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
SheetWV-SHEPHERDSTOWN-WV · Shepherdstown, WV 1,399 pop · income 39th 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 Shepherdstown
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Shepherdstown on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Estancia · lowest
34,559
Estancia · lowest
34,559 median HH income
35.4% of the leader · rank #1
Shepherdstown · this city
62,500
Shepherdstown · this city
62,500 median HH income
64.1% of the leader · rank #2
Industry · near
62,500
Industry · near
62,500 median HH income
64.1% of the leader · rank #3
Buncombe · near
62,500
Buncombe · near
62,500 median HH income
64.1% of the leader · rank #4
Colchester · near
62,500
Colchester · near
62,500 median HH income
64.1% of the leader · rank #5
Shipman · near
62,500
Shipman · near
62,500 median HH income
64.1% of the leader · rank #6
Farmingdale · highest
97,574
Farmingdale · highest
97,574 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 Shepherdstown 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: 1,399.
Nationally, Shepherdstown sits in the 39th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
39th
percentile, household income
83rd
percentile, home value
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: Shepherdstown, WV
1,399 people live in Shepherdstown, West Virginia - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Shepherdstown report a median income of $62,500 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 2.7%. Shepherdstown's housing stock carries a median value of $474,500, and the median resident age is 21.7 years. About 71.4% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 49.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 1 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 75% from five years earlier.
Living costs in West Virginia run below the national norm: the state registers 89.5 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Well Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $945 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $220 across West Virginia, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Shepherdstown'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 schools and households to population change to comparison shortlist to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Shepherdstown, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, local building permits, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; 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 Shepherdstown?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 45.5%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
What does the education layer cover for Shepherdstown?
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 71.4% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
Is Shepherdstown growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -10 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 1 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Which cities make useful reference points for Shepherdstown?
Within West Virginia, the closest population matches are Harrisville (1,408 residents, $45,988 income); Lubeck (1,412 residents, $69,616 income); Coal Fork (1,414 residents, $64,053 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Farmingdale, NJ (1,399 residents); Estancia, NM (1,399 residents); Cementon, PA (1,399 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.
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 Shepherdstown?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 7.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.7%, 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
$62,500
Home value
$474,500
Value / income
7.6×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
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 A+
71.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
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.
Poverty rate A-
2.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$62,500
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Shepherdstown profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 98/100 (A+) · 71.4%
Cost of living: 87/100 (A) · 89.5 index
Poverty rate: 81/100 (A-) · 2.7%
Household income: 38/100 (F) · $62,500
How does Shepherdstown compare to other US cities?
Shepherdstown measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income39% higher than other cities
Home value83% pricier than other cities
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 Shepherdstown 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 Shepherdstown near the bottom of West Virginia's cities
Among the 390 West Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Shepherdstown ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Shepherdstown only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#91 of 330
72nd percentile in West Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 390
0th percentile in West Virginia
Median Home Value
#2 of 337
99th percentile in West Virginia
Poverty Rate
#290 of 389
25th percentile in West Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#3 of 390
99th 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.
Gauge source note
39th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Shepherdstown's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$474,50017th percentilemore affordable than 17% 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
Shepherdstown's home-value-to-income ratio: 7.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,902 of 15,516
More affordable than 4% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,942 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 7.6×, Shepherdstown sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,902 of 15,516 and #10,942 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
$62,500Shepherdstown, WV median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Shepherdstown, WV median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Shepherdstown, WV.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)71.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)49.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,399
Median Income
$62,500
Median Home Value
$474,500
Median Age
21.7
Poverty Rate
2.7%
Labor force participation
49.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
71.4%
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Shepherdstown's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,532 residents
2021
1,530 residents
2022
1,529 residents
2023
1,531 residents
2024
1,528 residents
2025
1,522 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
1
housing units authorized
Single-Family
1
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.7
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
4
4
0
$1.3M
2020
7
5
2
$1.9M
2021
4
4
0
$1.0M
2022
6
6
0
$1.5M
2023
5
5
0
$1.3M
2024
1
1
0
$0.6M
Permit volume decreased 75% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
45.5%
Carpool
1.3%
Public Transit
1.4%
Walk
30.7%
Work from Home
21.1%
Based on 622 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 Shepherdstown. 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 Shepherdstown 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 Shepherdstown sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Shepherdstown 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, NCES CCD, 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.