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Place dossier plate
SheetVA-DAYTON-VA · Dayton, VA 2,023 pop · income 69th 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 Dayton
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Dayton on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Pennington Gap · lowest
22,857
Pennington Gap · lowest
22,857 median HH income
12.0% of the leader · rank #1
Doe Valley · near
87,757
Doe Valley · near
87,757 median HH income
46.3% of the leader · rank #2
Morton · near
87,760
Morton · near
87,760 median HH income
46.3% of the leader · rank #3
Dayton · this city
87,763
Dayton · this city
87,763 median HH income
46.3% of the leader · rank #4
Rochester · near
87,767
Rochester · near
87,767 median HH income
46.3% of the leader · rank #5
Castlewood · near
87,768
Castlewood · near
87,768 median HH income
46.3% of the leader · rank #6
Mason Neck · highest
189,688
Mason Neck · highest
189,688 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 Dayton 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: 2,023.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Dayton places in the 69th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
69th
percentile, household income
70th
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: Dayton, VA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 2,023 residents in Dayton, a small town within Virginia. Median household income here is $87,763 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 2.4%. Typical homes in Dayton are valued around $338,000, and the median resident age is 34.5 years. About 43.4% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 74.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 2 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
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. 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 Dayton'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 population change to housing and income to schools and households to comparison shortlist to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Dayton, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Is Dayton growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +107 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +6.4% 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.
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.
How far does income reach against housing in Dayton?
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 3.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.4%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 43.4% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Dayton?
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 East Lexington (2,020 residents, $70,500 income); Pennington Gap (2,020 residents, $22,857 income); Mount Jackson (2,048 residents, $55,521 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Winsted, MN (2,023 residents); Nettleton, MS (2,023 residents); Tylertown, MS (2,023 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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Dayton?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 86.5%. 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.
Drive alone
86.5%
Work from home
5.7%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,174 workers age 16+.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Virginia average
B-
City profile score · Dayton, VA
65/100
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.
Poverty rate A-
2.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share B+
43.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income B-
$87,763
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); 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.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Dayton profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 83/100 (A-) · 2.4%
Bachelor's+ share: 78/100 (B+) · 43.4%
Household income: 67/100 (B-) · $87,763
Cost of living: 35/100 (F) · 101.1 index
How does Dayton compare to other US cities?
Here's how Dayton stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income69% higher than other cities
Home value70% 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 Dayton 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 Dayton near the bottom of Virginia's cities
Among the 619 Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Dayton ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Dayton only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#223 of 558
60th percentile in Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 619
0th percentile in Virginia
Median Home Value
#192 of 567
66th percentile in Virginia
Poverty Rate
#413 of 616
33rd percentile in Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#178 of 618
71st 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
69th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Dayton's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$338,00030th percentilemore affordable than 30% 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
Dayton's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,226 of 15,516
More affordable than 34% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,060 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.9×, Dayton sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,226 of 15,516 and #8,060 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
$87,763Dayton, VA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Dayton, 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 Dayton, VA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)43.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)74.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,023
Median Income
$87,763
Median Home Value
$338,000
Median Age
34.5
Poverty Rate
2.4%
Labor force participation
74.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
43.4%
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Dayton's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,684 residents
2021
1,699 residents
2022
1,718 residents
2023
1,743 residents
2024
1,772 residents
2025
1,791 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
86.5%
Carpool
5.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.8%
Work from Home
5.7%
Based on 1,174 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 Dayton. 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 Dayton 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 Dayton sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Dayton 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, NCES CCD, 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.