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Place dossier plate
SheetWA-BURIEN-WA · Burien, WA 51,331 pop · income 71st 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 Burien
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Burien on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Bremerton · lowest
74,399
Bremerton · lowest
74,399 median HH income
53.9% of the leader · rank #1
Anaheim · near
90,583
Anaheim · near
90,583 median HH income
65.7% of the leader · rank #2
Burien · this city
90,597
Burien · this city
90,597 median HH income
65.7% of the leader · rank #3
Smithfield · near
90,602
Smithfield · near
90,602 median HH income
65.7% of the leader · rank #4
Cedar Hill · near
90,608
Cedar Hill · near
90,608 median HH income
65.7% of the leader · rank #5
Aurora · near
90,612
Aurora · near
90,612 median HH income
65.7% of the leader · rank #6
Aliso Viejo · highest
137,970
Aliso Viejo · highest
137,970 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 Burien 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: 51,331.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Burien - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Burien places in the 71st percentile for household income and the 8th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
71st
percentile, household income
90th
percentile, home value
70th
percentile, median rent
8th
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: Burien, WA
51,331 people live in Burien, Washington - a small city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Burien report a median income of $90,597 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 7.5%. Home values in Burien run a median of $609,300, and the median resident age is 39.8 years. 31.5% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 64.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 174 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 228% from five years earlier. Burien's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 3819.7 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, above the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Washington carries a cost-of-living premium: the state registers 107.0 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Above Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,472 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Washington run around $188, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. The average commute for Burien workers runs 22.6 minutes, with 61.8% driving alone and 15.8% working from home. Natural-hazard exposure scores 70.0 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Burien'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 reported crime to housing and income to population change to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Burien, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, local building permits, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares.
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.
1. Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Burien?
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 3819.7 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 67% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
How far does income reach against housing in Burien?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 6.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 7.5%, 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.
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 -141 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 174 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 Burien?
Within Washington, the closest population matches are Bothell (48,610 residents, $132,232 income); Olympia (55,583 residents, $76,930 income); Lacey (57,088 residents, $87,277 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Aliso Viejo, CA (51,320 residents); Glendora, CA (51,350 residents); Summerville, SC (51,262 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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Burien?
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 61.8%. The reported mean trip to work is 22.6 minutes.
Public transit
6.5%
Work from home
15.8%
Drive alone
61.8%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 26,702 workers age 16+.
The NCES join finds 10 public schools within the city match. 31.5% 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
10
Bachelor's degree+
31.5%
Poverty estimate
7.5%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Above median income · poverty 7.5% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
107.0 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, Washington average
D
City profile score · Burien, WA
44/100
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.
Household income B
$90,597
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share C+
31.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate C-
7.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
425 /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.
Burien profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 70/100 (B) · $90,597
Bachelor's+ share: 61/100 (C+) · 31.5%
Poverty rate: 50/100 (C-) · 7.5%
Violent crime: 21/100 (F) · 425 /100k
Cost of living: 15/100 (F) · 107.0 index
Where Burien sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Burien'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 - Burien highlighted among 13 peers.Read the chart values
Burien, WA (this city): home $609,300, crime 3,820/100k
Aliso Viejo, CA : home $863,800, crime 1,003/100k
Glendora, CA : home $820,800, crime 2,168/100k
Summerville, SC : home $295,700, crime 1,991/100k
Little Elm, TX : home $390,300, crime 557/100k
Mooresville, NC : home $348,500, crime 2,369/100k
Collierville, TN : home $458,300, crime 1,419/100k
Bothell, WA : home $871,300, crime 1,479/100k
Olympia, WA : home $457,900, crime 4,000/100k
Lacey, WA : home $427,900, crime 2,655/100k
Bremerton, WA : home $409,500, crime 3,249/100k
Shoreline, WA : home $759,400, crime 2,745/100k
Edmonds, WA : home $840,200, crime 3,261/100k
How does Burien compare to other US cities?
Here's how Burien stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income71% higher than other cities
Home value90% pricier than other cities
Median rent70% pricier than other cities
Safety8% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Washington, Burien ranks #131 of 156 Washington cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Burien 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 Burien near the bottom of Washington's cities
Among the 599 Washington cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Burien ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Burien only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#239 of 565
58th percentile in Washington
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 599
0th percentile in Washington
Median Home Value
#127 of 565
78th percentile in Washington
Poverty Rate
#236 of 598
60th percentile in Washington
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#215 of 599
64th 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
71st percentile nationally for median household income · 8th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Burien's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Burien'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 Burien's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$609,30010th percentilemore affordable than 10% 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
Burien's home-value-to-income ratio: 6.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,545 of 15,516
More affordable than 6% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#633 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 6.7×, Burien sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,545 of 15,516 and #633 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
$90,597Burien, WA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Burien, 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 Burien, WA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)31.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)7.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)64.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
51,331
Median Income
$90,597
Median Home Value
$609,300
Median Age
39.8
Poverty Rate
7.5%
Labor force participation
64.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
31.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3819.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
425.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3394.4
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
10
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Burien's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
52,000 residents
2021
51,152 residents
2022
50,925 residents
2023
51,040 residents
2024
51,542 residents
2025
51,859 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
174
housing units authorized
Single-Family
5
detached homes
Multifamily
169
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
3.4
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
53
34
19
$13.0M
2020
61
25
36
$17.6M
2021
163
43
120
$27.4M
2022
272
41
231
$51.1M
2023
281
33
248
$138.9M
2024
174
5
169
$43.9M
Permit volume increased 228% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
22.6 minutes
Drive Alone
61.8%
Carpool
13.6%
Public Transit
6.5%
Walk
1.2%
Work from Home
15.8%
Other
1.1%
Based on 26,702 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 Burien. 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 Burien 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 Burien sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Burien 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, 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.