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Place dossier plate
SheetVA-OAK-LEVEL-VA · Oak Level, VA 568 pop · income 2nd 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 Oak Level
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Oak Level on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Cheraw · lowest
27,275
Cheraw · lowest
27,275 median HH income
27.7% of the leader · rank #1
Oak Level · this city
27,292
Oak Level · this city
27,292 median HH income
27.7% of the leader · rank #2
Shellman · near
27,292
Shellman · near
27,292 median HH income
27.7% of the leader · rank #3
Nicholls · near
27,297
Nicholls · near
27,297 median HH income
27.7% of the leader · rank #4
Goulding · near
27,299
Goulding · near
27,299 median HH income
27.7% of the leader · rank #5
Annapolis · near
27,308
Annapolis · near
27,308 median HH income
27.7% of the leader · rank #6
Shenandoah Re… · highest
98,523
Shenandoah Re… · highest
98,523 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 Oak Level 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: 568.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Oak Level places in the 2nd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
2nd
percentile, household income
16th
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: Oak Level, VA
Oak Level is a small town in Virginia, home to 568 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $27,292 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 24.8%. Oak Level's housing stock carries a median value of $116,300, and the median resident age is 52.6 years. Educational attainment runs 10.3% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 46.0% 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). 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. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 33.3 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Oak Level'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 comparison shortlist to housing and income to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Oak Level, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Oak Level?
Within Virginia, the closest population matches are McKenney (569 residents, $49,821 income); Shenandoah Retreat (573 residents, $98,523 income); Port Republic (562 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Hurtsboro, AL (568 residents); Indianola, CA (568 residents); Warm Springs, GA (568 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Oak Level?
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 24.8%, 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. 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Oak Level?
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 74.0%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 24.8% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
101.1 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Virginia average
F
City profile score · Oak Level, VA
12/100
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.
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
10.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
24.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$27,292
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Oak Level profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 35/100 (F) · 101.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 7/100 (F) · 10.3%
Poverty rate: 6/100 (F) · 24.8%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $27,292
How does Oak Level compare to other US cities?
Where Oak Level sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income2% higher than other cities
Home value16% 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 Oak Level 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 Oak Level near the bottom of Virginia's cities
Among the 619 Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Oak Level ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Oak Level only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#547 of 558
2nd percentile in Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 619
0th percentile in Virginia
Median Home Value
#497 of 567
12th percentile in Virginia
Poverty Rate
#46 of 616
93rd percentile in Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#520 of 618
16th 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
2nd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Oak Level's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$116,300Among the most affordablemore affordable than 84% 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
Oak Level'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
#11,421 of 15,516
More affordable than 26% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,825 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.3×, Oak Level sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,421 of 15,516 and #8,825 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
$27,292Oak Level, VA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Oak Level, 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 Oak Level, VA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)10.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)24.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)46.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
568
Median Income
$27,292
Median Home Value
$116,300
Median Age
52.6
Poverty Rate
24.8%
Labor force participation
46.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
10.3%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
74.0%
Carpool
19.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
6.3%
Based on 192 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 Oak Level. 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 Oak Level 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 Oak Level sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Oak Level 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.