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Place dossier plate
SheetWA-PALOUSE-WA · Palouse, WA 1,131 pop · income 73rd 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 Palouse
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Palouse on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Shongopovi · lowest
32,708
Shongopovi · lowest
32,708 median HH income
20.8% of the leader · rank #1
Prague · near
92,857
Prague · near
92,857 median HH income
59.0% of the leader · rank #2
Belmar · near
92,859
Belmar · near
92,859 median HH income
59.0% of the leader · rank #3
Palouse · this city
92,875
Palouse · this city
92,875 median HH income
59.0% of the leader · rank #4
Scotchtown · near
92,889
Scotchtown · near
92,889 median HH income
59.0% of the leader · rank #5
Hopeland · near
92,893
Hopeland · near
92,893 median HH income
59.0% of the leader · rank #6
Ames Lake · highest
157,500
Ames Lake · highest
157,500 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 Palouse 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: 1,131.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Palouse lands in the 73rd percentile for household income and the 99th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
73rd
percentile, household income
58th
percentile, home value
70th
percentile, median rent
99th
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: Palouse, WA
Washington's Palouse is a small town, with 1,131 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Palouse report a median income of $92,875 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Palouse's housing stock carries a median value of $261,000, and the median resident age is 43.1 years. Educational attainment runs 47.2% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 64.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 4 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Stable), up 0% from five years earlier. Palouse reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 0.0 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not 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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Washington's average monthly utility costs around $188 (state average). FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 70.0 out of 100 (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Palouse'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 housing and income to comparison shortlist to schools and households to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Palouse, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history.
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.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Palouse?
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 68.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +13 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 4 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
How far does income reach against housing in Palouse?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, 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. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Palouse?
Within Washington, the closest population matches are Carlsborg (1,135 residents, $39,239 income); George (1,136 residents, $55,781 income); Puget Island (1,136 residents, $65,395 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Shongopovi, AZ (1,131 residents); Mendon, IL (1,131 residents); Poseyville, IN (1,131 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.
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 Palouse?
The NCES join finds 4 public schools within the city match. 47.2% 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.
Matched public schools
4
Bachelor's degree+
47.2%
Poverty estimate
0.0%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Palouse?
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 0.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 100% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
0.0
Violent rate
0.0
Total reported rate
0.0
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Above median income · poverty 0.0% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
107.0 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, Washington average
B
City profile score · Palouse, WA
73/100
5 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.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime A+
0 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share A-
47.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income B
$92,875
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); 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.
Palouse profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Violent crime: 97/100 (A+) · 0 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 81/100 (A-) · 47.2%
Household income: 72/100 (B) · $92,875
Cost of living: 15/100 (F) · 107.0 index
How does Palouse compare to other US cities?
Palouse measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income73% higher than other cities
Home value58% pricier than other cities
Median rent70% pricier than other cities
Safety99% 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, Palouse ranks #1 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 Palouse 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 Palouse near the bottom of Washington's cities
Among the 599 Washington cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Palouse ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Palouse only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#228 of 565
60th percentile in Washington
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 599
0th percentile in Washington
Median Home Value
#444 of 565
21st percentile in Washington
Poverty Rate
#489 of 598
0th percentile in Washington
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#89 of 599
85th 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
73rd percentile nationally for median household income · 99th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Palouse's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Palouse'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 Palouse's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$261,00042nd percentilemore affordable than 42% 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
Palouse's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,645 of 15,516
More affordable than 64% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,894 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.8×, Palouse sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,645 of 15,516 and #4,894 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$92,875Palouse, WA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Palouse, 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 Palouse, WA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)47.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)64.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,131
Median Income
$92,875
Median Home Value
$261,000
Median Age
43.1
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
64.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
47.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
0.0
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
4
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Palouse's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,006 residents
2021
999 residents
2022
999 residents
2023
1,001 residents
2024
1,009 residents
2025
1,019 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
4
housing units authorized
Single-Family
4
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
3.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
4
4
0
$1.0M
2020
6
6
0
$1.1M
2021
12
12
0
$2.7M
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
6
6
0
$1.2M
2024
4
4
0
$1.0M
Permit volume increased 0% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
68.4%
Carpool
15.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
2.8%
Work from Home
10.8%
Other
2.9%
Based on 544 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 Palouse. 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 Palouse 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 Palouse sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Palouse 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.