000, and the median resident age is 33.1 years. 26.2% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 57.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 779 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Rapid Growth), up 46% from five years earlier. Gainesville's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 2788.9 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). NOAA puts Gainesville's yearly average temperature at 59.9°F with 55.6 inches of precipitation per year and 1.6 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in Georgia run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Georgia scores 96.3 (Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,203 per month statewide. 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 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 reported crime to comparison shortlist to population change 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, commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, annual population history.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Reported crime
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 2788.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 22% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Which cities make useful reference points for Gainesville?
Within Georgia, the closest population matches are Newnan (43,510 residents, $80,299 income); Mableton (42,403 residents, $84,662 income); Peachtree Corners (42,184 residents, $81,413 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Saratoga Springs, UT (44,070 residents); Oakland Park, FL (44,015 residents); Freeport, NY (44,102 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.
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 +7,076 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +16.8% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 779 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What can 50 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 50 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 34 public schools within the city match. 26.2% 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
34
Bachelor's degree+
26.2%
Poverty estimate
16.9%
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 59.9°F, with 55.6 inches of precipitation and 1.6 inches of annual snowfall. 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.
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
59.9°F
Annual precipitation
55.6 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
39.5
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 16.9%, 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
$64,636
Home value
$337,000
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 70.2%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
2.6%
Work from home
7.2%
Drive alone
70.2%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 19,343 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 16.9% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
96.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Georgia average
F
City profile score · Gainesville, GA
37/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share C-
26.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income D
$64,636
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
16.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
488 /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
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.3 index
Bachelor's+ share: 51/100 (C-) · 26.2%
Household income: 41/100 (D) · $64,636
Poverty rate: 19/100 (F) · 16.9%
Violent crime: 17/100 (F) · 488 /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 8 peers.Read the chart values
Gainesville, GA (this city): home $337,000, crime 2,789/100k
Saratoga Springs, UT : home $567,200, crime 666/100k
Columbia, TN : home $261,700, crime 3,060/100k
El Centro, CA : home $291,100, crime 1,596/100k
Newnan, GA : home $327,800, crime 2,296/100k
Milton, GA : home $712,200, crime 543/100k
Peachtree City, GA : home $461,000, crime 838/100k
East Point, GA : home $247,500, crime 7,870/100k
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 income42% higher than other cities
Home value70% pricier than other cities
Median rent51% pricier than other cities
Safety18% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Georgia, Gainesville ranks #120 of 166 Georgia cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Gainesville 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 Gainesville near the bottom of Georgia's cities
Among the 638 Georgia 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
#217 of 610
64th percentile in Georgia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 638
0th percentile in Georgia
Median Home Value
#69 of 577
88th percentile in Georgia
Poverty Rate
#233 of 637
63rd percentile in Georgia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#180 of 638
72nd 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
42nd percentile nationally for median household income · 18th 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+)
$337,00030th percentilemore affordable than 30% 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
#13,205 of 15,516
More affordable than 15% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,710 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 5.2×, Gainesville sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,205 of 15,516 and #2,710 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$64,636Gainesville, GA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Gainesville, 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 Gainesville, GA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)26.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)16.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)57.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
44,051
Median Income
$64,636
Median Home Value
$337,000
Median Age
33.1
Poverty Rate
16.9%
Labor force participation
57.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
26.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2788.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
488.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2300.6
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
59.9°F
Annual Precipitation
55.6"
Annual Snowfall
1.6"
Schools
Total Schools
34
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
42,145 residents
2021
43,011 residents
2022
45,013 residents
2023
47,142 residents
2024
48,063 residents
2025
49,221 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Rapid Growth
Total Permits (2024)
779
housing units authorized
Single-Family
322
detached homes
Multifamily
457
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
17.7
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
533
176
357
$71.7M
2020
445
125
320
$62.3M
2021
863
229
634
$130.9M
2022
915
103
812
$170.6M
2023
260
243
17
$48.7M
2024
779
322
457
$131.0M
Permit volume increased 46% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
70.2%
Carpool
13.6%
Public Transit
2.6%
Walk
3.3%
Work from Home
7.2%
Other
3.1%
Based on 19,343 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 Gainesville. 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 Gainesville 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 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 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.