Charles City, VA

The affordability dashboard for Charles City, VA aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 5,128 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of C (55/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $81,250, median home value of $253,700, median rent of $1,073 per month, and 17.4% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $1,655 per month (studio $1,442, 1BR $1,507, 3BR $2,072, 4BR $2,553). Department of Labor data lists infant center-based childcare at $10,055 per year, consuming 12% of the local median household income.

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages — so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Pressure points are education, commute. Unemployment currently reads 3.4% and poverty 9.0% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.