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Place dossier plate
SheetVA-HILLSVILLE-VA · Hillsville, VA 2,869 pop · income 40th pct · 10 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 Hillsville
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Hillsville on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Portageville · lowest
36,924
Portageville · lowest
36,924 median HH income
19.6% of the leader · rank #1
Topeka · near
62,857
Topeka · near
62,857 median HH income
33.3% of the leader · rank #2
Highfield-Cas… · near
62,857
Highfield-Cas… · near
62,857 median HH income
33.3% of the leader · rank #3
Thorndale · near
62,857
Thorndale · near
62,857 median HH income
33.3% of the leader · rank #4
Wallula · near
62,857
Wallula · near
62,857 median HH income
33.3% of the leader · rank #5
Hillsville · this city
62,861
Hillsville · this city
62,861 median HH income
33.3% of the leader · rank #6
Indian Hills · highest
188,750
Indian Hills · highest
188,750 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Hillsville on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. 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: 2,869.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Hillsville - the verdict
Nationally, Hillsville sits in the 40th percentile for household income and the 54th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
40th
percentile, household income
22nd
percentile, home value
62nd
percentile, median rent
54th
percentile, safety
📝 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: Hillsville, VA
2,869 people live in Hillsville, Virginia - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Hillsville report a median income of $62,861 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 10.8%. Typical homes in Hillsville are valued around $132,600, and the median resident age is 34.7 years. Educational attainment runs 16.6% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 48.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 3 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 50% from five years earlier. Hillsville reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 1264.5 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. 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 Hillsville'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 within-city variation to comparison shortlist to reported crime to work and mobility to housing and income to population change to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Hillsville, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares, local building permits.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Within-city variation
What can 10 Census tracts reveal inside Hillsville?
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.
PlainCities matches 10 Census tracts to this city.
Which cities make useful reference points for Hillsville?
Within Virginia, the closest population matches are Pearisburg (2,864 residents, $72,924 income); Arcola (2,858 residents, $133,992 income); Grottoes (2,926 residents, $84,508 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Rineyville, KY (2,869 residents); Portageville, MO (2,869 residents); Indian Hills, KY (2,870 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Hillsville?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1264.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 45% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
What does the journey to work look like in Hillsville?
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 83.2%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Hillsville?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 10.8%, 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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
Household income
$62,861
Home value
$132,600
Value / income
2.1×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Is Hillsville growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -48 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 3 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
-1.7%
2025 estimate
2,836
2020 estimate
2,884
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the education layer cover for Hillsville?
The NCES join finds 4 public schools within the city match. 16.6% 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.
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.
Matched public schools
4
Bachelor's degree+
16.6%
Poverty estimate
10.8%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Below median income · poverty 10.8% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
101.1 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Virginia average
D
City profile score · Hillsville, VA
40/100
5 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.
Violent crime C+
141 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income F
$62,861
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
10.8%
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
16.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Hillsville profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 61/100 (C+) · 141 /100k
Household income: 39/100 (F) · $62,861
Poverty rate: 37/100 (F) · 10.8%
Cost of living: 35/100 (F) · 101.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 24/100 (F) · 16.6%
Where Hillsville sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Hillsville's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Hillsville highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Hillsville, VA (this city): home $132,600, crime 1,265/100k
Portageville, MO : home $150,000, crime 1,180/100k
Indian Hills, KY : home $666,200, crime 1,864/100k
Pearisburg, VA : home $160,200, crime 2,138/100k
Grottoes, VA : home $267,500, crime 792/100k
Windsor, VA : home $248,200, crime 881/100k
Wise, VA : home $118,100, crime 2,377/100k
Crewe, VA : home $135,800, crime 2,555/100k
How does Hillsville compare to other US cities?
Where Hillsville sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income40% higher than other cities
Home value22% pricier than other cities
Median rent62% pricier than other cities
Safety54% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Virginia alone, Hillsville ranks #37 of 117 Virginia cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Hillsville 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 Hillsville near the bottom of Virginia's cities
Among the 619 Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Hillsville ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Hillsville only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#334 of 558
40th percentile in Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 619
0th percentile in Virginia
Median Home Value
#471 of 567
17th percentile in Virginia
Poverty Rate
#173 of 616
71st percentile in Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#441 of 618
28th 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
40th percentile nationally for median household income · 54th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Hillsville's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Hillsville's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Hillsville's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$132,600Among the most affordablemore affordable than 78% 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
Hillsville's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,043 of 15,516
More affordable than 87% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,934 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.1×, Hillsville sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,043 of 15,516 and #1,934 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
$62,861Hillsville, VA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Hillsville, 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 Hillsville, VA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)16.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)10.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)48.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,869
Median Income
$62,861
Median Home Value
$132,600
Median Age
34.7
Poverty Rate
10.8%
Labor force participation
48.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
16.6%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1264.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
140.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1124.0
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
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
Hillsville's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,884 residents
2021
2,867 residents
2022
2,857 residents
2023
2,851 residents
2024
2,838 residents
2025
2,836 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
3
housing units authorized
Single-Family
3
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
2
2
0
$0.5M
2020
1
1
0
$0.1M
2021
3
3
0
$0.7M
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
1
1
0
$0.0M
2024
3
3
0
$0.8M
Permit volume increased 50% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
83.2%
Carpool
10.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
6.3%
Work from Home
0.6%
Based on 1,065 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 Hillsville. 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 Hillsville 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 Hillsville sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Hillsville 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, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, 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.