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
SheetVA-BIG-STONE-GAP-VA · Big Stone Gap, VA 5,193 pop · income 21st pct · 1 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 Big Stone Gap
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Big Stone Gap on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Richlands · lowest
37,382
Richlands · lowest
37,382 median HH income
29.8% of the leader · rank #1
Frostburg · near
51,052
Frostburg · near
51,052 median HH income
40.7% of the leader · rank #2
Salisbury · near
51,058
Salisbury · near
51,058 median HH income
40.7% of the leader · rank #3
Big Stone Gap · this city
51,059
Big Stone Gap · this city
51,059 median HH income
40.7% of the leader · rank #4
South Valley · near
51,062
South Valley · near
51,062 median HH income
40.8% of the leader · rank #5
Lakeview · near
51,065
Lakeview · near
51,065 median HH income
40.8% of the leader · rank #6
Falmouth · highest
125,305
Falmouth · highest
125,305 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Big Stone Gap 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: 5,193.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Big Stone Gap - the verdict
Nationally, Big Stone Gap sits in the 21st percentile for household income and the 41st percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
21st
percentile, household income
34th
percentile, home value
62nd
percentile, median rent
41st
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: Big Stone Gap, VA
Big Stone Gap is a small town in Virginia, home to 5,193 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Big Stone Gap brings in $51,059 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 15.9%. Big Stone Gap's housing stock carries a median value of $169,900, and the median resident age is 41.1 years. 18.8% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 33.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 0 residential units authorized here in 2024 (No Permits). Big Stone Gap reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 1676.2 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 54.5°F with 56.0 inches of precipitation per year and 9.2 inches of snowfall.
Virginia tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Virginia scores 101.1 (Near Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. 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). On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 33.3 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Big Stone Gap'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 within-city variation to schools and households to reported crime to housing and income to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to climate and hazard context to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Big Stone Gap, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, commute-mode shares, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What can 1 Census tracts reveal inside Big Stone Gap?
PlainCities matches 1 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.
What does the education layer cover for Big Stone Gap?
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 3 public schools within the city match. 18.8% 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Big Stone Gap?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1676.2 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 26% lower 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Big Stone Gap?
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 Bealeton (5,193 residents, $103,365 income); Richlands (5,188 residents, $37,382 income); Falmouth (5,036 residents, $125,305 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are River Ridge, FL (5,191 residents); Northwood, OH (5,195 residents); Veneta, OR (5,191 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.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Big Stone Gap?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 15.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
3.3×
Home value
$169,900
Household income
$51,059
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the journey to work look like in Big Stone Gap?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 76.7%. 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.
Drive alone
76.7%
Work from home
6.1%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,418 workers age 16+.
What physical conditions frame life in Big Stone Gap?
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 54.5°F, with 56.0 inches of precipitation and 9.2 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Virginia is 33.3 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
33.3
Annual precipitation
56.0 in
Mean temperature
54.5°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Is Big Stone Gap growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -166 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -3.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
2020 estimate
5,268
2025 estimate
5,102
Period change
-3.2%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Virginia average
F
City profile score · Big Stone Gap, VA
35/100
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.
Violent crime B-
118 /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.
Bachelor's+ share F
18.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$51,059
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
15.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Big Stone Gap profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 66/100 (B-) · 118 /100k
Cost of living: 35/100 (F) · 101.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 31/100 (F) · 18.8%
Household income: 22/100 (F) · $51,059
Poverty rate: 21/100 (F) · 15.9%
Where Big Stone Gap sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Big Stone Gap'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 - Big Stone Gap highlighted among 25 peers.Read the chart values
Big Stone Gap, VA (this city): home $169,900, crime 1,676/100k
Northwood, OH : home $168,400, crime 2,124/100k
Richlands, VA : home $107,300, crime 1,648/100k
Bluefield, VA : home $161,100, crime 3,179/100k
Orange, VA : home $252,800, crime 1,810/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Big Stone Gap compare to other US cities?
Here's how Big Stone Gap stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income21% higher than other cities
Home value34% pricier than other cities
Median rent62% pricier than other cities
Safety41% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Virginia and the picture shifts: Big Stone Gap ranks #53 of 117 Virginia cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Big Stone Gap 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 near the bottom of Virginia's cities
Among the 619 Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Big Stone Gap ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Big Stone Gap only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#424 of 558
24th percentile in Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 619
0th percentile in Virginia
Median Home Value
#403 of 567
29th percentile in Virginia
Poverty Rate
#99 of 616
84th percentile in Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#404 of 618
34th 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
21st percentile nationally for median household income · 41st percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Big Stone Gap's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Big Stone Gap'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 Big Stone Gap's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$169,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 66% 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
Big Stone Gap's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#8,250 of 15,516
More affordable than 47% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,736 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.3×, Big Stone Gap sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,250 of 15,516 and #6,736 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$51,059Big Stone Gap, VA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Big Stone Gap, 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 Big Stone Gap, VA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)18.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)15.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)33.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
5,193
Median Income
$51,059
Median Home Value
$169,900
Median Age
41.1
Poverty Rate
15.9%
Labor force participation
33.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
18.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1676.2
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
118.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1557.9
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
54.5°F
Annual Precipitation
56.0"
Annual Snowfall
9.2"
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Big Stone Gap's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
5,268 residents
2021
5,220 residents
2022
5,172 residents
2023
5,154 residents
2024
5,131 residents
2025
5,102 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
76.7%
Carpool
7.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
8.1%
Work from Home
6.1%
Other
1.5%
Based on 1,418 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. 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 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 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 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.