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.
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 Arbovale 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: 155.
West Virginia's Arbovale counts 155 residents. Source: Census ACS.
5th
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: Arbovale, WV
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 155 residents in Arbovale, a small town within West Virginia. The median resident age is 29.0 years. 7.7% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 67.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Living costs in West Virginia run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts West Virginia at 89.5 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Below Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $945 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts West Virginia's average monthly utility costs around $220 (state average). On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 49.2 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Arbovale'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 Arbovale, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, matched public-school count; 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 Arbovale?
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 80.6%. 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 Arbovale?
Within West Virginia, the closest population matches are Falls View (155 residents); Booth (156 residents, $234,097 income); Camden-on-Gauley (154 residents, $52,656 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Fairford, AL (155 residents); Vaiva Vo, AZ (155 residents); Fulton, AR (155 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.
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 A
89.5 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Bachelor's+ share F
7.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income N/A
N/A
No ACS median household income on file for this place.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Arbovale profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Cost of living: 87/100 (A) · 89.5 index
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 7.7%
How does Arbovale compare to other US cities?
Arbovale measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Median rent5% 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 Arbovale against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to West Virginia only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
West Virginia-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Arbovale near the bottom of West Virginia's cities
Among the 390 West Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Arbovale ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Arbovale only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 390
0th percentile in West Virginia
Poverty Rate
#312 of 389
0th percentile in West Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#286 of 390
26th percentile in West 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 West Virginia only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Income distribution context
Median household income is not available for Arbovale in the current Census ACS release (common for very small places).
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)7.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)67.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
155
Median Income
N/A
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
29.0
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
67.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
7.7%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
80.6%
Carpool
19.4%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 93 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
West Virginia statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $220
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across West Virginia at $220 (electricity about $110 , water and sewer about $38 ).
These are West Virginia statewide averages, not a meter reading for Arbovale. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
West Virginia's BEA cost-of-living index is 89.5 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Arbovale is $945/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to West Virginia statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 49.2 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a West Virginia statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Arbovale sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Arbovale compares to similar-size West 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.