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Place dossier plate
SheetGA-LAVONIA-GA · Lavonia, GA 2,508 pop · income 4th pct · 8 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 Lavonia
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Lavonia on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Sulphur Sprin… · lowest
34,500
Sulphur Sprin… · lowest
34,500 median HH income
24.7% of the leader · rank #1
Finley Point · near
34,519
Finley Point · near
34,519 median HH income
24.7% of the leader · rank #2
Catlettsburg · near
34,524
Catlettsburg · near
34,524 median HH income
24.7% of the leader · rank #3
Tocsin · near
34,525
Tocsin · near
34,525 median HH income
24.7% of the leader · rank #4
Lavonia · this city
34,526
Lavonia · this city
34,526 median HH income
24.7% of the leader · rank #5
Herald Harbor · highest
139,877
Herald Harbor · highest
139,877 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
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 Lavonia 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: 2,508.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Lavonia - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Lavonia places in the 4th percentile for household income and the 9th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
4th
percentile, household income
35th
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: Lavonia, GA
Lavonia is a small town in Georgia, home to 2,508 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Lavonia brings in $34,526 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 25.9%. Home values in Lavonia run a median of $173,600, and the median resident age is 29.1 years. 25.5% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 50.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 0 residential units were authorized in 2024 (No Permits), down 100% from five years earlier. Lavonia's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 3763.2 incidents per 100,000 residents, above the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,203 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $225 across Georgia, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Lavonia'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 housing and income to schools and households to population change to comparison shortlist to reported crime to work and mobility to within-city variation; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Lavonia, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, commute-mode shares, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Lavonia?
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 5.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 25.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 25.5% 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 Lavonia?
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 Reidsville (2,541 residents, $45,788 income); Thunderbolt (2,552 residents, $69,191 income); Kennesaw State University (2,455 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Carthage, IL (2,508 residents); Herald Harbor, MD (2,507 residents); Woodland Beach, MI (2,509 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.
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.
Population change
Is Lavonia growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +69 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 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 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.
2020 estimate
2,131
2025 estimate
2,200
Period change
+3.2%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Lavonia?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3763.2 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
3763.2
Violent rate
688.4
Property rate
3074.8
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the journey to work look like in Lavonia?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 78.7%. 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
78.7%
Work from home
2.2%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 831 workers age 16+.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 25.9% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
96.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Georgia average
F
City profile score · Lavonia, GA
21/100
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-
25.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime F
688 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate F
25.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$34,526
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Lavonia profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.3 index
Bachelor's+ share: 50/100 (C-) · 25.5%
Violent crime: 6/100 (F) · 688 /100k
Poverty rate: 5/100 (F) · 25.9%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $34,526
Where Lavonia sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Lavonia'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 - Lavonia highlighted among 25 peers.Read the chart values
Lavonia, GA (this city): home $173,600, crime 3,763/100k
Penndel, PA : home $318,900, crime 437/100k
Sumiton, AL : home $176,500, crime 955/100k
Thunderbolt, GA : home $303,500, crime 513/100k
Claxton, GA : home $152,300, crime 3,291/100k
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 Lavonia compare to other US cities?
Where Lavonia sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income4% higher than other cities
Home value35% 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.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Georgia alone, Lavonia ranks #142 of 166 Georgia cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Lavonia 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 Lavonia near the bottom of Georgia's cities
Among the 638 Georgia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Lavonia ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Lavonia only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#531 of 610
13th percentile in Georgia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 638
0th percentile in Georgia
Median Home Value
#274 of 577
53rd percentile in Georgia
Poverty Rate
#106 of 637
83rd percentile in Georgia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#193 of 638
69th 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
4th percentile nationally for median household income · 9th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Lavonia's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Lavonia'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 Lavonia's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$173,600Among the most affordablemore affordable than 65% 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
Lavonia's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#12,935 of 15,516
More affordable than 17% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,787 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 5.0×, Lavonia sits in the pressured band:
national rank #12,935 of 15,516 and #9,787 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
$34,526Lavonia, GA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Lavonia, 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 Lavonia, GA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)25.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)25.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)50.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,508
Median Income
$34,526
Median Home Value
$173,600
Median Age
29.1
Poverty Rate
25.9%
Labor force participation
50.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
25.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3763.2
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
688.4
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3074.8
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
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Lavonia's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,131 residents
2021
2,145 residents
2022
2,149 residents
2023
2,182 residents
2024
2,186 residents
2025
2,200 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
2
2
0
$0.3M
2020
2
2
0
$0.5M
2021
1
1
0
$0.3M
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
0
0
0
-
Permit volume decreased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
78.7%
Carpool
12.4%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
2.9%
Work from Home
2.2%
Other
3.8%
Based on 831 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 Lavonia. 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 Lavonia 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 Lavonia sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Lavonia 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 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.