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Place dossier plate
SheetWV-WILLIAMSTOWN-WV · Williamstown, WV 2,977 pop · income 57th 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 Williamstown
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Williamstown on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Williamson · lowest
24,119
Williamson · lowest
24,119 median HH income
19.3% of the leader · rank #1
Prices Fork · near
75,568
Prices Fork · near
75,568 median HH income
60.4% of the leader · rank #2
Aurora Springs · near
75,573
Aurora Springs · near
75,573 median HH income
60.4% of the leader · rank #3
Williamstown · this city
75,577
Williamstown · this city
75,577 median HH income
60.4% of the leader · rank #4
Groton · near
75,583
Groton · near
75,583 median HH income
60.4% of the leader · rank #5
Barnes Lake · near
75,585
Barnes Lake · near
75,585 median HH income
60.4% of the leader · rank #6
Valhalla · highest
125,135
Valhalla · highest
125,135 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 Williamstown 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: 2,977.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Williamstown - the verdict
Nationally, Williamstown sits in the 57th percentile for household income and the 96th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
57th
percentile, household income
32nd
percentile, home value
5th
percentile, median rent
96th
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: Williamstown, WV
Williamstown is a small town in West Virginia, home to 2,977 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Williamstown brings in $75,577 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 2.2%. Home values in Williamstown run a median of $164,100, and the median resident age is 52.1 years. About 44.8% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 56.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 0 residential units authorized here in 2024 (No Permits), down 100% from five years earlier. Williamstown reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR figures show 169.9 crimes per 100,000 residents, below the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
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. Monthly utility costs average around $220 across West Virginia, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 49.2 out of 100 (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Williamstown'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 schools and households to population change to work and mobility to comparison shortlist 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 Williamstown, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the education layer cover for Williamstown?
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 44.8% 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 Williamstown 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 -66 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.2% 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 Williamstown?
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 85.8%. 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 Williamstown?
Within West Virginia, the closest population matches are Kenova (2,977 residents, $53,438 income); Williamson (2,979 residents, $24,119 income); Kingwood (2,980 residents, $67,411 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Clever, MO (2,977 residents); Sandwich, MA (2,976 residents); Ava, MO (2,978 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.
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.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Williamstown?
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 169.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 93% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
169.9
Violent rate
0.0
Total reported rate
169.9
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
How far does income reach against housing in Williamstown?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.2%, 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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
Household income
$75,577
Home value
$164,100
Value / income
2.2×
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.
Violent crime A+
0 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger 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.
Poverty rate A-
2.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share B+
44.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income C
$75,577
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Williamstown profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 97/100 (A+) · 0 /100k
Cost of living: 87/100 (A) · 89.5 index
Poverty rate: 84/100 (A-) · 2.2%
Bachelor's+ share: 79/100 (B+) · 44.8%
Household income: 55/100 (C) · $75,577
Where Williamstown sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Williamstown'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 - Williamstown highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Williamstown, WV (this city): home $164,100, crime 170/100k
Sandwich, MA : home $511,000, crime 473/100k
Ava, MO : home $134,800, crime 277/100k
Summerset, SD : home $337,900, crime 632/100k
Kenova, WV : home $98,700, crime 595/100k
Moorefield, WV : home $121,400, crime 2,298/100k
Philippi, WV : home $110,900, crime 932/100k
Ripley, WV : home $119,300, crime 923/100k
How does Williamstown compare to other US cities?
Williamstown measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income57% higher than other cities
Home value32% pricier than other cities
Median rent5% pricier than other cities
Safety96% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just West Virginia and the picture shifts: Williamstown ranks #2 of 45 West Virginia cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Williamstown 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 Williamstown near the bottom of West Virginia's cities
Among the 390 West Virginia cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Williamstown ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Williamstown only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#50 of 330
85th percentile in West Virginia
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 390
0th percentile in West Virginia
Median Home Value
#75 of 337
78th percentile in West Virginia
Poverty Rate
#297 of 389
23rd percentile in West Virginia
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#23 of 390
94th 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
57th percentile nationally for median household income · 96th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Williamstown's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Williamstown'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 Williamstown's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$164,100Among the most affordablemore affordable than 68% 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
Williamstown's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,325 of 15,516
More affordable than 85% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,190 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.2×, Williamstown sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,325 of 15,516 and #2,190 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$75,577Williamstown, WV median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Williamstown, 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 Williamstown, WV.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)44.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)56.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,977
Median Income
$75,577
Median Home Value
$164,100
Median Age
52.1
Poverty Rate
2.2%
Labor force participation
56.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
44.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
169.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
169.9
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.
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
Williamstown's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,988 residents
2021
2,979 residents
2022
2,964 residents
2023
2,952 residents
2024
2,943 residents
2025
2,922 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
12
12
0
$3.6M
2020
5
5
0
$1.5M
2021
5
3
2
$1.0M
2022
3
3
0
$0.8M
2023
6
6
0
$1.7M
2024
0
0
0
-
Permit volume decreased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
85.8%
Carpool
2.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.8%
Work from Home
9.5%
Based on 1,384 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 Williamstown. 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 Williamstown 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 Williamstown sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Williamstown 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, FBI UCR, 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.