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Place dossier plate
SheetVA-PEARISBURG-VA · Pearisburg, VA 2,864 pop · income 54th pct · 4 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.
Income neighbourhood around Pearisburg
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Pearisburg on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Patillas zona… · lowest
14,398
Patillas zona… · lowest
14,398 median HH income
10.7% of the leader · rank #1
Daisy · near
72,917
Daisy · near
72,917 median HH income
54.4% of the leader · rank #2
South Windham · near
72,917
South Windham · near
72,917 median HH income
54.4% of the leader · rank #3
Pearisburg · this city
72,924
Pearisburg · this city
72,924 median HH income
54.4% of the leader · rank #4
Easthampton · near
72,925
Easthampton · near
72,925 median HH income
54.4% of the leader · rank #5
Evans · near
72,926
Evans · near
72,926 median HH income
54.4% of the leader · rank #6
Arcola · highest
133,992
Arcola · highest
133,992 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Pearisburg on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. 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: 2,864.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Pearisburg - the verdict
Pearisburg ranks in the 54th percentile for household income and the 29th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
54th
percentile, household income
30th
percentile, home value
62nd
percentile, median rent
29th
percentile, safety
📝 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: Pearisburg, VA
Pearisburg is a small town in Virginia, home to 2,864 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Pearisburg households earn a median of $72,924 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 4.6%. Home values in Pearisburg run a median of $160,200, and the median resident age is 48.3 years. About 13.8% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 51.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 0 residential units authorized here in 2024 (No Permits), down 100% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 2138.3 in FBI UCR data, near the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 52.6°F with 42.2 inches of precipitation per year and 22.7 inches of snowfall.
Virginia tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: the state registers 101.1 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Near Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,369 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Virginia's average monthly utility costs around $235 (state average). 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 Pearisburg'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 within-city variation to reported crime to housing and income to climate and hazard context to population change to schools and households to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Pearisburg, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Pearisburg?
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 88.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
What can 4 Census tracts reveal inside Pearisburg?
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 can the FBI record say about safety in Pearisburg?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2138.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, near the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 6% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Which cities make useful reference points for Pearisburg?
Within Virginia, the closest population matches are Hillsville (2,869 residents, $62,861 income); Arcola (2,858 residents, $133,992 income); Windsor (2,808 residents, $65,321 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Eutaw, AL (2,864 residents); Dodge Center, MN (2,864 residents); Tazewell, TN (2,864 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Pearisburg?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.6%, 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.
Household income
$72,924
Home value
$160,200
Value / income
2.2×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What physical conditions frame life in Pearisburg?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 52.6°F, with 42.2 inches of precipitation and 22.7 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Virginia is 33.3 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
Mean temperature
52.6°F
Annual precipitation
42.2 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
33.3
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Is Pearisburg 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 -43 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
-1.5%
2025 estimate
2,873
2020 estimate
2,916
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the education layer cover for Pearisburg?
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 13.8% 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.
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.
Matched public schools
2
Bachelor's degree+
13.8%
Poverty estimate
4.6%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Above median income · poverty 4.6% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
101.1 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Virginia average
C-
City profile score · Pearisburg, VA
50/100
5 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.
Violent crime B-
107 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate B-
4.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income C-
$72,924
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
13.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Pearisburg profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 69/100 (B-) · 107 /100k
Poverty rate: 68/100 (B-) · 4.6%
Household income: 52/100 (C-) · $72,924
Cost of living: 35/100 (F) · 101.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 17/100 (F) · 13.8%
Where Pearisburg sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Pearisburg's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Pearisburg highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Pearisburg, VA (this city): home $160,200, crime 2,138/100k
Eutaw, AL : home $98,300, crime 3,358/100k
Tazewell, TN : home $163,900, crime 1,570/100k
Clarksville, TX : home $50,100, crime 173/100k
Fayetteville, WV : home $165,000, crime 2,562/100k
Hillsville, VA : home $132,600, crime 1,265/100k
Windsor, VA : home $248,200, crime 881/100k
Grottoes, VA : home $267,500, crime 792/100k
Crewe, VA : home $135,800, crime 2,555/100k
Wise, VA : home $118,100, crime 2,377/100k
How does Pearisburg compare to other US cities?
Where Pearisburg sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income54% higher than other cities
Home value30% pricier than other cities
Median rent62% pricier than other cities
Safety29% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Virginia and the picture shifts: Pearisburg ranks #74 of 117 Virginia cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Pearisburg 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 Pearisburg near the bottom of Virginia's cities
Among the 619 Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Pearisburg ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Pearisburg only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#274 of 558
51st percentile in Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 619
0th percentile in Virginia
Median Home Value
#425 of 567
25th percentile in Virginia
Poverty Rate
#333 of 616
45th percentile in Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#486 of 618
21st 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
54th percentile nationally for median household income · 29th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Pearisburg's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Pearisburg's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Pearisburg's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$160,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 70% 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
Pearisburg's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,444 of 15,516
More affordable than 84% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,296 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.2×, Pearisburg sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,444 of 15,516 and #2,296 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
$72,924Pearisburg, VA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Pearisburg, 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 Pearisburg, VA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)13.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)51.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,864
Median Income
$72,924
Median Home Value
$160,200
Median Age
48.3
Poverty Rate
4.6%
Labor force participation
51.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
13.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2138.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
106.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2031.4
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Climate
Avg Temperature
52.6°F
Annual Precipitation
42.2"
Annual Snowfall
22.7"
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
Pearisburg's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,916 residents
2021
2,866 residents
2022
2,835 residents
2023
2,852 residents
2024
2,879 residents
2025
2,873 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
4
4
0
$1.2M
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
1
1
0
$0.4M
2022
7
7
0
$1.6M
2023
5
5
0
$1.3M
2024
0
0
0
-
Permit volume decreased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
88.8%
Carpool
6.4%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
3.4%
Other
1.4%
Based on 1,247 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 Pearisburg. 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 Pearisburg 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 Pearisburg sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Pearisburg 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, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, 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.