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Place dossier plate
SheetVA-BIG-STONE-GAP-EAST-VA · Big Stone Gap East, VA 430 pop
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 Big Stone Gap East 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: 430.
Virginia's Big Stone Gap East counts 430 residents. Source: Census ACS.
33rd
percentile, home value
62nd
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: Big Stone Gap East, VA
430 people live in Big Stone Gap East, Virginia - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Home values in Big Stone Gap East run a median of $168,100, and the median resident age is 55.6 years. 11.9% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 21.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Virginia's average monthly utility costs around $235 (state average). Natural-hazard exposure scores 33.3 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Big Stone Gap East'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 Big Stone Gap East, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, 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 Big Stone Gap East?
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 Virginia, the closest population matches are Lovingston (430 residents); Stewartsville (434 residents, $91,759 income); Atlantic (436 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Tolani Lake, AZ (430 residents); Portland, AR (430 residents); Edison, CA (430 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 Big Stone Gap East?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 79.5%. 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. 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.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Virginia average
F
City profile score · Big Stone Gap East, VA
16/100
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.
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.
Bachelor's+ share F
11.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
30.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
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).
Big Stone Gap East profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 35/100 (F) · 101.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 12/100 (F) · 11.9%
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 30.2%
How does Big Stone Gap East compare to other US cities?
Here's how Big Stone Gap East stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Home value33% pricier than other cities
Median rent62% 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 Big Stone Gap East 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 Big Stone Gap East near the bottom of Virginia's cities
Among the 619 Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Big Stone Gap East ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Big Stone Gap East only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 619
0th percentile in Virginia
Median Home Value
#407 of 567
28th percentile in Virginia
Poverty Rate
#26 of 616
96th percentile in Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#506 of 618
18th 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.
How Big Stone Gap East's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$168,100Among the most affordablemore affordable than 67% 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 Big Stone Gap East in the current Census ACS release (common for very small places).
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)11.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)30.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)21.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
430
Median Income
N/A
Median Home Value
$168,100
Median Age
55.6
Poverty Rate
30.2%
Labor force participation
21.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
11.9%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
79.5%
Carpool
20.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 78 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 Big Stone Gap East. 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 Big Stone Gap East 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 Big Stone Gap East sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Big Stone Gap East 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, 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.