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
SheetRI-MELVILLE-RI · Melville, RI 1,840 pop · income 80th 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 Melville
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Melville on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Florala · lowest
34,857
Florala · lowest
34,857 median HH income
30.8% of the leader · rank #1
Apple Canyon… · near
103,375
Apple Canyon… · near
103,375 median HH income
91.3% of the leader · rank #2
Mulino · near
103,375
Mulino · near
103,375 median HH income
91.3% of the leader · rank #3
Blaine · near
103,382
Blaine · near
103,382 median HH income
91.3% of the leader · rank #4
Cross Plains · near
103,389
Cross Plains · near
103,389 median HH income
91.3% of the leader · rank #5
Melville · this city
103,393
Melville · this city
103,393 median HH income
91.3% of the leader · rank #6
Charlestown · highest
113,281
Charlestown · highest
113,281 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 Melville 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: 1,840.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Melville lands in the 80th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
80th
percentile, household income
86th
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: Melville, RI
1,840 people live in Melville, Rhode Island - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Melville report a median income of $103,393 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.7%. The median resident age is 29.2 years. 63.0% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 46.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Rhode Island tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Rhode Island scores 102.3 (Near Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,729 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $318 across Rhode Island, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 56.6 out of 100 (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Melville'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; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Melville, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Melville?
Within Rhode Island, the closest population matches are Chepachet (1,819 residents, $95,423 income); Harrisville (1,816 residents, $66,016 income); Ashaway (1,682 residents, $101,165 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Moville, IA (1,840 residents); Dexter, ME (1,840 residents); Florala, AL (1,841 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 Melville?
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 88.1%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Rhode Island average
B
City profile score · Melville, RI
73/100
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+
0.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share A+
63.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income B+
$103,393
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Cost of living F
102.3 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Melville profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 95/100 (A+) · 0.7%
Bachelor's+ share: 93/100 (A+) · 63.0%
Household income: 78/100 (B+) · $103,393
Cost of living: 30/100 (F) · 102.3 index
How does Melville compare to other US cities?
Here's how Melville stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income80% higher than other cities
Median rent86% 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 Melville against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Rhode Island only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Rhode Island-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Melville near the bottom of Rhode Island's cities
Among the 36 Rhode Island cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Melville ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Melville only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#11 of 33
67th percentile in Rhode Island
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 36
0th percentile in Rhode Island
Poverty Rate
#25 of 36
31st percentile in Rhode Island
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#4 of 36
89th percentile in Rhode Island
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 Rhode Island only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
80th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$103,393Melville, RI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Melville, RI median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Melville, RI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)63.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)46.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,840
Median Income
$103,393
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
29.2
Poverty Rate
0.7%
Labor force participation
46.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
63.0%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
88.1%
Carpool
3.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.9%
Work from Home
7.9%
Based on 933 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Rhode Island statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $318
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Rhode Island at $318 (electricity about $155 , water and sewer about $58 ).
These are Rhode Island statewide averages, not a meter reading for Melville. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Rhode Island's BEA cost-of-living index is 102.3 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Melville is $1,729/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Rhode Island statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 56.6 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Rhode Island statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Melville sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Melville compares to similar-size Rhode Island 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.