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.
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.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Watch Hill 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: 224.
Rhode Island's Watch Hill counts 224 residents. Source: Census ACS.
99th
percentile, home value
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: Watch Hill, RI
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 224 residents in Watch Hill, a small town within Rhode Island. Home values in Watch Hill sit on the ACS top-code of $2,000,000+; the true median is at least that high and is not published exactly, and the median resident age is 51.8 years. 69.3% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 37.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Rhode Island tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: the state registers 102.3 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Near Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. 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 Watch Hill'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 Watch Hill, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Watch Hill?
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 Rhode Island, the closest population matches are Clayville (184 residents, $128,264 income); Foster Center (328 residents, $56,027 income); Wyoming (351 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Koliganek, AK (224 residents); Bluff City, AR (224 residents); Emerson, AR (224 residents). These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
What does the journey to work look like in Watch Hill?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 55.9%. 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. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Rhode Island average
Note: Census ACS censors the tails of median household income ($250,000+ / under $2,500) and median home value ($2,000,000+ / under $10,000).
Home value is shown as $2,000,000+ for the same reason.
C-
City profile score · Watch Hill, RI
50/100
3 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.
Bachelor's+ share A+
69.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
11.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
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.
Household income N/A
N/A
No ACS median household income on file for this place.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Watch Hill profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 97/100 (A+) · 69.3%
Poverty rate: 35/100 (F) · 11.3%
Cost of living: 30/100 (F) · 102.3 index
How does Watch Hill compare to other US cities?
Here's how Watch Hill stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Home value99% pricier 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 Watch Hill 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 Watch Hill near the bottom of Rhode Island's cities
Among the 36 Rhode Island cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Watch Hill ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Watch Hill only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 36
0th percentile in Rhode Island
Median Home Value
#1 of 35
97th percentile in Rhode Island
Poverty Rate
#5 of 36
86th percentile in Rhode Island
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#2 of 36
94th 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.
How Watch Hill's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$2,000,000+1st percentilemore affordable than 1% 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
Income distribution context
Median household income is not available for Watch Hill in the current Census ACS release (common for very small places).
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)69.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.3%
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
224
Median Income
N/A
Median Home Value
$2,000,000+
Median Age
51.8
Poverty Rate
11.3%
Labor force participation
37.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
69.3%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
55.9%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
19.1%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
16.2%
Other
8.8%
Based on 68 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 Watch Hill. 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 Watch Hill 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 Watch Hill sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Watch Hill 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.