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-MILL-CREEK-WA · Mill Creek, WA 20,846 pop · income 88th 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 Mill Creek
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Mill Creek on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
East Moline · lowest
63,328
East Moline · lowest
63,328 median HH income
43.7% of the leader · rank #1
Grantley · near
121,563
Grantley · near
121,563 median HH income
83.9% of the leader · rank #2
Carrollton · near
121,574
Carrollton · near
121,574 median HH income
83.9% of the leader · rank #3
Mill Creek · this city
121,578
Mill Creek · this city
121,578 median HH income
83.9% of the leader · rank #4
Wadsworth · near
121,583
Wadsworth · near
121,583 median HH income
83.9% of the leader · rank #5
Waikapu · near
121,618
Waikapu · near
121,618 median HH income
83.9% of the leader · rank #6
Bothell West · highest
144,941
Bothell West · highest
144,941 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 Mill Creek 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: 20,846.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Mill Creek - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Mill Creek places in the 88th percentile for household income and the 33rd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
88th
percentile, household income
95th
percentile, home value
70th
percentile, median rent
33rd
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: Mill Creek, WA
Washington's Mill Creek is a small city, with 20,846 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Mill Creek households earn a median of $121,578 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 4.7%. Typical homes in Mill Creek are valued around $836,300, and the median resident age is 38.8 years. About 53.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 64.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 1 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Low Activity). Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 1957.8 crimes per 100,000 residents, near 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: 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. 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 Mill Creek'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 work and mobility to schools and households to reported crime to population change to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Mill Creek, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, commute-mode shares, annual population history, matched public-school count.
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.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Mill Creek?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 6.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.7%, 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Mill Creek?
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 57.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
What does the education layer cover for Mill Creek?
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 53.7% 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 Mill Creek?
Within Washington, the closest population matches are Covington (20,957 residents, $126,730 income); Bothell West (21,014 residents, $144,941 income); Silverdale (21,046 residents, $101,445 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Rosedale, MD (20,845 residents); Murrysville, PA (20,839 residents); East Moline, IL (20,837 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.
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.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Mill Creek?
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 1957.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 14% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
1832.1
Violent rate
125.7
Total reported rate
1957.8
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Is Mill Creek 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 -7 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.0% 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.
Period change
-0.0%
2025 estimate
20,902
2020 estimate
20,909
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
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
$121,578
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share A
53.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate B-
4.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime C+
126 /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.
Mill Creek profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 87/100 (A) · $121,578
Bachelor's+ share: 87/100 (A) · 53.7%
Poverty rate: 67/100 (B-) · 4.7%
Violent crime: 64/100 (C+) · 126 /100k
Cost of living: 15/100 (F) · 107.0 index
Where Mill Creek sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Mill Creek'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 - Mill Creek highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Mill Creek, WA (this city): home $836,300, crime 1,958/100k
Murrysville, PA : home $316,400, crime 256/100k
East Moline, IL : home $135,300, crime 2,670/100k
Hyattsville, MD : home $463,500, crime 4,028/100k
Covington, WA : home $590,100, crime 3,285/100k
Arlington, WA : home $492,600, crime 2,559/100k
Battle Ground, WA : home $452,000, crime 1,115/100k
Mukilteo, WA : home $830,000, crime 1,823/100k
How does Mill Creek compare to other US cities?
Where Mill Creek sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income88% higher than other cities
Home value95% pricier than other cities
Median rent70% pricier than other cities
Safety33% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Washington, Mill Creek ranks #75 of 156 Washington cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Mill Creek 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 Mill Creek near the bottom of Washington's cities
Among the 599 Washington cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Mill Creek ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Mill Creek only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#102 of 565
82nd percentile in Washington
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 599
0th percentile in Washington
Median Home Value
#43 of 565
92nd percentile in Washington
Poverty Rate
#331 of 598
44th percentile in Washington
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#55 of 599
91st 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
88th percentile nationally for median household income · 33rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Mill Creek's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Mill Creek'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 Mill Creek's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$836,3005th percentilemore affordable than 5% 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
Mill Creek's home-value-to-income ratio: 6.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,617 of 15,516
More affordable than 6% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,092 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 6.9×, Mill Creek sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,617 of 15,516 and #3,092 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
$121,578Mill Creek, WA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Mill Creek, 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 Mill Creek, WA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)53.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)64.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
20,846
Median Income
$121,578
Median Home Value
$836,300
Median Age
38.8
Poverty Rate
4.7%
Labor force participation
64.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
53.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1957.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
125.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1832.1
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
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Mill Creek's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
20,909 residents
2021
21,023 residents
2022
20,925 residents
2023
20,891 residents
2024
20,932 residents
2025
20,902 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Low Activity
Total Permits (2024)
1
housing units authorized
Single-Family
1
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
128
10
118
$29.6M
2021
36
26
10
$10.3M
2022
2
2
0
$1.0M
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
1
1
0
$0.6M
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
57.8%
Carpool
8.1%
Public Transit
4.8%
Walk
0.3%
Work from Home
27.4%
Other
1.6%
Based on 10,903 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 Mill Creek. 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 Mill Creek 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 Mill Creek sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Mill Creek 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.