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Place dossier plate
SheetVA-ALEXANDRIA-VA · Alexandria, VA 156,788 pop · income 85th pct · 48 tracts
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 Alexandria
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Alexandria on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Macon-Bibb Co… · lowest
50,747
Macon-Bibb Co… · lowest
50,747 median HH income
44.6% of the leader · rank #1
St. Henry · near
113,629
St. Henry · near
113,629 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #2
Alexandria · this city
113,638
Alexandria · this city
113,638 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #3
Loxahatchee G… · near
113,654
Loxahatchee G… · near
113,654 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #4
Wylie · highest
113,661
Wylie · highest
113,661 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #5
Pompton Plains · near
113,661
Pompton Plains · near
113,661 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Alexandria on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. 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: 156,788.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Alexandria - the verdict
Nationally, Alexandria sits in the 85th percentile for household income and the 17th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
85th
percentile, household income
93rd
percentile, home value
62nd
percentile, median rent
17th
percentile, safety
📝 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: Alexandria, VA
156,788 people live in Alexandria, Virginia - a mid-sized U.S. city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Alexandria report a median income of $113,638 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 6.2%. Typical homes in Alexandria are valued around $696,800, and the median resident age is 37.5 years. About 65.8% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 73.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 25 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 62% from five years earlier. Alexandria's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 2859.1 incidents per 100,000 residents, above the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Virginia tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Virginia at 101.1 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Near Average). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,369 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Virginia run around $235, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Workers in Alexandria report an average commute of 21.9 minutes, with 50.2% driving alone and 25.2% working from home. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 33.3 out of 100 (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Alexandria'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 work and mobility to housing and income to schools and households to comparison shortlist to reported crime to population change to within-city variation; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Alexandria, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, annual population history, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Alexandria?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 50.2%. The reported mean trip to work is 21.9 minutes.
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.
How far does income reach against housing in Alexandria?
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 6.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 6.2%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Alexandria?
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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Virginia, the closest population matches are Hampton (137,334 residents, $67,758 income); Newport News (184,774 residents, $66,718 income); Roanoke (98,677 residents, $52,671 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Macon-Bibb County, GA (156,543 residents); Lakewood, CO (156,309 residents); Killeen, TX (156,144 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.
What can 48 Census tracts reveal inside Alexandria?
PlainCities matches 48 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
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 Alexandria?
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.
The NCES join finds 55 public schools within the city match. 65.8% 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.
Poverty estimate
6.2%
Bachelor's degree+
65.8%
Matched public schools
55
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Alexandria?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2859.1 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 25% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
Total reported rate
2859.1
Violent rate
219.1
Property rate
2640.0
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Is Alexandria growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +1,515 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.0% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 25 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
2020 estimate
159,147
2025 estimate
160,662
Period change
+1.0%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Virginia average
C+
City profile score · Alexandria, VA
63/100
5 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+
65.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income A-
$113,638
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate C
6.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime D
219 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Cost of living F
101.1 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Alexandria profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 95/100 (A+) · 65.8%
Household income: 83/100 (A-) · $113,638
Poverty rate: 58/100 (C) · 6.2%
Violent crime: 45/100 (D) · 219 /100k
Cost of living: 35/100 (F) · 101.1 index
Where Alexandria sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Alexandria's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Alexandria highlighted among 12 peers.Read the chart values
Alexandria, VA (this city): home $696,800, crime 2,859/100k
Lakewood, CO : home $548,200, crime 5,881/100k
Killeen, TX : home $196,000, crime 1,910/100k
Murfreesboro, TN : home $365,100, crime 2,442/100k
Paterson, NJ : home $335,400, crime 3,330/100k
Kansas City, KS : home $147,100, crime 4,654/100k
Hampton, VA : home $234,100, crime 3,130/100k
Newport News, VA : home $243,300, crime 3,152/100k
Roanoke, VA : home $180,500, crime 4,676/100k
Portsmouth, VA : home $229,400, crime 4,613/100k
Suffolk, VA : home $329,600, crime 1,942/100k
Richmond, VA : home $328,100, crime 3,516/100k
How does Alexandria compare to other US cities?
Here's how Alexandria stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income85% higher than other cities
Home value93% pricier than other cities
Median rent62% pricier than other cities
Safety17% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Virginia alone, Alexandria ranks #90 of 117 Virginia cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Alexandria against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Virginia only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Virginia-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Alexandria near the bottom of Virginia's cities
Among the 619 Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Alexandria ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Alexandria only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#137 of 558
75th percentile in Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 619
0th percentile in Virginia
Median Home Value
#47 of 567
92nd percentile in Virginia
Poverty Rate
#280 of 616
54th percentile in Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#73 of 618
88th percentile in Virginia
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 Virginia only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
85th percentile nationally for median household income · 17th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Alexandria's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Alexandria's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Alexandria's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$696,8007th percentilemore affordable than 7% 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
Alexandria's home-value-to-income ratio: 6.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,193 of 15,516
More affordable than 9% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#589 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 6.1×, Alexandria sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,193 of 15,516 and #589 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
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
$113,638Alexandria, VA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Alexandria, VA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Alexandria, VA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)65.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)73.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
156,788
Median Income
$113,638
Median Home Value
$696,800
Median Age
37.5
Poverty Rate
6.2%
Labor force participation
73.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
65.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2859.1
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
219.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2640.0
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
55
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Alexandria's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
159,147 residents
2021
155,116 residents
2022
154,880 residents
2023
155,798 residents
2024
159,367 residents
2025
160,662 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
25
housing units authorized
Single-Family
25
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
65
65
0
$16.7M
2020
107
107
0
$40.6M
2021
200
12
188
$41.6M
2022
1,490
25
1,465
$236.5M
2023
121
40
81
$18.8M
2024
25
25
0
$10.0M
Permit volume decreased 62% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
21.9 minutes
Drive Alone
50.2%
Carpool
6.6%
Public Transit
12.7%
Walk
2.5%
Work from Home
25.2%
Other
2.8%
Based on 97,528 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Virginia statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $235
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Virginia at $235 (electricity about $115 , water and sewer about $50 ).
These are Virginia statewide averages, not a meter reading for Alexandria. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Virginia's BEA cost-of-living index is 101.1 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Alexandria is $1,369/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Virginia statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 33.3 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Virginia statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Alexandria sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Alexandria compares to similar-size Virginia 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, FBI UCR, 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.