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Place dossier plate
SheetMS-WAYNESBORO-MS · Waynesboro, MS 4,552 pop · income 3rd pct · 7 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 Waynesboro
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Waynesboro on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Ten Sleep · lowest
30,893
Ten Sleep · lowest
30,893 median HH income
29.0% of the leader · rank #1
Pagedale · near
30,908
Pagedale · near
30,908 median HH income
29.1% of the leader · rank #2
Waynesboro · this city
30,910
Waynesboro · this city
30,910 median HH income
29.1% of the leader · rank #3
Parcelas Mand… · near
30,926
Parcelas Mand… · near
30,926 median HH income
29.1% of the leader · rank #4
Vilas · near
30,938
Vilas · near
30,938 median HH income
29.1% of the leader · rank #5
Mount Vernon · highest
106,356
Mount Vernon · highest
106,356 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 Waynesboro 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: 4,552.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Waynesboro - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Waynesboro places in the 3rd percentile for household income and the 21st percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
3rd
percentile, household income
5th
percentile, home value
0th
percentile, median rent
21st
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: Waynesboro, MS
Waynesboro is a small town in Mississippi, home to 4,552 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Waynesboro report a median income of $30,910 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 21.5%. Waynesboro's housing stock carries a median value of $84,400, and the median resident age is 38.2 years. About 21.5% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 37.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 7 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Low Activity). Crime here tracks close to the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 2565.8 in FBI UCR data, near the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Waynesboro's yearly average temperature at 65.2°F with 60.0 inches of precipitation per year and 0.6 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in Mississippi run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Mississippi scores 87.0 (Well Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $924 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Mississippi run around $223, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 50.9 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Waynesboro'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 population change to within-city variation to housing and income to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to schools and households to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Waynesboro, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares, annual population history, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What physical conditions frame life in Waynesboro?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 65.2°F, with 60.0 inches of precipitation and 0.6 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Mississippi is 50.9 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.
Is Waynesboro growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -74 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.6% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 7 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 7 Census tracts reveal inside Waynesboro?
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Waynesboro?
Within Mississippi, the closest population matches are Ellisville (4,593 residents, $32,853 income); Fulton (4,511 residents, $56,620 income); Florence (4,647 residents, $86,406 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Post, TX (4,552 residents); Mount Vernon, IA (4,551 residents); Ada, OH (4,553 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 Waynesboro?
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 21.5%, 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
$30,910
Home value
$84,400
Value / income
2.7×
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 Waynesboro?
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 90.7%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
5.3%
Drive alone
90.7%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,308 workers age 16+.
What does the education layer cover for Waynesboro?
The NCES join finds 5 public schools within the city match. 21.5% 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.
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+
21.5%
Poverty estimate
21.5%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Waynesboro?
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 2565.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 13% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
1636.8
Violent rate
929.0
Total reported rate
2565.8
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 21.5% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
87.0 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Mississippi average
F
City profile score · Waynesboro, MS
27/100
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 A+
87.0 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 F
21.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
21.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$30,910
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
929 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Waynesboro profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 97/100 (A+) · 87.0 index
Bachelor's+ share: 39/100 (F) · 21.5%
Poverty rate: 11/100 (F) · 21.5%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $30,910
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 929 /100k
Where Waynesboro sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Waynesboro'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 - Waynesboro highlighted among 25 peers.Read the chart values
Waynesboro, MS (this city): home $84,400, crime 2,566/100k
Ada, OH : home $150,700, crime 812/100k
Whiting, IN : home $204,800, crime 2,007/100k
Ellisville, MS : home $97,000, crime 1,485/100k
Fulton, MS : home $140,300, crime 1,785/100k
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 Waynesboro compare to other US cities?
Where Waynesboro sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income3% higher than other cities
Home value5% pricier than other cities
Median rent0% pricier than other cities
Safety21% 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 Mississippi, Waynesboro ranks #38 of 56 Mississippi 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 Waynesboro against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Mississippi only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Mississippi-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Waynesboro near the bottom of Mississippi's cities
Among the 395 Mississippi cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Waynesboro ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Waynesboro only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#293 of 345
15th percentile in Mississippi
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 395
0th percentile in Mississippi
Median Home Value
#261 of 348
24th percentile in Mississippi
Poverty Rate
#155 of 393
61st percentile in Mississippi
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#134 of 394
66th percentile in Mississippi
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 Mississippi only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
3rd percentile nationally for median household income · 21st percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Waynesboro's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Waynesboro'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 Waynesboro's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$84,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 95% 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
Waynesboro's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,197 of 15,516
More affordable than 67% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,538 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.7×, Waynesboro sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,197 of 15,516 and #4,538 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
$30,910Waynesboro, MS median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Waynesboro, MS median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Waynesboro, MS.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)21.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)21.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)37.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
4,552
Median Income
$30,910
Median Home Value
$84,400
Median Age
38.2
Poverty Rate
21.5%
Labor force participation
37.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
21.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2565.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
929.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1636.8
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
65.2°F
Annual Precipitation
60.0"
Annual Snowfall
0.6"
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
Waynesboro's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
4,569 residents
2021
4,524 residents
2022
4,484 residents
2023
4,505 residents
2024
4,502 residents
2025
4,495 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Low Activity
Total Permits (2024)
7
housing units authorized
Single-Family
1
detached homes
Multifamily
6
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
8
2
6
$0.6M
2021
2
2
0
$0.1M
2022
6
2
4
$1.0M
2023
5
5
0
$2.2M
2024
7
1
6
$0.2M
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
90.7%
Carpool
4.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
5.3%
Based on 1,308 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Mississippi statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $223
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Mississippi at $223 (electricity about $135 , water and sewer about $38 ).
These are Mississippi statewide averages, not a meter reading for Waynesboro. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Mississippi's BEA cost-of-living index is 87.0 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Waynesboro is $924/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Mississippi statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 50.9 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Mississippi statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Waynesboro sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Waynesboro compares to similar-size Mississippi 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.