City profile · Virginia · Census ACS 2023

Modest, VA

Modest's Census ACS profile: residents, income, housing, and the joined public-record layers available for this place.

243
Residents
$101,875
Median income
$1,369
Median rent (state)
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Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.

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Starting with Modest, VA - add up to three more cities on the compare page.

See how it ranks

State rank, size-class rank, and four peer cities for Modest.

Place dossier plate

Sheet VA-MODEST-VA · Modest, VA 243 pop · income 79th pct

POP-VILLAGE · INC-HIGH · COL-PAR · SAFE-UNK · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · HOME-UNK · BOOK-UNK

  • POP-VILLAGE 243
  • INC-HIGH $101,875
  • COL-PAR 101.1
  • SAFE-UNK Safety pending
  • RANK-UPPER 79th
  • PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Valley Home
  • HOME-UNK Homes pending
  • BOOK-UNK Tracts pending

Nearest income peer: Valley Home, CA (+ $0 income $)

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 Modest

Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Modest on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.

median HH income

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.

Source U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 5-Year Estimates As of 2026-08-08

Compare beyond this state

Nationwide peers by population, income

Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Modest 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: 243.

4 peers

Similar household income

Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS median household income. This city: $101,875. Population peers are excluded.

4 peers

Modest - the verdict

Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Modest lands in the 79th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.

79th
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: Modest, VA

Census ACS 2023 estimates count 243 residents in Modest, a small town within Virginia. Modest households earn a median of $101,875 annually, 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 41.3 years. Educational attainment runs 5.4% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 68.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.

Virginia tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Virginia at 101.1 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Near Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,369 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Virginia run around $235, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Modest'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 comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.

For Modest, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares. No matched row is reported here for local building permits, matched public-school count, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; 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 Modest?

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 57.1%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.

Compare commute patterns →

Question 2

Which cities make useful reference points for Modest?

Within Virginia, the closest population matches are Afton (243 residents, $90,958 income); Fancy Gap (243 residents); Waterford (243 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Axis, AL (243 residents); Edwardsville, AL (243 residents); Trowbridge, CA (243 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.

Open a side-by-side comparison →

Population

243 residents

Micro place (under 10k)

Median Household Income

$101,875 /yr

High income · poverty 0.0% (Very low poverty)

Cost of Living Index (state)

101.1 (US=100)

Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Virginia average

City profile score · Modest, VA

58/100

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 B+
$101,875

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
5.4%

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).

Modest profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions) 4-axis radar comparing 1 series across Poverty rate, Household income, Cost of living, Bachelor's+ share. Poverty rateHousehold incomeCost of livingBachelor's+ share 58 C
Modest profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)
Read the chart values
  • Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
  • Household income: 78/100 (B+) · $101,875
  • Cost of living: 35/100 (F) · 101.1 index
  • Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 5.4%

How does Modest compare to other US cities?

Modest measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.

Household income 79% higher than other cities
Median rent 62% 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 Modest 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 Modest near the bottom of Virginia's cities

Among the 619 Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Modest ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Modest only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.

Median Household Income
#163 of 558
71st 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
#569 of 618
8th 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.

79thIncome percentile
Gauge source note

79th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.

Income distribution context

$101,875 Modest, VA median household income (Census ACS)

Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Household income distribution - Modest, VA Modest, VA's median household income ($101,875) against the U.S. national quintile-share pattern. The Lorenz curve and quintile bars are national context, not Modest, VA-specific shares. $ Household Income Distribution Modest, VA median $101,875/yr, vs. U.S. national quintile pattern QUINTILE SHARE OF AGGREGATE INCOME Lowest 20% 3.4% Second 20% 9.2% Middle 20% 15.1% Fourth 20% 23.2% Top 20% 49.1% LORENZ CURVE cumulative income vs. population 100% 0% 100% pop. 0%
Modest, 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 Modest, VA.

Key socioeconomic indicators

Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+) 5.4%

Census ACS S1501, educational attainment

Poverty rate (households below FPL) 0.0%

Census ACS S1701, poverty status

Labor force participation (adults 16+) 68.0%

Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force

Population
243
Median Income
$101,875
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
41.3
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
68.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
5.4%

Commute Patterns

Commute source

How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023

Drive Alone
57.1%
Carpool
20.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
22.6%
Work from Home
0.0%

Based on 84 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 Modest. 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 Modest 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 Modest sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.

How Modest 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.

City Population Median Household Income
Modest (this city) 243 $101,875
Afton 243 $90,958
Fancy Gap 243 N/A
Waterford 243 N/A
Primary sources on this page

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.

Citation & verification links Data sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCities

Primary sources: Census ACS, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES. Joins use OMB Bulletin 23-01 / FIPS keys.

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Estimate caveats

ACS and UCR figures are citywide estimates with vintage lags; they do not replace a local visit, school visit, or insurance quote.

Editorial standards, provenance, and how to cite this page

Every figure on PlainCities is rendered directly from Census ACS source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on Census ACS source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.

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