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Place dossier plate
SheetWA-FAIRFIELD-WA · Fairfield, WA 607 pop · income 56th 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 Fairfield
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Fairfield on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Las Marías zo… · lowest
18,298
Las Marías zo… · lowest
18,298 median HH income
18.6% of the leader · rank #1
Fairfield · this city
75,000
Fairfield · this city
75,000 median HH income
76.1% of the leader · rank #2
Scranton · near
75,000
Scranton · near
75,000 median HH income
76.1% of the leader · rank #3
Auberry · near
75,000
Auberry · near
75,000 median HH income
76.1% of the leader · rank #4
University of… · near
75,000
University of… · near
75,000 median HH income
76.1% of the leader · rank #5
Southern Ute · near
75,000
Southern Ute · near
75,000 median HH income
76.1% of the leader · rank #6
Bay View · highest
98,571
Bay View · highest
98,571 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 Fairfield 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: 607.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Fairfield places in the 56th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
56th
percentile, household income
52nd
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: Fairfield, WA
Washington's Fairfield is a small town, with 607 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Median household income here is $75,000 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 13.6%. Home values in Fairfield run a median of $233,500, and the median resident age is 39.8 years. Educational attainment runs 17.9% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 48.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 1 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 67% from five years earlier.
Washington carries a cost-of-living premium: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Washington scores 107.0 (Above Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,472 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $188 across Washington, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Fairfield'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 housing and income to comparison shortlist to population change to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Fairfield, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Fairfield?
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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 13.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Fairfield?
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.
Within Washington, the closest population matches are Curlew Lake (605 residents, $55,592 income); Port Gamble Tribal Community (614 residents, $65,000 income); White Swan (598 residents, $56,458 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Tampico, IL (607 residents); Bay Shore, MI (607 residents); Scotland, TX (607 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.
Is Fairfield growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -1 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 1 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
What does the journey to work look like in Fairfield?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 76.9%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Above median income · poverty 13.6% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
107.0 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, Washington average
F
City profile score · Fairfield, WA
32/100
4 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 C-
$75,000
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
17.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
13.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better 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.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Fairfield profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 54/100 (C-) · $75,000
Bachelor's+ share: 28/100 (F) · 17.9%
Poverty rate: 25/100 (F) · 13.6%
Cost of living: 15/100 (F) · 107.0 index
How does Fairfield compare to other US cities?
Where Fairfield sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income56% higher than other cities
Home value52% 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 Fairfield 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 Fairfield near the bottom of Washington's cities
Among the 599 Washington cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Fairfield ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Fairfield only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#342 of 565
39th percentile in Washington
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 599
0th percentile in Washington
Median Home Value
#465 of 565
18th percentile in Washington
Poverty Rate
#101 of 598
83rd percentile in Washington
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#432 of 599
27th 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
56th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Fairfield's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$233,50048th percentilemore affordable than 48% 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
Fairfield's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,244 of 15,516
More affordable than 53% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,036 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.1×, Fairfield sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,244 of 15,516 and #6,036 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
$75,000Fairfield, WA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Fairfield, 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 Fairfield, WA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)17.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)13.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)48.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
607
Median Income
$75,000
Median Home Value
$233,500
Median Age
39.8
Poverty Rate
13.6%
Labor force participation
48.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
17.9%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Fairfield's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
591 residents
2021
599 residents
2022
600 residents
2023
598 residents
2024
595 residents
2025
590 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
1
housing units authorized
Single-Family
1
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
3
3
0
$0.5M
2020
2
2
0
$0.5M
2021
2
2
0
$0.7M
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
1
1
0
$0.3M
Permit volume decreased 67% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
76.9%
Carpool
6.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
10.1%
Other
6.3%
Based on 208 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 Fairfield. 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 Fairfield 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 Fairfield sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Fairfield 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 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.