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Place dossier plate
SheetVA-GRETNA-VA · Gretna, VA 1,275 pop · income 5th 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 Gretna
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Gretna on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Jonesville · lowest
17,716
Jonesville · lowest
17,716 median HH income
22.1% of the leader · rank #1
Gretna · this city
36,023
Gretna · this city
36,023 median HH income
44.9% of the leader · rank #2
Everton · near
36,023
Everton · near
36,023 median HH income
44.9% of the leader · rank #3
Williamsburg · near
36,023
Williamsburg · near
36,023 median HH income
44.9% of the leader · rank #4
Lakeside-Beeb… · near
36,029
Lakeside-Beeb… · near
36,029 median HH income
44.9% of the leader · rank #5
Fulton · near
36,037
Fulton · near
36,037 median HH income
44.9% of the leader · rank #6
Point Roberts · highest
80,197
Point Roberts · highest
80,197 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 Gretna 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: 1,275.
Gretna ranks in the 5th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
5th
percentile, household income
24th
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: Gretna, VA
1,275 people live in Gretna, Virginia - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Gretna report a median income of $36,023 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 23.1%. Home values in Gretna run a median of $140,900, and the median resident age is 53.6 years. 12.9% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 38.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 4 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,369 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Virginia's average monthly utility costs around $235 (state average). Workers in Gretna report an average commute of 15.0 minutes, with 80.0% driving alone and 17.5% working from home. 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 Gretna'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 housing and income to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to schools and households to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Gretna, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Gretna?
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 23.1%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Gretna?
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 Brookneal (1,275 residents, $45,909 income); Rustburg (1,276 residents, $70,771 income); Cape Charles (1,278 residents, $51,250 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Winthrop, MN (1,275 residents); Cloudcroft, NM (1,275 residents); Milford, PA (1,275 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 does the journey to work look like in Gretna?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 80.0%. The reported mean trip to work is 15.0 minutes.
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.
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 4 public schools within the city match. 12.9% 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.
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 Gretna growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -26 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.0% 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 downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
2020 estimate
1,306
2025 estimate
1,280
Period change
-2.0%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 23.1% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
101.1 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Virginia average
F
City profile score · Gretna, VA
14/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share F
12.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
23.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$36,023
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Gretna profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 35/100 (F) · 101.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 14/100 (F) · 12.9%
Poverty rate: 8/100 (F) · 23.1%
Household income: 1/100 (F) · $36,023
How does Gretna compare to other US cities?
Gretna measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income5% higher than other cities
Home value24% 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 Gretna 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 Gretna near the bottom of Virginia's cities
Among the 619 Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Gretna ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Gretna only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#522 of 558
6th percentile in Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 619
0th percentile in Virginia
Median Home Value
#460 of 567
19th percentile in Virginia
Poverty Rate
#52 of 616
91st percentile in Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#496 of 618
19th 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
5th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Gretna's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$140,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 76% 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
Gretna'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
#10,434 of 15,516
More affordable than 33% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,191 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.9×, Gretna sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,434 of 15,516 and #8,191 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
$36,023Gretna, VA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Gretna, 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 Gretna, VA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)12.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)23.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)38.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,275
Median Income
$36,023
Median Home Value
$140,900
Median Age
53.6
Poverty Rate
23.1%
Labor force participation
38.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
12.9%
Schools
Total Schools
4
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Gretna's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,306 residents
2021
1,298 residents
2022
1,292 residents
2023
1,286 residents
2024
1,283 residents
2025
1,280 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
15.0 minutes
Drive Alone
80.0%
Carpool
2.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
17.5%
Based on 424 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 Gretna. 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 Gretna 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 Gretna sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Gretna 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.