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Place dossier plate
SheetVA-BUENA-VISTA-VA · Buena Vista, VA 6,612 pop · income 26th pct · 2 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 Buena Vista
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Buena Vista on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Selma · lowest
37,440
Selma · lowest
37,440 median HH income
15.0% of the leader · rank #1
Hogansville · near
54,453
Hogansville · near
54,453 median HH income
21.8% of the leader · rank #2
Claysburg · near
54,453
Claysburg · near
54,453 median HH income
21.8% of the leader · rank #3
Eastport · near
54,457
Eastport · near
54,457 median HH income
21.8% of the leader · rank #4
Buena Vista · this city
54,458
Buena Vista · this city
54,458 median HH income
21.8% of the leader · rank #5
El Reno · near
54,459
El Reno · near
54,459 median HH income
21.8% of the leader · rank #6
South Run · highest
250,001
South Run · highest
250,001 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 Buena Vista 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: 6,612.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Buena Vista - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Buena Vista lands in the 26th percentile for household income and the 90th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
26th
percentile, household income
28th
percentile, home value
62nd
percentile, median rent
90th
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: Buena Vista, VA
Virginia's Buena Vista is a small town, with 6,612 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Buena Vista households earn a median of $54,458 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 17.0%. Buena Vista's housing stock carries a median value of $153,500, and the median resident age is 36.2 years. Educational attainment runs 24.7% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 53.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 18 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 64% from five years earlier. Buena Vista reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 378.9 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,369 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $235 across Virginia, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Buena Vista'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 housing and income to comparison shortlist to reported crime to population change to work and mobility to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Buena Vista, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What can 2 Census tracts reveal inside Buena Vista?
PlainCities matches 2 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Buena Vista?
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 2.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 17.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Buena Vista?
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 Bridgewater (6,650 residents, $81,012 income); Galax (6,698 residents, $41,438 income); Bedford (6,703 residents, $47,697 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Selma, NC (6,611 residents); Lynchburg, TN (6,611 residents); Oakdale, LA (6,614 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 the FBI record say about safety in Buena Vista?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 378.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 83% 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.
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.
Population change
Is Buena Vista growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +56 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.8% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 18 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
6,616
2025 estimate
6,672
Period change
+0.8%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the journey to work look like in Buena Vista?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 79.0%. 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
79.0%
Work from home
8.4%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 2,835 workers age 16+.
What does the education layer cover for Buena Vista?
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 5 public schools within the city match. 24.7% 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
17.0%
Bachelor's degree+
24.7%
Matched public schools
5
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Below median income · poverty 17.0% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
101.1 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Virginia average
D
City profile score · Buena Vista, VA
42/100
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 A
46 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share D
24.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
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.
Household income F
$54,458
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
17.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Buena Vista profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 85/100 (A) · 46 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 48/100 (D) · 24.7%
Cost of living: 35/100 (F) · 101.1 index
Household income: 26/100 (F) · $54,458
Poverty rate: 19/100 (F) · 17.0%
Where Buena Vista sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Buena Vista'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 - Buena Vista highlighted among 25 peers.Read the chart values
Buena Vista, VA (this city): home $153,500, crime 379/100k
Selma, NC : home $161,100, crime 3,437/100k
Bridgewater, VA : home $372,400, crime 601/100k
Galax, VA : home $126,800, crime 4,845/100k
Bedford, VA : home $192,600, crime 1,760/100k
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 Buena Vista compare to other US cities?
Where Buena Vista sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income26% higher than other cities
Home value28% pricier than other cities
Median rent62% pricier than other cities
Safety90% 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: Buena Vista ranks #5 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 Buena Vista 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 Buena Vista near the bottom of Virginia's cities
Among the 619 Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Buena Vista ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Buena Vista only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#400 of 558
28th percentile in Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 619
0th percentile in Virginia
Median Home Value
#439 of 567
23rd percentile in Virginia
Poverty Rate
#91 of 616
85th percentile in Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#338 of 618
45th 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
26th percentile nationally for median household income · 90th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Buena Vista's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Buena Vista'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 Buena Vista's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$153,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 72% 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
Buena Vista's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,688 of 15,516
More affordable than 63% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,927 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.8×, Buena Vista sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,688 of 15,516 and #4,927 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
$54,458Buena Vista, VA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Buena Vista, 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 Buena Vista, VA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)24.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)17.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)53.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
6,612
Median Income
$54,458
Median Home Value
$153,500
Median Age
36.2
Poverty Rate
17.0%
Labor force participation
53.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
24.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
378.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
45.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
333.4
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
5
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Buena Vista's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
6,616 residents
2021
6,617 residents
2022
6,560 residents
2023
6,578 residents
2024
6,611 residents
2025
6,672 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
18
housing units authorized
Single-Family
14
detached homes
Multifamily
4
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2.7
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
11
5
6
$1.7M
2020
9
5
4
$1.2M
2021
8
6
2
$0.8M
2022
3
1
2
$0.1M
2023
20
12
8
$3.0M
2024
18
14
4
$3.2M
Permit volume increased 64% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
79.0%
Carpool
6.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
5.8%
Work from Home
8.4%
Based on 2,835 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 Buena Vista. 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 Buena Vista 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 Buena Vista sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Buena Vista 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.