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Place dossier plate
SheetWA-CHEHALIS-WA · Chehalis, WA 7,536 pop · income 47th 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 Chehalis
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Chehalis on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Clarkston · lowest
53,092
Clarkston · lowest
53,092 median HH income
24.6% of the leader · rank #1
Hope · near
68,015
Hope · near
68,015 median HH income
31.5% of the leader · rank #2
Lavalette · near
68,015
Lavalette · near
68,015 median HH income
31.5% of the leader · rank #3
Seagoville · near
68,020
Seagoville · near
68,020 median HH income
31.5% of the leader · rank #4
Chehalis · this city
68,021
Chehalis · this city
68,021 median HH income
31.5% of the leader · rank #5
Laplace · near
68,028
Laplace · near
68,028 median HH income
31.5% of the leader · rank #6
Inverness · highest
215,810
Inverness · highest
215,810 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 Chehalis 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: 7,536.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Chehalis - the verdict
Nationally, Chehalis sits in the 47th percentile for household income and the 6th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
47th
percentile, household income
69th
percentile, home value
70th
percentile, median rent
6th
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: Chehalis, WA
Washington's Chehalis is a small town, with 7,536 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Chehalis report a median income of $68,021 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 8.3%. Home values in Chehalis run a median of $330,800, and the median resident age is 34.1 years. About 24.0% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 57.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 55 residential building permits were authorized in Chehalis (Stable), up 2% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Chehalis's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 4300.9 crimes per 100,000 residents, above the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Washington's average monthly utility costs around $188 (state average). 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 Chehalis'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 schools and households to comparison shortlist to reported crime to housing and income to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Chehalis, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, annual population history.
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. Population change
Is Chehalis 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 +275 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 55 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The NCES join finds 8 public schools within the city match. 24.0% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Chehalis?
Within Washington, the closest population matches are North Bend (7,745 residents, $180,663 income); Clarkston (7,240 residents, $53,092 income); Waller (7,857 residents, $118,077 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Monahans, TX (7,536 residents); Loughman, FL (7,535 residents); Cotati, CA (7,533 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Chehalis?
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 4300.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 89% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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 Chehalis?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.3%, 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
$68,021
Home value
$330,800
Value / income
4.9×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the journey to work look like in Chehalis?
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 70.0%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.7%
Work from home
8.6%
Drive alone
70.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 3,077 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 8.3% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
107.0 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, Washington average
F
City profile score · Chehalis, WA
35/100
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 D
$68,021
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate D
8.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share D
24.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime F
381 /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.
Chehalis profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 46/100 (D) · $68,021
Poverty rate: 46/100 (D) · 8.3%
Bachelor's+ share: 46/100 (D) · 24.0%
Violent crime: 23/100 (F) · 381 /100k
Cost of living: 15/100 (F) · 107.0 index
Where Chehalis sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Chehalis'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 - Chehalis highlighted among 9 peers.Read the chart values
Chehalis, WA (this city): home $330,800, crime 4,301/100k
Monahans, TX : home $159,000, crime 1,751/100k
Cotati, CA : home $702,500, crime 1,247/100k
Hughson, CA : home $480,100, crime 581/100k
Inverness, IL : home $704,100, crime 416/100k
Umatilla, OR : home $191,000, crime 1,192/100k
North Bend, WA : home $933,700, crime 2,506/100k
Clarkston, WA : home $216,900, crime 5,014/100k
Quincy, WA : home $283,900, crime 3,868/100k
How does Chehalis compare to other US cities?
Chehalis measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income47% higher than other cities
Home value69% pricier than other cities
Median rent70% pricier than other cities
Safety6% 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: Chehalis ranks #141 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 Chehalis 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 Chehalis near the bottom of Washington's cities
Among the 599 Washington cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Chehalis ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Chehalis only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#395 of 565
30th percentile in Washington
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 599
0th percentile in Washington
Median Home Value
#369 of 565
35th percentile in Washington
Poverty Rate
#207 of 598
65th percentile in Washington
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#324 of 599
46th 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
47th percentile nationally for median household income · 6th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Chehalis's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Chehalis'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 Chehalis's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$330,80031st percentilemore affordable than 31% 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
Chehalis's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#12,646 of 15,516
More affordable than 18% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,610 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.9×, Chehalis sits in the moderate band:
national rank #12,646 of 15,516 and #9,610 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$68,021Chehalis, WA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Chehalis, 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 Chehalis, WA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)24.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)57.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
7,536
Median Income
$68,021
Median Home Value
$330,800
Median Age
34.1
Poverty Rate
8.3%
Labor force participation
57.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
24.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
4300.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
381.4
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3919.5
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
8
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Chehalis's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
7,489 residents
2021
7,587 residents
2022
7,555 residents
2023
7,582 residents
2024
7,728 residents
2025
7,764 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
55
housing units authorized
Single-Family
11
detached homes
Multifamily
44
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
7.3
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
54
21
33
$6.1M
2020
45
31
14
$9.4M
2021
7
7
0
$1.4M
2022
2
2
0
$0.5M
2023
11
6
5
$2.0M
2024
55
11
44
$12.3M
Permit volume increased 2% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
70.0%
Carpool
15.2%
Public Transit
0.7%
Walk
5.4%
Work from Home
8.6%
Based on 3,077 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 Chehalis. 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 Chehalis 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 Chehalis sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Chehalis 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.