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Place dossier plate
SheetNY-GAINESVILLE-NY · Gainesville, NY 209 pop · income 55th pct
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
New Canton · lowest
37,031
New Canton · lowest
37,031 median HH income
22.0% of the leader · rank #1
Gainesville · this city
73,750
Gainesville · this city
73,750 median HH income
43.8% of the leader · rank #2
Ranburne · near
73,750
Ranburne · near
73,750 median HH income
43.8% of the leader · rank #3
Stewartville · near
73,750
Stewartville · near
73,750 median HH income
43.8% of the leader · rank #4
Salamatof · near
73,750
Salamatof · near
73,750 median HH income
43.8% of the leader · rank #5
Higden · near
73,750
Higden · near
73,750 median HH income
43.8% of the leader · rank #6
Windham · highest
168,309
Windham · highest
168,309 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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Gainesville on ACS population and median household income
. 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: 209.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Gainesville places in the 55th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
55th
percentile, household income
11th
percentile, home value
78th
percentile, median rent
📝 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, NY
New York's Gainesville is a small town, with 209 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Gainesville households earn a median of $73,750 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Home values in Gainesville run a median of $105,800, and the median resident age is 48.8 years. 15.7% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 60.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 3 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
New York carries a cost-of-living premium: the state registers 107.9 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Above Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,579 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $285 across New York, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 69.4 out of 100 (Moderate).
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 comparison shortlist to population change to schools and households 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 matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Gainesville?
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.
Within New York, the closest population matches are New Baltimore (208 residents); Swan Lake (211 residents, $61,176 income); Bemus Point (206 residents, $86,000 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Glacier View, AK (209 residents); June Lake, CA (209 residents); New Canton, IL (209 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.
Is Gainesville growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -6 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.7% 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.
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.
What does the education layer cover for Gainesville?
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 3 public schools within the city match. 15.7% 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Gainesville?
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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Gainesville?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 84.2%. 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
84.2%
Work from home
8.9%
Public transit
2.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 101 workers age 16+.
Above median income · poverty 0.0% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
107.9 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, New York average
D
City profile score · Gainesville, NY
49/100
4 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.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income C-
$73,750
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
15.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Cost of living F
107.9 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Gainesville profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Household income: 53/100 (C-) · $73,750
Bachelor's+ share: 22/100 (F) · 15.7%
Cost of living: 12/100 (F) · 107.9 index
How does Gainesville compare to other US cities?
Gainesville measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income55% higher than other cities
Home value11% pricier than other cities
Median rent78% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Gainesville against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to New York only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
New York-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Gainesville near the bottom of New York's cities
Among the 1,256 New York 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
#716 of 1,205
40th percentile in New York
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,256
0th percentile in New York
Median Home Value
#1,083 of 1,202
10th percentile in New York
Poverty Rate
#1,032 of 1,246
0th percentile in New York
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1,123 of 1,254
10th percentile in New York
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 New York only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
55th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Gainesville's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$105,800Among the most affordablemore affordable than 89% 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: 1.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#310 of 15,516
More affordable than 98% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#305 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.4×, Gainesville sits in the affordable band:
national rank #310 of 15,516 and #305 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
$73,750Gainesville, NY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Gainesville, NY 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, NY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)15.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)60.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
209
Median Income
$73,750
Median Home Value
$105,800
Median Age
48.8
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
60.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
15.7%
Schools
Total Schools
3
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
226 residents
2021
227 residents
2022
225 residents
2023
224 residents
2024
221 residents
2025
220 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
84.2%
Carpool
4.0%
Public Transit
2.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
8.9%
Other
0.9%
Based on 101 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
New York statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $285
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across New York at $285 (electricity about $130 , water and sewer about $65 ).
These are New York 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
New York's BEA cost-of-living index is 107.9 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Gainesville is $1,579/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to New York statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 69.4 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a New York 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 New York 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, 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.