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Place dossier plate
SheetVA-SANDY-LEVEL-VA · Sandy Level, VA 466 pop · income 9th 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 Sandy Level
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Sandy Level on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Drakes Branch · lowest
19,620
Drakes Branch · lowest
19,620 median HH income
16.9% of the leader · rank #1
Opp · near
41,346
Opp · near
41,346 median HH income
35.7% of the leader · rank #2
Silverton · near
41,346
Silverton · near
41,346 median HH income
35.7% of the leader · rank #3
Sandy Level · this city
41,349
Sandy Level · this city
41,349 median HH income
35.7% of the leader · rank #4
Lovelock · near
41,350
Lovelock · near
41,350 median HH income
35.7% of the leader · rank #5
Brasher Falls · near
41,354
Brasher Falls · near
41,354 median HH income
35.7% of the leader · rank #6
Wintergreen · highest
115,795
Wintergreen · highest
115,795 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 Sandy 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: 466.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Sandy Level places in the 9th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
9th
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: Sandy Level, VA
Virginia's Sandy Level is a small town, with 466 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Sandy Level report a median income of $41,349 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. The median resident age is 41.0 years. Educational attainment runs 1.2% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 36.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. 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). 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 Sandy 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 work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Sandy Level, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, 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 Sandy Level?
Within Virginia, the closest population matches are Wintergreen (464 residents, $115,795 income); Urbanna (460 residents, $54,167 income); Bloxom (459 residents, $62,188 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are New Stuyahok, AK (466 residents); Plainview, AR (466 residents); De Beque, CO (466 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Sandy 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. 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 90.2%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 0.0% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
101.1 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Virginia average
F
City profile score · Sandy Level, VA
37/100
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.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
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.
Household income F
$41,349
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
1.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Sandy Level profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Cost of living: 35/100 (F) · 101.1 index
Household income: 9/100 (F) · $41,349
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 1.2%
How does Sandy Level compare to other US cities?
Here's how Sandy Level stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income9% 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 Sandy 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 Sandy Level near the bottom of Virginia's cities
Among the 619 Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Sandy Level ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Sandy Level only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#495 of 558
11th percentile in Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 619
0th percentile in Virginia
Poverty Rate
#487 of 616
0th percentile in Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#589 of 618
5th 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
9th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$41,349Sandy Level, VA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Sandy 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 Sandy Level, VA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)1.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)36.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
466
Median Income
$41,349
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
41.0
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
36.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
1.2%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
90.2%
Carpool
9.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 123 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 Sandy 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 Sandy 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 Sandy Level sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Sandy 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.