The University of Virginia's College at Wise's Census ACS profile: residents, income, housing, and the joined public-record layers available for this place.
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-THE-UNIVERSITY-OF-VIRGINIAS-COLLEGE-AT-WISE-VA · The University of Virginia's College at Wise, VA 538 pop
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.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for The University of Virginia's College at Wise 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: 538.
The University of Virginia's College at Wise - the verdict
The University of Virginia's College at Wise has 538 residents in Virginia. Source: Census ACS.
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: The University of Virginia's College at Wise, VA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 538 residents in The University of Virginia's College at Wise, a small town within Virginia. The median resident age is 20.2 years.
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). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,369 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Virginia's average monthly utility costs around $235 (state average). The average commute for The University of Virginia's College at Wise workers runs 21.1 minutes, with 61.4% driving alone and 6.1% working from home. 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 The University of Virginia's College at Wise'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 The University of Virginia's College at Wise, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles; 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 The University of Virginia's College at Wise?
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 61.4%. The reported mean trip to work is 21.1 minutes.
Which cities make useful reference points for The University of Virginia's College at Wise?
Within Virginia, the closest population matches are Haysi (537 residents, $28,750 income); Hot Springs (540 residents, $101,964 income); Unionville (534 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Ballico, CA (538 residents); La Vina, CA (538 residents); Sierra Brooks, CA (538 residents). 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.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Virginia average
How does The University of Virginia's College at Wise compare to other US cities?
Here's how The University of Virginia's College at Wise stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
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 The University of Virginia's College at Wise 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 The University of Virginia's College at Wise near the bottom of Virginia's cities
Among the 619 Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, The University of Virginia's College at Wise ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares The University of Virginia's College at Wise only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 619
0th 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.
Income distribution context
Median household income is not available for The University of Virginia's College at Wise in the current Census ACS release (common for very small places).
Key socioeconomic indicators
Labor force participation (adults 16+)51.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
538
Median Income
N/A
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
20.2
Poverty Rate
N/A
Labor force participation
51.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
N/A
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
21.1 minutes
Drive Alone
61.4%
Carpool
22.4%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
10.1%
Work from Home
6.1%
Based on 277 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 The University of Virginia's College at Wise. 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 The University of Virginia's College at Wise 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 The University of Virginia's College at Wise sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How The University of Virginia's College at Wise 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.
City
Population
Median Household Income
The University of Virginia's College at Wise (this city)
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.