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Place dossier plate
SheetWA-KITTITAS-WA · Kittitas, WA 1,186 pop · income 45th 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 Kittitas
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Kittitas on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Lawrence · lowest
36,188
Lawrence · lowest
36,188 median HH income
14.5% of the leader · rank #1
Luverne · near
66,145
Luverne · near
66,145 median HH income
26.5% of the leader · rank #2
Kittitas · this city
66,150
Kittitas · this city
66,150 median HH income
26.5% of the leader · rank #3
Fort Myers Sh… · near
66,150
Fort Myers Sh… · near
66,150 median HH income
26.5% of the leader · rank #4
Gonzales · near
66,152
Gonzales · near
66,152 median HH income
26.5% of the leader · rank #5
Rebersburg · near
66,154
Rebersburg · near
66,154 median HH income
26.5% of the leader · rank #6
Yarrow Point · highest
250,001
Yarrow Point · highest
250,001 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 Kittitas 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: 1,186.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Kittitas places in the 45th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
45th
percentile, household income
61st
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: Kittitas, WA
1,186 people live in Kittitas, Washington - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $66,150 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 13.8%. Home values in Kittitas run a median of $278,100, and the median resident age is 49.6 years. 27.5% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 54.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 0 residential units authorized here in 2024 (No Permits), down 100% from five years earlier.
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). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,472 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Washington run around $188, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Commute times here average 28.1 minutes, with 77.0% driving alone and 7.6% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. 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 Kittitas'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 population change to comparison shortlist to housing and income to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Kittitas, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, commute-mode shares, 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.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Kittitas?
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 77.0%. The reported mean trip to work is 28.1 minutes.
Is Kittitas growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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 -13 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.9% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 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 Kittitas?
Within Washington, the closest population matches are Yarrow Point (1,192 residents, $250,000+ income); Clear Lake CDP (Skagit County) (1,176 residents, $64,313 income); Woodway (1,174 residents, $196,500 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Clay City, IN (1,186 residents); Urania, LA (1,186 residents); Lawrence, MI (1,186 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 Kittitas?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 13.8%, 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.
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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Kittitas?
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 27.5% 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 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.
Matched public schools
2
Bachelor's degree+
27.5%
Poverty estimate
13.8%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Below median income · poverty 13.8% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
107.0 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, Washington average
F
City profile score · Kittitas, WA
34/100
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 C-
27.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income D
$66,150
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
13.8%
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).
Kittitas profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 54/100 (C-) · 27.5%
Household income: 44/100 (D) · $66,150
Poverty rate: 25/100 (F) · 13.8%
Cost of living: 15/100 (F) · 107.0 index
How does Kittitas compare to other US cities?
Kittitas measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income45% higher than other cities
Home value61% 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 Kittitas 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 Kittitas near the bottom of Washington's cities
Among the 599 Washington cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Kittitas ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Kittitas only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#409 of 565
28th percentile in Washington
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 599
0th percentile in Washington
Median Home Value
#422 of 565
25th percentile in Washington
Poverty Rate
#96 of 598
84th percentile in Washington
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#270 of 599
55th 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
45th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Kittitas's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$278,10039th percentilemore affordable than 39% 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
Kittitas's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,250 of 15,516
More affordable than 27% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,720 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.2×, Kittitas sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,250 of 15,516 and #8,720 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
$66,150Kittitas, WA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Kittitas, 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 Kittitas, WA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)27.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)13.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)54.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,186
Median Income
$66,150
Median Home Value
$278,100
Median Age
49.6
Poverty Rate
13.8%
Labor force participation
54.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
27.5%
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
Kittitas's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,453 residents
2021
1,471 residents
2022
1,459 residents
2023
1,455 residents
2024
1,440 residents
2025
1,440 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
3
3
0
$0.5M
2020
4
4
0
$0.7M
2021
1
1
0
$0.2M
2022
1
1
0
$0.2M
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
0
0
0
-
Permit volume decreased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
28.1 minutes
Drive Alone
77.0%
Carpool
8.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
7.6%
Other
7.3%
Based on 579 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 Kittitas. 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 Kittitas 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 Kittitas sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Kittitas 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, 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.