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Place dossier plate
SheetVA-RICHMOND-VA · Richmond, VA 227,595 pop · income 39th pct · 75 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 Richmond
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Richmond on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Baton Rouge · lowest
49,944
Baton Rouge · lowest
49,944 median HH income
28.3% of the leader · rank #1
Applegate · near
62,667
Applegate · near
62,667 median HH income
35.5% of the leader · rank #2
Junction · near
62,669
Junction · near
62,669 median HH income
35.5% of the leader · rank #3
Richmond · this city
62,671
Richmond · this city
62,671 median HH income
35.5% of the leader · rank #4
Blue Hills · near
62,672
Blue Hills · near
62,672 median HH income
35.5% of the leader · rank #5
Atlanta · near
62,675
Atlanta · near
62,675 median HH income
35.5% of the leader · rank #6
Fremont · highest
176,350
Fremont · highest
176,350 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 Richmond 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: 227,595.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Richmond - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Richmond lands in the 39th percentile for household income and the 10th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
39th
percentile, household income
69th
percentile, home value
62nd
percentile, median rent
10th
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: Richmond, VA
227,595 people live in Richmond, Virginia - a mid-sized U.S. city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Richmond report a median income of $62,671 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 12.0%. Richmond's housing stock carries a median value of $328,100, and the median resident age is 34.5 years. About 44.1% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 64.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 2,540 residential building permits were authorized in Richmond (Building Boom), up 105% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Richmond's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 3516.3 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, above the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 59.0°F with 45.5 inches of precipitation per year and 8.8 inches of snowfall.
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. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,369 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $235 across Virginia, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Richmond'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 within-city variation to climate and hazard context to population change to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income to schools and households to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Richmond, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Within-city variation
What can 75 Census tracts reveal inside Richmond?
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.
PlainCities matches 75 Census tracts to this city.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 59.0°F, with 45.5 inches of precipitation and 8.8 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.
Is Richmond growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +10,330 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +4.6% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 2,540 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Which cities make useful reference points for Richmond?
Within Virginia, the closest population matches are Norfolk (235,037 residents, $64,017 income); Arlington (235,463 residents, $140,160 income); Chesapeake (251,153 residents, $94,189 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Fremont, CA (228,518 residents); Santa Clarita, CA (229,021 residents); Spokane, WA (229,228 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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Richmond?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 64.9%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
3.6%
Work from home
16.9%
Drive alone
64.9%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 120,806 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in Richmond?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 12.0%, 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.
Household income
$62,671
Home value
$328,100
Value / income
5.2×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
The NCES join finds 95 public schools within the city match. 44.1% 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 city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
Matched public schools
95
Bachelor's degree+
44.1%
Poverty estimate
12.0%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Richmond?
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 3516.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 54% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
3179.4
Violent rate
336.9
Total reported rate
3516.3
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Below median income · poverty 12.0% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
101.1 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Virginia average
D
City profile score · Richmond, VA
41/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share B+
44.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$62,671
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.
Poverty rate F
12.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
337 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Richmond profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 79/100 (B+) · 44.1%
Household income: 39/100 (F) · $62,671
Cost of living: 35/100 (F) · 101.1 index
Poverty rate: 32/100 (F) · 12.0%
Violent crime: 28/100 (F) · 337 /100k
Where Richmond sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Richmond'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 - Richmond highlighted among 9 peers.Read the chart values
Richmond, VA (this city): home $328,100, crime 3,516/100k
Fremont, CA : home $1,289,400, crime 2,523/100k
Santa Clarita, CA : home $721,000, crime 1,342/100k
Spokane, WA : home $326,200, crime 5,516/100k
Norfolk, VA : home $271,900, crime 4,242/100k
Chesapeake, VA : home $359,100, crime 2,084/100k
Newport News, VA : home $243,300, crime 3,152/100k
Alexandria, VA : home $696,800, crime 2,859/100k
Hampton, VA : home $234,100, crime 3,130/100k
How does Richmond compare to other US cities?
Where Richmond sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income39% higher than other cities
Home value69% pricier than other cities
Median rent62% pricier than other cities
Safety10% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Virginia alone, Richmond ranks #103 of 117 Virginia cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Richmond 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 Richmond near the bottom of Virginia's cities
Among the 619 Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Richmond ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Richmond only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#336 of 558
40th percentile in Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 619
0th percentile in Virginia
Median Home Value
#206 of 567
64th percentile in Virginia
Poverty Rate
#159 of 616
74th percentile in Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#170 of 618
72nd 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
39th percentile nationally for median household income · 10th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Richmond's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Richmond'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 Richmond's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$328,10031st percentilemore affordable than 31% 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
Richmond's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,233 of 15,516
More affordable than 15% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#74 of 117
Large cities (200,000–999,999)
At 5.2×, Richmond sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,233 of 15,516 and #74 of 117large cities (200,000–999,999).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
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
$62,671Richmond, VA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Richmond, 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 Richmond, VA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)44.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)12.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)64.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
227,595
Median Income
$62,671
Median Home Value
$328,100
Median Age
34.5
Poverty Rate
12.0%
Labor force participation
64.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
44.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3516.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
336.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3179.4
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
59.0°F
Annual Precipitation
45.5"
Annual Snowfall
8.8"
Schools
Total Schools
95
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Richmond's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
226,927 residents
2021
227,229 residents
2022
228,936 residents
2023
230,804 residents
2024
234,807 residents
2025
237,257 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
2,540
housing units authorized
Single-Family
380
detached homes
Multifamily
2,160
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
11.2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
1,240
353
887
$128.7M
2020
1,023
294
729
$108.8M
2021
1,067
502
565
$149.3M
2022
2,649
457
2,192
$293.5M
2023
2,283
387
1,896
$231.5M
2024
2,540
380
2,160
$312.4M
Permit volume increased 105% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
64.9%
Carpool
7.8%
Public Transit
3.6%
Walk
4.2%
Work from Home
16.9%
Other
2.6%
Based on 120,806 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 Richmond. 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 Richmond 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 Richmond sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Richmond 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.