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Place dossier plate
SheetVA-NORTH-GARDEN-VA · North Garden, VA 405 pop · income 90th 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 North Garden
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest North Garden on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
North Courtla… · lowest
37,250
North Courtla… · lowest
37,250 median HH income
28.7% of the leader · rank #1
Briarcliff · near
129,524
Briarcliff · near
129,524 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #2
Edgewater · near
129,542
Edgewater · near
129,542 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #3
Harbor Bluffs · near
129,569
Harbor Bluffs · near
129,569 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #4
North Garden · this city
129,583
North Garden · this city
129,583 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #5
Irvine · near
129,647
Irvine · near
129,647 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
Maplewood · highest
129,659
Maplewood · highest
129,659 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 North Garden 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: 405.
Nationally, North Garden sits in the 90th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
90th
percentile, household income
87th
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: North Garden, VA
North Garden is a small town in Virginia, home to 405 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. North Garden households earn a median of $129,583 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Typical homes in North Garden are valued around $560,500, and the median resident age is 51.6 years. 29.9% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 54.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 1 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
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. The average commute for North Garden workers runs 25.2 minutes, with 77.0% driving alone and 23.0% working from home. 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 North Garden'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 schools and households to housing and income to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For North Garden, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in North Garden?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 77.0%. The reported mean trip to work is 25.2 minutes.
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.
What does the education layer cover for North Garden?
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 1 public school within the city match. 29.9% 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.
How far does income reach against housing in North Garden?
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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for North Garden?
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 Dinwiddie (407 residents, $125,833 income); Hiltons (403 residents, $43,472 income); Mappsville (403 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are North Courtland, AL (405 residents); Tununak, AK (405 residents); Rock Point, AZ (405 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.
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 · North Garden, VA
73/100
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+
$129,583
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share C
29.9%
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).
North Garden profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Household income: 90/100 (A+) · $129,583
Bachelor's+ share: 58/100 (C) · 29.9%
Cost of living: 35/100 (F) · 101.1 index
How does North Garden compare to other US cities?
Here's how North Garden stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income90% higher than other cities
Home value87% 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 North Garden 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 North Garden near the bottom of Virginia's cities
Among the 619 Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, North Garden ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares North Garden only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#102 of 558
82nd percentile in Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 619
0th percentile in Virginia
Median Home Value
#109 of 567
81st percentile in Virginia
Poverty Rate
#487 of 616
0th percentile in Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#282 of 618
54th 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
90th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How North Garden's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$560,50013th percentilemore affordable than 13% 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
North Garden's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,588 of 15,516
More affordable than 25% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,926 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.3×, North Garden sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,588 of 15,516 and #8,926 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$129,583North Garden, VA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context North Garden, 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 North Garden, VA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)29.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)54.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
405
Median Income
$129,583
Median Home Value
$560,500
Median Age
51.6
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
54.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
29.9%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
25.2 minutes
Drive Alone
77.0%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
23.0%
Based on 183 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 North Garden. 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 North Garden 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 North Garden sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How North Garden 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.