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-CENTRAL-GARAGE-VA · Central Garage, VA 1,364 pop · income 56th pct · 4 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 Central Garage
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Central Garage on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Bartolo comun… · lowest
16,172
Bartolo comun… · lowest
16,172 median HH income
8.7% of the leader · rank #1
Kenai · near
74,907
Kenai · near
74,907 median HH income
40.4% of the leader · rank #2
Lake City · near
74,909
Lake City · near
74,909 median HH income
40.4% of the leader · rank #3
Central Garage · this city
74,911
Central Garage · this city
74,911 median HH income
40.4% of the leader · rank #4
Leland · near
74,911
Leland · near
74,911 median HH income
40.4% of the leader · rank #5
St. Bernard · near
74,911
St. Bernard · near
74,911 median HH income
40.4% of the leader · rank #6
Avila Beach · highest
185,363
Avila Beach · highest
185,363 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 Central Garage 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: 1,364.
Central Garage ranks in the 56th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
56th
percentile, household income
61st
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: Central Garage, VA
1,364 people live in Central Garage, Virginia - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Central Garage households earn a median of $74,911 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 8.6%. Typical homes in Central Garage are valued around $277,300, and the median resident age is 48.9 years. 19.4% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 73.3% 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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,369 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Virginia run around $235, per EIA 2023 residential energy 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 Central Garage'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 within-city variation to housing and income to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Central Garage, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Central Garage?
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 Concord (1,367 residents); Kilmarnock (1,361 residents, $31,696 income); Dooms (1,360 residents, $59,196 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Canton Valley, CT (1,364 residents); Bartolo comunidad, PR (1,364 residents); Avila Beach, CA (1,365 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 4 Census tracts reveal inside Central Garage?
PlainCities matches 4 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 Central Garage?
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 3.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What does the journey to work look like in Central Garage?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 87.5%. 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. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Above median income · poverty 8.6% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
101.1 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Virginia average
D
City profile score · Central Garage, VA
43/100
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 C-
$74,911
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate D
8.6%
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.
Bachelor's+ share F
19.4%
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).
Central Garage profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 54/100 (C-) · $74,911
Poverty rate: 45/100 (D) · 8.6%
Cost of living: 35/100 (F) · 101.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 33/100 (F) · 19.4%
How does Central Garage compare to other US cities?
Where Central Garage sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income56% higher than other cities
Home value61% 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 Central Garage 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 Central Garage near the bottom of Virginia's cities
Among the 619 Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Central Garage ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Central Garage only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#268 of 558
52nd percentile in Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 619
0th percentile in Virginia
Median Home Value
#250 of 567
56th percentile in Virginia
Poverty Rate
#223 of 616
63rd percentile in Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#395 of 618
36th 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
56th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Central Garage's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$277,30039th percentilemore affordable than 39% 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
Central Garage's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,720 of 15,516
More affordable than 37% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,733 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.7×, Central Garage sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,720 of 15,516 and #7,733 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
$74,911Central Garage, VA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Central Garage, 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 Central Garage, VA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)19.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)73.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,364
Median Income
$74,911
Median Home Value
$277,300
Median Age
48.9
Poverty Rate
8.6%
Labor force participation
73.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
19.4%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
87.5%
Carpool
6.3%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
5.1%
Other
1.1%
Based on 915 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 Central Garage. 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 Central Garage 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 Central Garage sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Central Garage 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.