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Place dossier plate
SheetVA-HAMPDEN-SYDNEY-VA · Hampden-Sydney, VA 1,942 pop · income 94th 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 Hampden-Sydney
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Hampden-Sydney 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
15.3% of the leader · rank #1
North Prairie · near
148,780
North Prairie · near
148,780 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #2
Tierra Verde · near
148,785
Tierra Verde · near
148,785 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #3
Fairview · near
148,801
Fairview · near
148,801 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #4
Hampden-Sydney · this city
148,846
Hampden-Sydney · this city
148,846 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #5
Smithtown · near
148,852
Smithtown · near
148,852 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #6
Chain Lake · highest
148,932
Chain Lake · highest
148,932 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 Hampden-Sydney 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: 1,942.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Hampden-Sydney lands in the 94th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
94th
percentile, household income
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: Hampden-Sydney, VA
Hampden-Sydney is a small town in Virginia, home to 1,942 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Hampden-Sydney report a median income of $148,846 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. The median resident age is 20.5 years. About 43.8% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 30.3% 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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,369 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $235 across Virginia, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Hampden-Sydney'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 work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Hampden-Sydney, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Hampden-Sydney?
Within Virginia, the closest population matches are Gate City (1,939 residents, $37,188 income); Stanley (1,976 residents, $59,583 income); Tappahannock (1,865 residents, $44,896 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Cimarron, KS (1,942 residents); Ritzville, WA (1,942 residents); Kodiak Station, AK (1,941 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Hampden-Sydney?
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 55.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Top-decile income · poverty 0.0% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
101.1 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Virginia average
B+
City profile score · Hampden-Sydney, VA
78/100
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+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income A+
$148,846
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share B+
43.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; 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).
Hampden-Sydney profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Household income: 96/100 (A+) · $148,846
Bachelor's+ share: 78/100 (B+) · 43.8%
Cost of living: 35/100 (F) · 101.1 index
How does Hampden-Sydney compare to other US cities?
Hampden-Sydney measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income94% higher 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 Hampden-Sydney 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 Hampden-Sydney near the bottom of Virginia's cities
Among the 619 Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Hampden-Sydney ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Hampden-Sydney only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#71 of 558
87th percentile in Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 619
0th percentile in Virginia
Poverty Rate
#487 of 616
0th percentile in Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#172 of 618
72nd 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
94th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$148,846Hampden-Sydney, VA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Hampden-Sydney, 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 Hampden-Sydney, VA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)43.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)30.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,942
Median Income
$148,846
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
20.5
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
30.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
43.8%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
55.4%
Carpool
4.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
21.5%
Work from Home
18.4%
Based on 484 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 Hampden-Sydney. 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 Hampden-Sydney 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 Hampden-Sydney sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Hampden-Sydney 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.