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Place dossier plate
SheetNY-VAILS-GATE-NY · Vails Gate, NY 3,065 pop · income 26th 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 Vails Gate
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Vails Gate on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Prescott · lowest
29,403
Prescott · lowest
29,403 median HH income
21.8% of the leader · rank #1
Mount Vernon · near
54,335
Mount Vernon · near
54,335 median HH income
40.2% of the leader · rank #2
Vails Gate · this city
54,340
Vails Gate · this city
54,340 median HH income
40.2% of the leader · rank #3
Port Sulphur · near
54,342
Port Sulphur · near
54,342 median HH income
40.2% of the leader · rank #4
Texanna · near
54,342
Texanna · near
54,342 median HH income
40.2% of the leader · rank #5
South Pittsbu… · near
54,347
South Pittsbu… · near
54,347 median HH income
40.2% of the leader · rank #6
Sewell · highest
135,141
Sewell · highest
135,141 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 Vails Gate 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: 3,065.
Vails Gate ranks in the 26th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
26th
percentile, household income
62nd
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: Vails Gate, NY
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 3,065 residents in Vails Gate, a small town within New York. Vails Gate households earn a median of $54,340 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 3.9%. Vails Gate's housing stock carries a median value of $284,700, and the median resident age is 43.7 years. 24.9% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 60.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
New York carries a cost-of-living premium: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, New York scores 107.9 (Above Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,579 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts New York's average monthly utility costs around $285 (state average). On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 69.4 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Vails Gate'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 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 Vails Gate, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Vails Gate?
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 Orchard Park (3,066 residents, $97,014 income); Warsaw (3,061 residents, $54,196 income); Crown Heights (3,071 residents, $127,569 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Potterville, MI (3,065 residents); Sewell, NJ (3,065 residents); Pitcairn, PA (3,065 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Vails Gate?
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 5.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 3.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What does the journey to work look like in Vails Gate?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 67.5%. 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.
Below median income · poverty 3.9% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
107.9 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, New York average
F
City profile score · Vails Gate, NY
38/100
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 B
3.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share D
24.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$54,340
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); 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).
Vails Gate profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 72/100 (B) · 3.9%
Bachelor's+ share: 49/100 (D) · 24.9%
Household income: 26/100 (F) · $54,340
Cost of living: 12/100 (F) · 107.9 index
How does Vails Gate compare to other US cities?
Here's how Vails Gate stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income26% higher than other cities
Home value62% 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 Vails Gate 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 Vails Gate near the bottom of New York's cities
Among the 1,256 New York cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Vails Gate ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Vails Gate only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,020 of 1,205
15th percentile in New York
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,256
0th percentile in New York
Median Home Value
#518 of 1,202
57th percentile in New York
Poverty Rate
#676 of 1,246
45th percentile in New York
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#850 of 1,254
32nd 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
26th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Vails Gate's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$284,70038th percentilemore affordable than 38% 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
Vails Gate's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,240 of 15,516
More affordable than 15% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,962 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 5.2×, Vails Gate sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,240 of 15,516 and #9,962 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
$54,340Vails Gate, NY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Vails Gate, 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 Vails Gate, NY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)24.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)3.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)60.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,065
Median Income
$54,340
Median Home Value
$284,700
Median Age
43.7
Poverty Rate
3.9%
Labor force participation
60.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
24.9%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
67.5%
Carpool
11.9%
Public Transit
3.8%
Walk
8.4%
Work from Home
5.0%
Other
3.4%
Based on 1,530 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 Vails Gate. 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 Vails Gate 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 Vails Gate sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Vails Gate 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, 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.