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Place dossier plate
SheetGA-GRAY-GA · Gray, GA 3,453 pop · income 47th pct · 9 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 Gray
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Gray on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Nicholls · lowest
27,297
Nicholls · lowest
27,297 median HH income
13.2% of the leader · rank #1
Tehachapi · near
67,785
Tehachapi · near
67,785 median HH income
32.8% of the leader · rank #2
Craig · near
67,788
Craig · near
67,788 median HH income
32.8% of the leader · rank #3
Monticello · near
67,788
Monticello · near
67,788 median HH income
32.8% of the leader · rank #4
Gray · this city
67,789
Gray · this city
67,789 median HH income
32.8% of the leader · rank #5
Albia · near
67,791
Albia · near
67,791 median HH income
32.8% of the leader · rank #6
Richwood · highest
206,685
Richwood · highest
206,685 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 Gray 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: 3,453.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Gray - the verdict
Nationally, Gray sits in the 47th percentile for household income and the 85th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
47th
percentile, household income
38th
percentile, home value
51st
percentile, median rent
85th
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: Gray, GA
Gray is a small town in Georgia, home to 3,453 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $67,789 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 4.5%. Home values in Gray run a median of $184,600, and the median resident age is 41.7 years. Educational attainment runs 19.0% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 54.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Gray reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 509.3 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,203 per month. 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 Gray'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 within-city variation to work and mobility to housing and income to reported crime to comparison shortlist to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Gray, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Population change
Is Gray 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 +79 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.
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 94.1%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for Gray?
Within Georgia, the closest population matches are Alma (3,441 residents, $42,097 income); Pelham (3,465 residents, $38,838 income); Wrightsville (3,479 residents, $35,738 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Tiger Point, FL (3,453 residents); Lisbon, ME (3,453 residents); Richwood, NJ (3,453 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.
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 Gray?
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 4.5%, 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. 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.
Household income
$67,789
Home value
$184,600
Value / income
2.7×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
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 509.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 78% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
509.3
Violent rate
0.0
Total reported rate
509.3
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
The NCES join finds 5 public schools within the city match. 19.0% 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
5
Bachelor's degree+
19.0%
Poverty estimate
4.5%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Below median income · poverty 4.5% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
96.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Georgia average
C+
City profile score · Gray, GA
61/100
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.
Violent crime A+
0 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate B-
4.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
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.
Household income D
$67,789
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
19.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Gray profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 97/100 (A+) · 0 /100k
Poverty rate: 69/100 (B-) · 4.5%
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.3 index
Household income: 46/100 (D) · $67,789
Bachelor's+ share: 31/100 (F) · 19.0%
Where Gray sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Gray'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 - Gray highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Gray, GA (this city): home $184,600, crime 509/100k
Lisbon, ME : home $217,200, crime 668/100k
Blanchard, LA : home $212,500, crime 688/100k
Alma, GA : home $92,300, crime 4,989/100k
Pelham, GA : home $95,800, crime 3,311/100k
Ringgold, GA : home $195,100, crime 2,613/100k
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 Gray compare to other US cities?
Where Gray sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income47% higher than other cities
Home value38% pricier than other cities
Median rent51% pricier than other cities
Safety85% 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: Gray ranks #20 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 Gray 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 Gray near the bottom of Georgia's cities
Among the 638 Georgia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Gray ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Gray only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#198 of 610
68th percentile in Georgia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 638
0th percentile in Georgia
Median Home Value
#254 of 577
56th percentile in Georgia
Poverty Rate
#508 of 637
20th percentile in Georgia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#281 of 638
55th 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
47th percentile nationally for median household income · 85th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Gray's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Gray'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 Gray's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$184,600Among the most affordablemore affordable than 62% 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
Gray's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,151 of 15,516
More affordable than 67% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,507 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.7×, Gray sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,151 of 15,516 and #4,507 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
$67,789Gray, GA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Gray, 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 Gray, GA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)19.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)54.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,453
Median Income
$67,789
Median Home Value
$184,600
Median Age
41.7
Poverty Rate
4.5%
Labor force participation
54.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
19.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
509.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
509.3
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.
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
Gray's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,488 residents
2021
3,486 residents
2022
3,503 residents
2023
3,575 residents
2024
3,565 residents
2025
3,567 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
94.1%
Carpool
1.3%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.2%
Work from Home
3.5%
Based on 1,550 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 Gray. 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 Gray 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 Gray sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Gray 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, 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.