Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetVA-RIO-VA · Rio, VA 1,213 pop · income 44th 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 Rio
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Rio on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Amelia Court… · lowest
40,366
Amelia Court… · lowest
40,366 median HH income
28.1% of the leader · rank #1
Fallon · near
65,699
Fallon · near
65,699 median HH income
45.8% of the leader · rank #2
Horizon City · near
65,702
Horizon City · near
65,702 median HH income
45.8% of the leader · rank #3
Rio · this city
65,703
Rio · this city
65,703 median HH income
45.8% of the leader · rank #4
Utica · near
65,703
Utica · near
65,703 median HH income
45.8% of the leader · rank #5
Waverly · near
65,703
Waverly · near
65,703 median HH income
45.8% of the leader · rank #6
Earlysville · highest
143,500
Earlysville · highest
143,500 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 Rio 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: 1,213.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Rio places in the 44th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
44th
percentile, household income
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: Rio, VA
Virginia's Rio is a small town, with 1,213 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Rio households earn a median of $65,703 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 32.4%. The median resident age is 28.7 years. About 41.6% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 72.6% 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. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Virginia run around $235, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Rio'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 comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Rio, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Rio?
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 67.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for Rio?
Within Virginia, the closest population matches are Earlysville (1,217 residents, $143,500 income); Honaker (1,218 residents, $44,107 income); Amelia Court House (1,192 residents, $40,366 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Ogden Dunes, IN (1,213 residents); Pioche, NV (1,213 residents); Iyanbito, NM (1,213 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.
Below median income · poverty 32.4% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
101.1 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Virginia average
F
City profile score · Rio, VA
36/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share B+
41.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income D
$65,703
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
32.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Rio profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 76/100 (B+) · 41.6%
Household income: 43/100 (D) · $65,703
Cost of living: 35/100 (F) · 101.1 index
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 32.4%
How does Rio compare to other US cities?
Rio measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income44% higher 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 Rio 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 Rio near the bottom of Virginia's cities
Among the 619 Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Rio ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Rio only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#320 of 558
43rd percentile in Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 619
0th percentile in Virginia
Poverty Rate
#24 of 616
96th percentile in Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#187 of 618
70th 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
44th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$65,703Rio, VA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Rio, 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 Rio, VA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)41.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)32.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)72.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,213
Median Income
$65,703
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
28.7
Poverty Rate
32.4%
Labor force participation
72.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
41.6%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
67.8%
Carpool
19.9%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.5%
Work from Home
6.6%
Other
5.2%
Based on 762 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 Rio. 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 Rio 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 Rio sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Rio 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.