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
SheetNY-VALLEY-STREAM-NY · Valley Stream, NY 40,278 pop · income 89th 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 Valley Stream
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Valley Stream on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Arecibo zona… · lowest
21,984
Arecibo zona… · lowest
21,984 median HH income
14.9% of the leader · rank #1
Heathcote · near
127,391
Heathcote · near
127,391 median HH income
86.1% of the leader · rank #2
Union · near
127,411
Union · near
127,411 median HH income
86.1% of the leader · rank #3
Valley Stream · this city
127,426
Valley Stream · this city
127,426 median HH income
86.1% of the leader · rank #4
St. John · near
127,449
St. John · near
127,449 median HH income
86.1% of the leader · rank #5
Lake Shore · near
127,453
Lake Shore · near
127,453 median HH income
86.1% of the leader · rank #6
Hicksville · highest
148,008
Hicksville · highest
148,008 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 Valley Stream 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: 40,278.
Valley Stream ranks in the 89th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
89th
percentile, household income
89th
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: Valley Stream, NY
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 40,278 residents in Valley Stream, a small city within New York. Median household income here is $127,426 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 2.6%. Valley Stream's housing stock carries a median value of $605,000, and the median resident age is 42.0 years. 38.2% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 64.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 19 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 533% from five years earlier.
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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts New York's average monthly utility costs around $285 (state average). Workers in Valley Stream report an average commute of 36.9 minutes, with 56.1% driving alone and 11.2% working from home. 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 Valley Stream'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 work and mobility to housing and income to population change to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Valley Stream, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, local building permits, commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Valley Stream?
Within New York, the closest population matches are Coram (41,527 residents, $107,159 income); Central Islip (37,751 residents, $110,166 income); West Babylon (43,239 residents, $127,785 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Findlay, OH (40,280 residents); Arecibo zona urbana, PR (40,255 residents); Florence, SC (40,205 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Valley Stream?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 56.1%. The reported mean trip to work is 36.9 minutes.
How far does income reach against housing in Valley Stream?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.6%, 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. 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.
Is Valley Stream growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -101 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 19 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Valley Stream?
The NCES join finds 14 public schools within the city match. 38.2% 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
14
Bachelor's degree+
38.2%
Poverty estimate
2.6%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
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.
Household income A
$127,426
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate A-
2.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share B
38.2%
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).
Valley Stream profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 89/100 (A) · $127,426
Poverty rate: 81/100 (A-) · 2.6%
Bachelor's+ share: 72/100 (B) · 38.2%
Cost of living: 12/100 (F) · 107.9 index
How does Valley Stream compare to other US cities?
Where Valley Stream sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income89% higher than other cities
Home value89% 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 Valley Stream 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 Valley Stream near the bottom of New York's cities
Among the 1,256 New York cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Valley Stream ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Valley Stream only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#284 of 1,205
76th percentile in New York
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,256
0th percentile in New York
Median Home Value
#245 of 1,202
80th percentile in New York
Poverty Rate
#822 of 1,246
33rd percentile in New York
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#522 of 1,254
58th 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
89th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Valley Stream's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$605,00011th percentilemore affordable than 11% 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
Valley Stream's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#12,462 of 15,516
More affordable than 20% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,491 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 4.7×, Valley Stream sits in the moderate band:
national rank #12,462 of 15,516 and #2,491 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$127,426Valley Stream, NY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Valley Stream, 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 Valley Stream, NY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)38.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)64.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
40,278
Median Income
$127,426
Median Home Value
$605,000
Median Age
42.0
Poverty Rate
2.6%
Labor force participation
64.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
38.2%
Schools
Total Schools
14
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Valley Stream's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
40,480 residents
2021
40,392 residents
2022
40,241 residents
2023
40,199 residents
2024
40,359 residents
2025
40,379 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
19
housing units authorized
Single-Family
3
detached homes
Multifamily
16
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
3
3
0
$0.5M
2020
4
4
0
$1.5M
2021
33
12
21
$3.9M
2022
4
4
0
$1.0M
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
19
3
16
$3.9M
Permit volume increased 533% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
36.9 minutes
Drive Alone
56.1%
Carpool
6.9%
Public Transit
20.5%
Walk
2.7%
Work from Home
11.2%
Other
2.6%
Based on 21,072 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 Valley Stream. 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 Valley Stream 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 Valley Stream sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Valley Stream 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 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.