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Place dossier plate
SheetVA-BOWLING-GREEN-VA · Bowling Green, VA 1,455 pop · income 49th 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 Bowling Green
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Bowling Green on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Simmesport · lowest
26,250
Simmesport · lowest
26,250 median HH income
25.6% of the leader · rank #1
Helena · near
69,341
Helena · near
69,341 median HH income
67.6% of the leader · rank #2
Dames Quarter · near
69,342
Dames Quarter · near
69,342 median HH income
67.6% of the leader · rank #3
Glencoe · near
69,348
Glencoe · near
69,348 median HH income
67.6% of the leader · rank #4
Bowling Green · this city
69,352
Bowling Green · this city
69,352 median HH income
67.6% of the leader · rank #5
Pleak · near
69,360
Pleak · near
69,360 median HH income
67.6% of the leader · rank #6
Foresthill · highest
102,632
Foresthill · highest
102,632 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 Bowling Green 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: 1,455.
Bowling Green ranks in the 49th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
49th
percentile, household income
66th
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: Bowling Green, VA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 1,455 residents in Bowling Green, a small town within Virginia. Median household income here is $69,352 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 9.5%. Home values in Bowling Green run a median of $307,100, and the median resident age is 39.9 years. 19.1% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 50.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Virginia tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: the state registers 101.1 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 $1,369 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Virginia run around $235, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Bowling Green'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 population change to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Bowling Green, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Bowling Green?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 81.6%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
How far does income reach against housing in Bowling Green?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 9.5%, 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. 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.
Is Bowling Green growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +117 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +10.0% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Which cities make useful reference points for Bowling Green?
Within Virginia, the closest population matches are Boswell's Corner (1,459 residents); Benns Church (1,443 residents, $69,598 income); Union Hall (1,468 residents, $95,556 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Foresthill, CA (1,455 residents); Bronson, FL (1,455 residents); Paincourtville, LA (1,455 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.
Below median income · poverty 9.5% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
101.1 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Virginia average
D
City profile score · Bowling Green, VA
40/100
4 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.
Household income D
$69,352
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate D
9.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better 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
19.1%
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).
Bowling Green profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 48/100 (D) · $69,352
Poverty rate: 42/100 (D) · 9.5%
Cost of living: 35/100 (F) · 101.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 32/100 (F) · 19.1%
How does Bowling Green compare to other US cities?
Bowling Green measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income49% higher than other cities
Home value66% 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 Bowling Green 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 Bowling Green near the bottom of Virginia's cities
Among the 619 Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Bowling Green ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Bowling Green only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#301 of 558
46th percentile in Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 619
0th percentile in Virginia
Median Home Value
#224 of 567
60th percentile in Virginia
Poverty Rate
#197 of 616
67th percentile in Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#400 of 618
35th 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
49th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Bowling Green's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$307,10034th percentilemore affordable than 34% 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
Bowling Green's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,833 of 15,516
More affordable than 24% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,088 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.4×, Bowling Green sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,833 of 15,516 and #9,088 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
$69,352Bowling Green, VA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Bowling Green, 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 Bowling Green, VA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)19.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)9.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)50.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,455
Median Income
$69,352
Median Home Value
$307,100
Median Age
39.9
Poverty Rate
9.5%
Labor force participation
50.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
19.1%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Bowling Green's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,167 residents
2021
1,182 residents
2022
1,200 residents
2023
1,228 residents
2024
1,257 residents
2025
1,284 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
81.6%
Carpool
11.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.9%
Work from Home
5.0%
Other
0.9%
Based on 561 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 Bowling Green. 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 Bowling Green 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 Bowling Green sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Bowling Green 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.