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Place dossier plate
SheetVA-CAPE-CHARLES-VA · Cape Charles, VA 1,278 pop · income 21st pct · 3 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 Cape Charles
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Cape Charles on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Jonesville · lowest
17,716
Jonesville · lowest
17,716 median HH income
19.0% of the leader · rank #1
Cape Charles · this city
51,250
Cape Charles · this city
51,250 median HH income
55.1% of the leader · rank #2
Carolina · near
51,250
Carolina · near
51,250 median HH income
55.1% of the leader · rank #3
Toxey · near
51,250
Toxey · near
51,250 median HH income
55.1% of the leader · rank #4
Glacier View · near
51,250
Glacier View · near
51,250 median HH income
55.1% of the leader · rank #5
McGrath · near
51,250
McGrath · near
51,250 median HH income
55.1% of the leader · rank #6
Magnolia Spri… · highest
93,000
Magnolia Spri… · highest
93,000 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 Cape Charles 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: 1,278.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Cape Charles - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Cape Charles lands in the 21st percentile for household income and the 73rd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
21st
percentile, household income
89th
percentile, home value
62nd
percentile, median rent
73rd
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: Cape Charles, VA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 1,278 residents in Cape Charles, a small town within Virginia. Median household income here is $51,250 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 6.6%. Typical homes in Cape Charles are valued around $589,000, and the median resident age is 55.6 years. Educational attainment runs 57.9% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 44.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 71 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Rapid Growth), up 42% from five years earlier. Cape Charles reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 772.2 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 58.5°F with 44.5 inches of precipitation per year.
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. Commute times here average 13.8 minutes, with 66.5% driving alone and 17.8% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. 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 Cape Charles'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 comparison shortlist to schools and households to work and mobility to climate and hazard context to population change to housing and income to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Cape Charles, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Within-city variation
What can 3 Census tracts reveal inside Cape Charles?
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Cape Charles?
Within Virginia, the closest population matches are Rustburg (1,276 residents, $70,771 income); Brookneal (1,275 residents, $45,909 income); Gretna (1,275 residents, $36,023 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Magnolia Springs, AL (1,278 residents); Collinsburg, PA (1,278 residents); Hudson, PA (1,278 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
What does the education layer cover for Cape Charles?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 57.9% 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.
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
What does the journey to work look like in Cape Charles?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 66.5%. The reported mean trip to work is 13.8 minutes.
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.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Cape Charles?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 58.5°F, with 44.5 inches of precipitation. 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.
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.
Mean temperature
58.5°F
Annual precipitation
44.5 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
33.3
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Is Cape Charles 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 +134 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +11.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 71 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+11.4%
2025 estimate
1,314
2020 estimate
1,180
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
How far does income reach against housing in Cape Charles?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 11.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 6.6%, 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.
Household income
$51,250
Home value
$589,000
Value / income
11.5×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Cape Charles?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 772.2 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 66% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
695.0
Violent rate
77.2
Total reported rate
772.2
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Virginia average
C-
City profile score · Cape Charles, VA
52/100
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+
57.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime B+
77 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate C
6.6%
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.
Household income F
$51,250
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Cape Charles profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 90/100 (A+) · 57.9%
Violent crime: 77/100 (B+) · 77 /100k
Poverty rate: 55/100 (C) · 6.6%
Cost of living: 35/100 (F) · 101.1 index
Household income: 22/100 (F) · $51,250
Where Cape Charles sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Cape Charles'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 - Cape Charles highlighted among 24 peers.Read the chart values
Cape Charles, VA (this city): home $589,000, crime 772/100k
Baxter, TN : home $198,800, crime 1,016/100k
Brookneal, VA : home $115,000, crime 745/100k
Jonesville, VA : home $122,500, crime 237/100k
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 Cape Charles compare to other US cities?
Where Cape Charles sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income21% higher than other cities
Home value89% pricier than other cities
Median rent62% pricier than other cities
Safety73% 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, Cape Charles ranks #16 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 Cape Charles 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 Cape Charles near the bottom of Virginia's cities
Among the 619 Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Cape Charles ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Cape Charles only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#422 of 558
24th percentile in Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 619
0th percentile in Virginia
Median Home Value
#90 of 567
84th percentile in Virginia
Poverty Rate
#270 of 616
56th percentile in Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#105 of 618
83rd 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 · 73rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Cape Charles's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Cape Charles'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 Cape Charles's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$589,00011th percentilemore affordable than 11% 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
Cape Charles's home-value-to-income ratio: 11.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#15,438 of 15,516
More affordable than 1% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#11,270 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 11.5×, Cape Charles sits in the pressured band:
national rank #15,438 of 15,516 and #11,270 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$51,250Cape Charles, VA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Cape Charles, 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 Cape Charles, VA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)57.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)44.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,278
Median Income
$51,250
Median Home Value
$589,000
Median Age
55.6
Poverty Rate
6.6%
Labor force participation
44.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
57.9%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
772.2
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
77.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
695.0
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
58.5°F
Annual Precipitation
44.5"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Cape Charles's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,180 residents
2021
1,176 residents
2022
1,207 residents
2023
1,265 residents
2024
1,289 residents
2025
1,314 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Rapid Growth
Total Permits (2024)
71
housing units authorized
Single-Family
71
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
55.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
50
22
28
$10.4M
2020
21
13
8
$7.3M
2021
58
58
0
$24.9M
2022
72
65
7
$40.1M
2023
51
43
8
$27.9M
2024
71
71
0
$45.9M
Permit volume increased 42% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
13.8 minutes
Drive Alone
66.5%
Carpool
7.4%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
8.3%
Work from Home
17.8%
Based on 556 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 Cape Charles. 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 Cape Charles 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 Cape Charles sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Cape Charles 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.