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Place dossier plate
SheetVA-GOSHEN-VA · Goshen, VA 285 pop · income 14th pct · 6 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 Goshen
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Goshen on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Fries · lowest
29,853
Fries · lowest
29,853 median HH income
29.0% of the leader · rank #1
Goshen · this city
46,250
Goshen · this city
46,250 median HH income
44.9% of the leader · rank #2
Jackson · near
46,250
Jackson · near
46,250 median HH income
44.9% of the leader · rank #3
Chefornak · near
46,250
Chefornak · near
46,250 median HH income
44.9% of the leader · rank #4
Mountain Pine · near
46,250
Mountain Pine · near
46,250 median HH income
44.9% of the leader · rank #5
Swifton · near
46,250
Swifton · near
46,250 median HH income
44.9% of the leader · rank #6
Carrsville · highest
103,015
Carrsville · highest
103,015 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 Goshen 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: 285.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Goshen lands in the 14th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
14th
percentile, household income
21st
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: Goshen, VA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 285 residents in Goshen, a small town within Virginia. The typical household in Goshen brings in $46,250 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 17.9%. Goshen's housing stock carries a median value of $131,300, and the median resident age is 40.8 years. Educational attainment runs 8.3% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 47.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Virginia tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Virginia scores 101.1 (Near Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,369 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Virginia's average monthly utility costs around $235 (state average). 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 Goshen'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 within-city variation to comparison shortlist to housing and income to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Goshen, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates; 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 Goshen?
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 80.0%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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 Goshen?
Within Virginia, the closest population matches are Fries (286 residents, $29,853 income); Wachapreague (290 residents, $56,917 income); Cumberland (291 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Whatley, AL (285 residents); Clipper Mills, CA (285 residents); Coffee Creek, CA (285 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Goshen?
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 17.9%, 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. 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.
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 Goshen growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +1 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.3% 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.
Period change
+0.3%
2025 estimate
340
2020 estimate
339
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Virginia average
F
City profile score · Goshen, VA
18/100
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.
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.
Poverty rate F
17.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$46,250
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
8.3%
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).
Goshen profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 35/100 (F) · 101.1 index
Poverty rate: 17/100 (F) · 17.9%
Household income: 15/100 (F) · $46,250
Bachelor's+ share: 2/100 (F) · 8.3%
How does Goshen compare to other US cities?
Goshen measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income14% higher than other cities
Home value21% 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 Goshen 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 Goshen near the bottom of Virginia's cities
Among the 619 Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Goshen ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Goshen only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#459 of 558
18th percentile in Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 619
0th percentile in Virginia
Median Home Value
#474 of 567
16th percentile in Virginia
Poverty Rate
#85 of 616
86th percentile in Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#544 of 618
12th 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
14th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Goshen's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$131,300Among the most affordablemore affordable than 79% 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
Goshen's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,800 of 15,516
More affordable than 63% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#5,014 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.8×, Goshen sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,800 of 15,516 and #5,014 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
$46,250Goshen, VA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Goshen, 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 Goshen, VA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)8.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)17.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)47.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
285
Median Income
$46,250
Median Home Value
$131,300
Median Age
40.8
Poverty Rate
17.9%
Labor force participation
47.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
8.3%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Goshen's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
339 residents
2021
340 residents
2022
340 residents
2023
337 residents
2024
336 residents
2025
340 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
80.0%
Carpool
10.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.9%
Work from Home
7.6%
Based on 105 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 Goshen. 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 Goshen 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 Goshen sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Goshen 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.