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Place dossier plate
SheetVA-RAVEN-VA · Raven, VA 1,826 pop · income 5th pct · 7 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 Raven
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Raven on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Sparta · lowest
24,854
Sparta · lowest
24,854 median HH income
16.6% of the leader · rank #1
Titusville · near
36,055
Titusville · near
36,055 median HH income
24.1% of the leader · rank #2
Hollandale · near
36,058
Hollandale · near
36,058 median HH income
24.1% of the leader · rank #3
Raven · this city
36,063
Raven · this city
36,063 median HH income
24.1% of the leader · rank #4
Wheatland · near
36,071
Wheatland · near
36,071 median HH income
24.1% of the leader · rank #5
New Columbus · near
36,071
New Columbus · near
36,071 median HH income
24.1% of the leader · rank #6
Lookout Mount… · highest
149,688
Lookout Mount… · highest
149,688 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 Raven 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: 1,826.
Raven ranks in the 5th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
5th
percentile, household income
6th
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: Raven, VA
Raven is a small town in Virginia, home to 1,826 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Raven brings in $36,063 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 16.2%. Raven's housing stock carries a median value of $87,900, and the median resident age is 46.7 years. About 17.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 37.9% 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. 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 Raven'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 to within-city variation; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Raven, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Raven?
Within Virginia, the closest population matches are Westlake Corner (1,824 residents, $74,078 income); Crimora (1,823 residents, $76,531 income); Laymantown (1,843 residents, $86,282 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Lamar, AR (1,826 residents); Greenfield, IA (1,826 residents); Zolfo Springs, FL (1,825 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 Raven?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 16.2%, 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.
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 68.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 16.2% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
101.1 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Virginia average
F
City profile score · Raven, VA
19/100
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
17.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
16.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$36,063
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).
Raven profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 35/100 (F) · 101.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 26/100 (F) · 17.3%
Poverty rate: 20/100 (F) · 16.2%
Household income: 1/100 (F) · $36,063
How does Raven compare to other US cities?
Here's how Raven stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income5% higher than other cities
Home value6% 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 Raven 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 Raven near the bottom of Virginia's cities
Among the 619 Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Raven ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Raven only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#521 of 558
7th percentile in Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 619
0th percentile in Virginia
Median Home Value
#544 of 567
4th percentile in Virginia
Poverty Rate
#96 of 616
84th percentile in Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#425 of 618
31st 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
5th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Raven's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$87,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 94% 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
Raven's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,693 of 15,516
More affordable than 76% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,352 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.4×, Raven sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,693 of 15,516 and #3,352 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
$36,063Raven, VA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Raven, 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 Raven, VA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)17.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)16.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)37.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,826
Median Income
$36,063
Median Home Value
$87,900
Median Age
46.7
Poverty Rate
16.2%
Labor force participation
37.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
17.3%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
68.3%
Carpool
17.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
9.9%
Work from Home
2.3%
Other
1.7%
Based on 556 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 Raven. 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 Raven 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 Raven sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Raven 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.