Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetGA-VALDOSTA-GA · Valdosta, GA 55,222 pop · income 14th pct · 29 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 Valdosta
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Valdosta on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Syracuse · lowest
45,845
Syracuse · lowest
45,845 median HH income
31.3% of the leader · rank #1
Floydada · near
45,848
Floydada · near
45,848 median HH income
31.3% of the leader · rank #2
Valdosta · this city
45,849
Valdosta · this city
45,849 median HH income
31.3% of the leader · rank #3
London · near
45,850
London · near
45,850 median HH income
31.3% of the leader · rank #4
Amite City · near
45,850
Amite City · near
45,850 median HH income
31.3% of the leader · rank #5
Wadena · near
45,850
Wadena · near
45,850 median HH income
31.3% of the leader · rank #6
Alpharetta · highest
146,581
Alpharetta · highest
146,581 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 Valdosta 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: 55,222.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Valdosta - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Valdosta places in the 14th percentile for household income and the 5th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
14th
percentile, household income
32nd
percentile, home value
51st
percentile, median rent
5th
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: Valdosta, GA
Georgia's Valdosta is a small city, with 55,222 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Valdosta report a median income of $45,849 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 19.9%. Home values in Valdosta run a median of $165,300, and the median resident age is 28.9 years. 28.1% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 54.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 545 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Stable), up 2% from five years earlier. Valdosta's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 4634.2 in FBI UCR data, above the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 67.3°F.
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. 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). On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 39.5 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Valdosta'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 schools and households to reported crime to housing and income to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to population change to climate and hazard context to within-city variation; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Valdosta, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, local building permits, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Valdosta?
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 17 public schools within the city match. 28.1% 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Valdosta?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 4634.2 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 103% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Valdosta?
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 Smyrna (56,285 residents, $96,780 income); Brookhaven (57,224 residents, $117,448 income); Dunwoody (51,563 residents, $109,116 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Chicopee, MA (55,213 residents); South Whittier, CA (55,201 residents); Perth Amboy, NJ (55,278 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.
PlainCities matches 29 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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Valdosta?
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 3.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 19.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
3.6×
Home value
$165,300
Household income
$45,849
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 Valdosta?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 81.1%. 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
81.1%
Work from home
3.9%
Public transit
0.3%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 24,709 workers age 16+.
Is Valdosta growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +760 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 545 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
55,426
2025 estimate
56,186
Period change
+1.4%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
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 67.3°F. 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.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
39.5
Mean temperature
67.3°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Georgia average
F
City profile score · Valdosta, GA
29/100
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
28.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$45,849
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
19.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
556 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Valdosta profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 57/100 (C) · 96.3 index
Bachelor's+ share: 55/100 (C) · 28.1%
Household income: 15/100 (F) · $45,849
Poverty rate: 14/100 (F) · 19.9%
Violent crime: 12/100 (F) · 556 /100k
Where Valdosta sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Valdosta'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 - Valdosta highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Valdosta, GA (this city): home $165,300, crime 4,634/100k
Chicopee, MA : home $251,800, crime 2,327/100k
Perth Amboy, NJ : home $339,200, crime 1,760/100k
West Haven, CT : home $265,200, crime 1,343/100k
Smyrna, TN : home $326,700, crime 2,665/100k
Tigard, OR : home $585,700, crime 3,781/100k
Smyrna, GA : home $409,000, crime 1,540/100k
Brookhaven, GA : home $660,300, crime 2,544/100k
Dunwoody, GA : home $579,400, crime 3,497/100k
Marietta, GA : home $401,100, crime 2,109/100k
Alpharetta, GA : home $605,700, crime 1,401/100k
How does Valdosta compare to other US cities?
Valdosta 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 value32% pricier than other cities
Median rent51% pricier than other cities
Safety5% 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, Valdosta ranks #152 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 Valdosta 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 Valdosta near the bottom of Georgia's cities
Among the 638 Georgia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Valdosta ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Valdosta only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#396 of 610
35th percentile in Georgia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 638
0th percentile in Georgia
Median Home Value
#296 of 577
49th percentile in Georgia
Poverty Rate
#182 of 637
71st percentile in Georgia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#160 of 638
75th 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 · 5th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Valdosta's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Valdosta'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 Valdosta's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$165,300Among the most affordablemore affordable than 68% 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
Valdosta's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,382 of 15,516
More affordable than 40% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#242 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 3.6×, Valdosta sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,382 of 15,516 and #242 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$45,849Valdosta, GA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Valdosta, 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 Valdosta, GA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)28.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)19.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)54.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
55,222
Median Income
$45,849
Median Home Value
$165,300
Median Age
28.9
Poverty Rate
19.9%
Labor force participation
54.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
28.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
4634.2
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
555.6
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
4078.6
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
67.3°F
Annual Precipitation
N/A
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
17
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Valdosta's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
55,426 residents
2021
55,194 residents
2022
55,091 residents
2023
55,035 residents
2024
55,832 residents
2025
56,186 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
545
housing units authorized
Single-Family
545
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
9.9
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
533
533
0
$107.9M
2020
496
496
0
$103.3M
2021
603
603
0
$127.3M
2022
510
510
0
$108.2M
2023
535
535
0
$133.1M
2024
545
545
0
$130.8M
Permit volume increased 2% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
81.1%
Carpool
9.3%
Public Transit
0.3%
Walk
2.6%
Work from Home
3.9%
Other
2.8%
Based on 24,709 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 Valdosta. 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 Valdosta 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 Valdosta sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Valdosta 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.