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Place dossier plate
SheetTN-VALLEY-FORGE-TN · Valley Forge, TN 1,900 pop · income 20th 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 Forge
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Valley Forge on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Bon Aqua Junc… · lowest
33,295
Bon Aqua Junc… · lowest
33,295 median HH income
25.0% of the leader · rank #1
Valley Forge · this city
50,259
Valley Forge · this city
50,259 median HH income
37.7% of the leader · rank #2
Ruidoso · near
50,259
Ruidoso · near
50,259 median HH income
37.7% of the leader · rank #3
New Miami · near
50,259
New Miami · near
50,259 median HH income
37.7% of the leader · rank #4
Dixon · near
50,260
Dixon · near
50,260 median HH income
37.7% of the leader · rank #5
Farmingdale · near
50,263
Farmingdale · near
50,263 median HH income
37.7% of the leader · rank #6
Fairmount · highest
133,232
Fairmount · highest
133,232 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 Forge 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: 1,900.
Nationally, Valley Forge sits in the 20th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
20th
percentile, household income
25th
percentile, home value
34th
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 Forge, TN
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 1,900 residents in Valley Forge, a small town within Tennessee. Households in Valley Forge report a median income of $50,259 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 11.9%. Typical homes in Valley Forge are valued around $145,500, and the median resident age is 55.4 years. About 10.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 51.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Living costs in Tennessee run below the national norm: the state registers 91.9 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Well Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,118 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Tennessee's average monthly utility costs around $218 (state average). On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 52.5 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Valley Forge'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 Valley Forge, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Valley Forge?
Within Tennessee, the closest population matches are Troy (1,915 residents, $52,656 income); Bon Aqua Junction (1,877 residents, $33,295 income); Tracy City (1,924 residents, $38,250 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Leetonia, OH (1,900 residents); Pine, AZ (1,899 residents); Highfill, AR (1,899 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Valley Forge?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 11.9%, 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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
What does the journey to work look like in Valley Forge?
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 89.9%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Cost of living B+
91.9 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Poverty rate F
11.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$50,259
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
10.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Valley Forge profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 78/100 (B+) · 91.9 index
Poverty rate: 32/100 (F) · 11.9%
Household income: 21/100 (F) · $50,259
Bachelor's+ share: 7/100 (F) · 10.3%
How does Valley Forge compare to other US cities?
Here's how Valley Forge stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income20% higher than other cities
Home value25% pricier than other cities
Median rent34% 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 Forge against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Tennessee only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Tennessee-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Valley Forge near the bottom of Tennessee's cities
Among the 482 Tennessee cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Valley Forge ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Valley Forge only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#293 of 458
36th percentile in Tennessee
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 482
0th percentile in Tennessee
Median Home Value
#313 of 455
31st percentile in Tennessee
Poverty Rate
#200 of 482
57th percentile in Tennessee
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#372 of 482
22nd percentile in Tennessee
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 Tennessee only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
20th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Valley Forge's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$145,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 75% 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 Forge's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#6,090 of 15,516
More affordable than 61% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#5,225 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.9×, Valley Forge sits in the affordable band:
national rank #6,090 of 15,516 and #5,225 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
$50,259Valley Forge, TN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Valley Forge, TN 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 Forge, TN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)10.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)51.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,900
Median Income
$50,259
Median Home Value
$145,500
Median Age
55.4
Poverty Rate
11.9%
Labor force participation
51.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
10.3%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
89.9%
Carpool
1.1%
Public Transit
5.1%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
2.5%
Other
1.4%
Based on 882 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Tennessee statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $218
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Tennessee at $218 (electricity about $120 , water and sewer about $40 ).
These are Tennessee statewide averages, not a meter reading for Valley Forge. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Tennessee's BEA cost-of-living index is 91.9 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Valley Forge is $1,118/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Tennessee statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 52.5 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Tennessee statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Valley Forge sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Valley Forge compares to similar-size Tennessee 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.