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Place dossier plate
SheetWA-FRIDAY-HARBOR-WA · Friday Harbor, WA 2,685 pop · income 49th 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 Friday Harbor
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Friday Harbor on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Summit · lowest
33,983
Summit · lowest
33,983 median HH income
25.7% of the leader · rank #1
Taylor · near
69,945
Taylor · near
69,945 median HH income
52.9% of the leader · rank #2
Yorktown · near
69,948
Yorktown · near
69,948 median HH income
52.9% of the leader · rank #3
Friday Harbor · this city
69,954
Friday Harbor · this city
69,954 median HH income
52.9% of the leader · rank #4
Sloan · near
69,954
Sloan · near
69,954 median HH income
52.9% of the leader · rank #5
Atoka · near
69,959
Atoka · near
69,959 median HH income
52.9% of the leader · rank #6
Fobes Hill · highest
132,250
Fobes Hill · highest
132,250 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 Friday Harbor 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: 2,685.
Friday Harbor ranks in the 49th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
49th
percentile, household income
86th
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: Friday Harbor, WA
Washington's Friday Harbor is a small town, with 2,685 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Median household income here is $69,954 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 9.5%. Home values in Friday Harbor run a median of $515,000, and the median resident age is 44.5 years. Educational attainment runs 36.4% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 66.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 10 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 78% from five years earlier. NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 50.9°F with 18.5 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. 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 Friday Harbor'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 to population change to climate and hazard context to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Friday Harbor, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, annual population history, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Friday Harbor?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 61.6%. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Friday Harbor?
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 Fobes Hill (2,683 residents, $132,250 income); Leavenworth (2,676 residents, $74,653 income); Dayton (2,695 residents, $71,687 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Missouri Valley, IA (2,685 residents); Foley, MN (2,685 residents); Oronogo, MO (2,685 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Friday Harbor?
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 home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 7.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 9.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Is Friday Harbor growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +97 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 10 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
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.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Friday Harbor?
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.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 50.9°F, with 18.5 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.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
70.0
Annual precipitation
18.5 in
Mean temperature
50.9°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
What does the education layer cover for Friday Harbor?
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 36.4% 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.
Poverty estimate
9.5%
Bachelor's degree+
36.4%
Matched public schools
2
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Below median income · poverty 9.5% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
107.0 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, Washington average
D
City profile score · Friday Harbor, WA
43/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share B-
36.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income D
$69,954
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate D
9.5%
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).
Friday Harbor profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 69/100 (B-) · 36.4%
Household income: 49/100 (D) · $69,954
Poverty rate: 42/100 (D) · 9.5%
Cost of living: 15/100 (F) · 107.0 index
How does Friday Harbor compare to other US cities?
Here's how Friday Harbor stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income49% higher than other cities
Home value86% 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 Friday Harbor 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 Friday Harbor near the bottom of Washington's cities
Among the 599 Washington cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Friday Harbor ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Friday Harbor only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#390 of 565
31st percentile in Washington
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 599
0th percentile in Washington
Median Home Value
#183 of 565
67th percentile in Washington
Poverty Rate
#172 of 598
71st percentile in Washington
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#166 of 599
72nd 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
49th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Friday Harbor's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$515,00014th percentilemore affordable than 14% 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
Friday Harbor's home-value-to-income ratio: 7.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,838 of 15,516
More affordable than 4% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,899 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 7.4×, Friday Harbor sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,838 of 15,516 and #10,899 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$69,954Friday Harbor, WA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Friday Harbor, 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 Friday Harbor, WA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)36.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)9.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)66.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,685
Median Income
$69,954
Median Home Value
$515,000
Median Age
44.5
Poverty Rate
9.5%
Labor force participation
66.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
36.4%
Climate
Avg Temperature
50.9°F
Annual Precipitation
18.5"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Friday Harbor's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,632 residents
2021
2,749 residents
2022
2,751 residents
2023
2,733 residents
2024
2,727 residents
2025
2,729 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
10
housing units authorized
Single-Family
6
detached homes
Multifamily
4
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
3.7
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
46
26
20
$6.5M
2020
13
11
2
$3.0M
2021
15
15
0
$3.1M
2022
11
3
8
$5.3M
2023
10
2
8
$3.0M
2024
10
6
4
$3.1M
Permit volume decreased 78% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
61.6%
Carpool
13.5%
Public Transit
0.4%
Walk
9.2%
Work from Home
13.0%
Other
2.3%
Based on 1,425 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 Friday Harbor. 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 Friday Harbor 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 Friday Harbor sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Friday Harbor 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, 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.