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Place dossier plate
SheetVA-ST-PAUL-VA · St. Paul, VA 1,046 pop · income 2nd 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 St. Paul
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest St. Paul on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Livermore · lowest
24,883
Livermore · lowest
24,883 median HH income
21.5% of the leader · rank #1
Del Muerto · near
29,541
Del Muerto · near
29,541 median HH income
25.5% of the leader · rank #2
Zephyr · near
29,543
Zephyr · near
29,543 median HH income
25.5% of the leader · rank #3
White Hall · near
29,545
White Hall · near
29,545 median HH income
25.5% of the leader · rank #4
St. Paul · this city
29,554
St. Paul · this city
29,554 median HH income
25.5% of the leader · rank #5
Antonito · near
29,583
Antonito · near
29,583 median HH income
25.5% of the leader · rank #6
Easton · highest
115,836
Easton · highest
115,836 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 St. Paul 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: 1,046.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
St. Paul - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, St. Paul places in the 2nd percentile for household income and the 14th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
2nd
percentile, household income
36th
percentile, home value
62nd
percentile, median rent
14th
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: St. Paul, VA
Virginia's St. Paul is a small town, with 1,046 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. St. Paul households earn a median of $29,554 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 33.1%. Home values in St. Paul run a median of $178,800, and the median resident age is 41.1 years. About 26.5% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 36.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 0 residential units were authorized in 2024 (No Permits). St. Paul's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 3132.5 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).
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. Monthly utility costs average around $235 across Virginia, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 St. Paul'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 population change to work and mobility to reported crime to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For St. Paul, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for St. Paul?
Within Virginia, the closest population matches are Elliston (1,041 residents); Craigsville (1,052 residents, $40,080 income); Cluster Springs (1,038 residents, $64,250 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Burgin, KY (1,046 residents); Livermore, KY (1,046 residents); Verdi, NV (1,046 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.
Is St. Paul 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 -34 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -3.9% 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.
What does the journey to work look like in St. Paul?
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 60.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
What can the FBI record say about safety in St. Paul?
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 3132.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 37% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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 St. Paul?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 6.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 33.1%, 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
$29,554
Home value
$178,800
Value / income
6.0×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 33.1% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
101.1 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Virginia average
F
City profile score · St. Paul, VA
34/100
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 A+
0 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C-
26.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; 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.
Household income F
$29,554
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
33.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
St. Paul profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 97/100 (A+) · 0 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 52/100 (C-) · 26.5%
Cost of living: 35/100 (F) · 101.1 index
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $29,554
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 33.1%
Where St. Paul sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
St. Paul'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 - St. Paul highlighted among 22 peers.Read the chart values
St. Paul, VA (this city): home $178,800, crime 3,133/100k
Burgin, KY : home $188,400, crime 398/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does St. Paul compare to other US cities?
Where St. Paul sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income2% higher than other cities
Home value36% pricier than other cities
Median rent62% pricier than other cities
Safety14% 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: St. Paul ranks #96 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 St. Paul 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 St. Paul near the bottom of Virginia's cities
Among the 619 Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, St. Paul ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares St. Paul only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#541 of 558
3rd percentile in Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 619
0th percentile in Virginia
Median Home Value
#391 of 567
31st percentile in Virginia
Poverty Rate
#23 of 616
96th percentile in Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#325 of 618
47th 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
2nd percentile nationally for median household income · 14th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
St. Paul's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
St. Paul'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 St. Paul's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$178,800Among the most affordablemore affordable than 64% 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
St. Paul's home-value-to-income ratio: 6.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,130 of 15,516
More affordable than 9% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,479 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 6.0×, St. Paul sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,130 of 15,516 and #10,479 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$29,554St. Paul, VA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context St. Paul, 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 St. Paul, VA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)26.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)33.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)36.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,046
Median Income
$29,554
Median Home Value
$178,800
Median Age
41.1
Poverty Rate
33.1%
Labor force participation
36.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
26.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3132.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3132.5
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.
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
St. Paul's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
865 residents
2021
853 residents
2022
842 residents
2023
840 residents
2024
837 residents
2025
831 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
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
3
3
0
$0.3M
2024
0
0
0
-
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
60.3%
Carpool
10.3%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
11.2%
Work from Home
11.5%
Other
6.7%
Based on 312 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 St. Paul. 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 St. Paul 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 St. Paul sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How St. Paul 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, 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.