Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetWA-EAST-RENTON-HIGHLANDS-WA · East Renton Highlands, WA 12,241 pop · income 92nd 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 East Renton Highlands
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest East Renton Highlands on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Beatrice · lowest
54,583
Beatrice · lowest
54,583 median HH income
37.6% of the leader · rank #1
Westlake · near
140,000
Westlake · near
140,000 median HH income
96.4% of the leader · rank #2
East Renton H… · this city
140,048
East Renton H… · this city
140,048 median HH income
96.4% of the leader · rank #3
Franklin Squa… · near
140,051
Franklin Squa… · near
140,051 median HH income
96.4% of the leader · rank #4
Midland Park · near
140,063
Midland Park · near
140,063 median HH income
96.4% of the leader · rank #5
Monmouth Beach · near
140,074
Monmouth Beach · near
140,074 median HH income
96.4% of the leader · rank #6
Lake Tapps · highest
145,250
Lake Tapps · highest
145,250 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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for East Renton Highlands on ACS population and median household income
. 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: 12,241.
Nationally, East Renton Highlands sits in the 92nd percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
92nd
percentile, household income
93rd
percentile, home value
70th
percentile, median rent
📝 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: East Renton Highlands, WA
12,241 people live in East Renton Highlands, Washington - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. East Renton Highlands households earn a median of $140,048 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 1.5%. Typical homes in East Renton Highlands are valued around $709,300, and the median resident age is 41.3 years. Educational attainment runs 43.4% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 55.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,472 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Washington's average monthly utility costs around $188 (state average). On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 70.0 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of East Renton Highlands'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 work and mobility to comparison shortlist to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For East Renton Highlands, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in East Renton Highlands?
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 65.4%. 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 East Renton Highlands?
Within Washington, the closest population matches are Gig Harbor (12,202 residents, $106,042 income); Lake Tapps (12,360 residents, $145,250 income); Minnehaha (12,080 residents, $108,203 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Pennsville, NJ (12,238 residents); Newcastle, OK (12,238 residents); Maili, HI (12,236 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.
How far does income reach against housing in East Renton Highlands?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 1.5%, 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.
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 A+
$140,048
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate A
1.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share B+
43.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
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.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
East Renton Highlands profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 93/100 (A+) · $140,048
Poverty rate: 89/100 (A) · 1.5%
Bachelor's+ share: 78/100 (B+) · 43.4%
Cost of living: 15/100 (F) · 107.0 index
How does East Renton Highlands compare to other US cities?
Here's how East Renton Highlands stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income92% higher than other cities
Home value93% pricier than other cities
Median rent70% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares East Renton Highlands 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 East Renton Highlands near the bottom of Washington's cities
Among the 599 Washington cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, East Renton Highlands ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares East Renton Highlands only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#61 of 565
89th percentile in Washington
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 599
0th percentile in Washington
Median Home Value
#79 of 565
86th percentile in Washington
Poverty Rate
#454 of 598
24th percentile in Washington
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#113 of 599
81st 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
92nd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How East Renton Highlands's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$709,3007th percentilemore affordable than 7% 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
East Renton Highlands's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,011 of 15,516
More affordable than 16% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,645 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 5.1×, East Renton Highlands sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,011 of 15,516 and #2,645 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$140,048East Renton Highlands, WA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context East Renton Highlands, 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 East Renton Highlands, WA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)43.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)1.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)55.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
12,241
Median Income
$140,048
Median Home Value
$709,300
Median Age
41.3
Poverty Rate
1.5%
Labor force participation
55.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
43.4%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
65.4%
Carpool
6.4%
Public Transit
2.1%
Walk
1.6%
Work from Home
23.5%
Other
1.0%
Based on 5,266 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 East Renton Highlands. 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 East Renton Highlands 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 East Renton Highlands sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How East Renton Highlands 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, 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.