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Place dossier plate
SheetVA-NEW-CASTLE-VA · New Castle, VA 124 pop · 1 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.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for New Castle 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: 124.
New Castle has 124 residents in Virginia. Source: Census ACS.
62nd
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: New Castle, VA
Virginia's New Castle is a small town, with 124 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Home values in New Castle run a median of $283,300, and the median resident age is 24.6 years. About 41.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 56.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 2 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
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). 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). 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 New Castle'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 population change to comparison shortlist to within-city variation to schools and households to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For New Castle, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Is New Castle growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -3 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.4% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for New Castle?
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 Snowville (124 residents); Mendota (125 residents); Eagle Rock (122 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Daisy, AR (124 residents); Washington, CA (124 residents); Gay, GA (124 residents). These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
What can 1 Census tracts reveal inside New Castle?
PlainCities matches 1 Census tracts to this city.
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.
What does the education layer cover for New Castle?
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 41.7% 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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in New Castle?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 64.6%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Drive alone
64.6%
Work from home
0.0%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 48 workers age 16+.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Virginia average
D
City profile score · New Castle, VA
41/100
3 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.
Bachelor's+ share B+
41.7%
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.
Poverty rate F
16.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income N/A
N/A
No ACS median household income on file for this place.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
New Castle profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 77/100 (B+) · 41.7%
Cost of living: 35/100 (F) · 101.1 index
Poverty rate: 21/100 (F) · 16.1%
How does New Castle compare to other US cities?
New Castle measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Home value62% 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 New Castle 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 New Castle near the bottom of Virginia's cities
Among the 619 Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, New Castle ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares New Castle only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 619
0th percentile in Virginia
Median Home Value
#242 of 567
57th percentile in Virginia
Poverty Rate
#97 of 616
84th percentile in Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#186 of 618
70th 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.
How New Castle's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$283,30038th percentilemore affordable than 38% 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
Income distribution context
Median household income is not available for New Castle in the current Census ACS release (common for very small places).
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)41.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)16.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)56.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
124
Median Income
N/A
Median Home Value
$283,300
Median Age
24.6
Poverty Rate
16.1%
Labor force participation
56.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
41.7%
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
New Castle's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
123 residents
2021
123 residents
2022
122 residents
2023
121 residents
2024
120 residents
2025
120 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
64.6%
Carpool
27.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
8.3%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 48 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 New Castle. 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 New Castle 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 New Castle sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How New Castle 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.