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Place dossier plate
SheetVA-IRON-GATE-VA · Iron Gate, VA 408 pop · income 35th 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 Iron Gate
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Iron Gate on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Hiltons · lowest
43,472
Hiltons · lowest
43,472 median HH income
31.7% of the leader · rank #1
Iron Gate · this city
60,000
Iron Gate · this city
60,000 median HH income
43.8% of the leader · rank #2
Okolona · near
60,000
Okolona · near
60,000 median HH income
43.8% of the leader · rank #3
Inglis · near
60,000
Inglis · near
60,000 median HH income
43.8% of the leader · rank #4
Lake Hamilton · near
60,000
Lake Hamilton · near
60,000 median HH income
43.8% of the leader · rank #5
Diamond · near
60,000
Diamond · near
60,000 median HH income
43.8% of the leader · rank #6
Brook Forest · highest
136,932
Brook Forest · highest
136,932 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 Iron Gate 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: 408.
Nationally, Iron Gate sits in the 35th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
35th
percentile, household income
4th
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: Iron Gate, VA
Virginia's Iron Gate is a small town, with 408 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Iron Gate brings in $60,000 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 6.7%. Home values in Iron Gate run a median of $84,200, and the median resident age is 41.4 years. 11.4% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 43.1% 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. Monthly utility costs average around $235 across Virginia, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Iron Gate'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 work and mobility to population change to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Iron Gate, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Iron Gate?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 6.7%, 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Iron Gate?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 90.6%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Is Iron Gate 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 -15 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -4.7% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Iron Gate?
Within Virginia, the closest population matches are Dinwiddie (407 residents, $125,833 income); North Garden (405 residents, $129,583 income); Esmont (413 residents, $47,273 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Subiaco, AR (408 residents); Brook Forest, CO (408 residents); Harold, FL (408 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.
Below median income · poverty 6.7% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
101.1 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Virginia average
F
City profile score · Iron Gate, VA
35/100
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 C-
6.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$60,000
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.
Bachelor's+ share F
11.4%
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).
Iron Gate profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 54/100 (C-) · 6.7%
Household income: 35/100 (F) · $60,000
Cost of living: 35/100 (F) · 101.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 10/100 (F) · 11.4%
How does Iron Gate compare to other US cities?
Where Iron Gate sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income35% higher than other cities
Home value4% 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 Iron Gate 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 Iron Gate near the bottom of Virginia's cities
Among the 619 Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Iron Gate ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Iron Gate only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#355 of 558
36th percentile in Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 619
0th percentile in Virginia
Median Home Value
#548 of 567
3rd percentile in Virginia
Poverty Rate
#268 of 616
56th percentile in Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#510 of 618
17th 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
35th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Iron Gate's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$84,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 96% 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
Iron Gate's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#275 of 15,516
More affordable than 98% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#271 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.4×, Iron Gate sits in the affordable band:
national rank #275 of 15,516 and #271 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
$60,000Iron Gate, VA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Iron Gate, 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 Iron Gate, VA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)11.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)43.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
408
Median Income
$60,000
Median Home Value
$84,200
Median Age
41.4
Poverty Rate
6.7%
Labor force participation
43.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
11.4%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Iron Gate's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
320 residents
2021
317 residents
2022
311 residents
2023
310 residents
2024
310 residents
2025
305 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
90.6%
Carpool
7.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Other
2.2%
Based on 138 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 Iron Gate. 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 Iron Gate 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 Iron Gate sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Iron Gate 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.