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Place dossier plate
SheetWA-BELLINGHAM-WA · Bellingham, WA 92,367 pop · income 44th pct · 24 tracts
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 Bellingham
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Bellingham on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Yakima · lowest
59,228
Yakima · lowest
59,228 median HH income
41.3% of the leader · rank #1
Oppelo · near
65,813
Oppelo · near
65,813 median HH income
45.9% of the leader · rank #2
Belleville · near
65,815
Belleville · near
65,815 median HH income
45.9% of the leader · rank #3
New London · near
65,815
New London · near
65,815 median HH income
45.9% of the leader · rank #4
University Pa… · near
65,815
University Pa… · near
65,815 median HH income
45.9% of the leader · rank #5
Bellingham · this city
65,821
Bellingham · this city
65,821 median HH income
45.9% of the leader · rank #6
Kirkland · highest
143,533
Kirkland · highest
143,533 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 Bellingham 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: 92,367.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Bellingham - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Bellingham places in the 44th percentile for household income and the 7th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
44th
percentile, household income
88th
percentile, home value
70th
percentile, median rent
7th
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: Bellingham, WA
Bellingham is a small city in Washington, home to 92,367 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Bellingham households earn a median of $65,821 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 8.2%. Home values in Bellingham run a median of $577,400, and the median resident age is 34.5 years. Educational attainment runs 46.5% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 61.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 535 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 50% from five years earlier. Bellingham's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 4106.9 incidents per 100,000 residents, above the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 51.2°F with 34.7 inches of precipitation per year.
Washington carries a cost-of-living premium: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Washington at 107.0 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Above Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,472 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Washington run around $188, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 70.0 out of 100 (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Bellingham'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 population change to within-city variation to climate and hazard context to housing and income to schools and households to reported crime to 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 Bellingham, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, matched public-school count.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Population change
Is Bellingham growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +4,532 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +4.9% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 535 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What can 24 Census tracts reveal inside Bellingham?
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
PlainCities matches 24 Census tracts to this city.
What physical conditions frame life in Bellingham?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 51.2°F, with 34.7 inches of precipitation. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Washington is 70.0 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
Which cities make useful reference points for Bellingham?
Within Washington, the closest population matches are Kirkland (91,614 residents, $143,533 income); Yakima (96,810 residents, $59,228 income); Federal Way (99,232 residents, $82,144 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Hoover, AL (92,401 residents); Mission Viejo, CA (92,415 residents); Roswell, GA (92,577 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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Bellingham?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 8.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.2%, 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. 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
$65,821
Home value
$577,400
Value / income
8.8×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the education layer cover for Bellingham?
The NCES join finds 30 public schools within the city match. 46.5% 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 city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
Matched public schools
30
Bachelor's degree+
46.5%
Poverty estimate
8.2%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Bellingham?
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 4106.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 80% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
3756.9
Violent rate
350.0
Total reported rate
4106.9
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the journey to work look like in Bellingham?
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 63.5%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
3.3%
Work from home
14.5%
Drive alone
63.5%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 49,105 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 8.2% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
107.0 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, Washington average
D
City profile score · Bellingham, WA
41/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
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-
46.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate D
8.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income D
$65,821
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
350 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Cost of living F
107.0 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Bellingham profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 81/100 (A-) · 46.5%
Poverty rate: 47/100 (D) · 8.2%
Household income: 43/100 (D) · $65,821
Violent crime: 26/100 (F) · 350 /100k
Cost of living: 15/100 (F) · 107.0 index
Where Bellingham sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Bellingham'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 - Bellingham highlighted among 13 peers.Read the chart values
Bellingham, WA (this city): home $577,400, crime 4,107/100k
Hoover, AL : home $391,300, crime 1,335/100k
Mission Viejo, CA : home $946,300, crime 1,285/100k
Roswell, GA : home $520,500, crime 1,181/100k
Mount Pleasant, SC : home $667,100, crime 1,300/100k
O'Fallon, MO : home $305,100, crime 538/100k
South Gate, CA : home $608,500, crime 4,125/100k
Kirkland, WA : home $1,022,500, crime 2,073/100k
Yakima, WA : home $273,400, crime 2,589/100k
Federal Way, WA : home $499,600, crime 4,918/100k
Auburn, WA : home $510,400, crime 4,511/100k
Kennewick, WA : home $343,600, crime 3,828/100k
Renton, WA : home $631,400, crime 3,653/100k
How does Bellingham compare to other US cities?
Here's how Bellingham stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income44% higher than other cities
Home value88% pricier than other cities
Median rent70% pricier than other cities
Safety7% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Washington and the picture shifts: Bellingham ranks #136 of 156 Washington cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Bellingham against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Washington only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Washington-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Bellingham near the bottom of Washington's cities
Among the 599 Washington cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Bellingham ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Bellingham only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#411 of 565
27th percentile in Washington
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 599
0th percentile in Washington
Median Home Value
#151 of 565
73rd percentile in Washington
Poverty Rate
#213 of 598
64th percentile in Washington
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#95 of 599
84th percentile in Washington
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 Washington only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
44th percentile nationally for median household income · 7th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Bellingham's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Bellingham'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 Bellingham's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$577,40012th percentilemore affordable than 12% 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
Bellingham's home-value-to-income ratio: 8.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#15,209 of 15,516
More affordable than 2% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#711 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 8.8×, Bellingham sits in the pressured band:
national rank #15,209 of 15,516 and #711 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
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
$65,821Bellingham, WA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Bellingham, WA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Bellingham, WA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)46.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)61.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
92,367
Median Income
$65,821
Median Home Value
$577,400
Median Age
34.5
Poverty Rate
8.2%
Labor force participation
61.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
46.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
4106.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
350.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3756.9
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
51.2°F
Annual Precipitation
34.7"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
30
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Bellingham's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
91,863 residents
2021
90,439 residents
2022
93,864 residents
2023
94,966 residents
2024
95,670 residents
2025
96,395 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
535
housing units authorized
Single-Family
261
detached homes
Multifamily
274
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
5.8
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
1,072
188
884
$150.5M
2020
656
122
534
$99.0M
2021
1,115
224
891
$151.4M
2022
833
179
654
$134.8M
2023
402
130
272
$72.4M
2024
535
261
274
$102.5M
Permit volume decreased 50% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
63.5%
Carpool
7.5%
Public Transit
3.3%
Walk
6.1%
Work from Home
14.5%
Other
5.1%
Based on 49,105 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Washington statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $188
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Washington at $188 (electricity about $85 , water and sewer about $55 ).
These are Washington statewide averages, not a meter reading for Bellingham. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Washington's BEA cost-of-living index is 107.0 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Bellingham is $1,472/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Washington statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 70.0 / 100 (High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Washington statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Bellingham sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Bellingham compares to similar-size Washington 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.