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Place dossier plate
SheetWA-PORT-TOWNSEND-WA · Port Townsend, WA 10,290 pop · income 35th 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 Port Townsend
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Port Townsend on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Berwick · lowest
45,338
Berwick · lowest
45,338 median HH income
35.7% of the leader · rank #1
Okolona · near
60,000
Okolona · near
60,000 median HH income
47.2% of the leader · rank #2
Inglis · near
60,000
Inglis · near
60,000 median HH income
47.2% of the leader · rank #3
Lake Hamilton · near
60,000
Lake Hamilton · near
60,000 median HH income
47.2% of the leader · rank #4
Kings Grant · near
60,009
Kings Grant · near
60,009 median HH income
47.2% of the leader · rank #5
Port Townsend · this city
60,015
Port Townsend · this city
60,015 median HH income
47.2% of the leader · rank #6
Lake Morton-B… · highest
127,074
Lake Morton-B… · highest
127,074 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 Port Townsend 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: 10,290.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Port Townsend - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Port Townsend places in the 35th percentile for household income and the 35th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
35th
percentile, household income
85th
percentile, home value
70th
percentile, median rent
35th
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: Port Townsend, WA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 10,290 residents in Port Townsend, a small town within Washington. Households in Port Townsend report a median income of $60,015 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 8.4%. Port Townsend's housing stock carries a median value of $502,500, and the median resident age is 59.4 years. 52.2% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 37.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 34 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 33% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 1884.3 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, near the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 51.9°F with 19.1 inches of precipitation per year and 0.6 inches of snowfall.
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). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,472 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Washington run around $188, per EIA 2023 residential energy 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 Port Townsend'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 comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income to population change to climate and hazard context 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 Port Townsend, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, local building permits, 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. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Port Townsend?
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.
Within Washington, the closest population matches are Snohomish (10,177 residents, $84,688 income); Alderwood Manor (10,168 residents, $118,077 income); Vashon (10,424 residents, $115,750 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Berwick, PA (10,291 residents); Clay, AL (10,288 residents); Flowery Branch, GA (10,286 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Port Townsend?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 53.4%. 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. 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Port Townsend?
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 8.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.4%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Is Port Townsend growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +501 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +4.9% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 34 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 Port Townsend?
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 51.9°F, with 19.1 inches of precipitation and 0.6 inches of annual snowfall. 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
19.1 in
Mean temperature
51.9°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 Port Townsend?
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.
The NCES join finds 4 public schools within the city match. 52.2% 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.
Poverty estimate
8.4%
Bachelor's degree+
52.2%
Matched public schools
4
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Port Townsend?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1884.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 17% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
Total reported rate
1884.3
Violent rate
471.1
Property rate
1413.2
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Below median income · poverty 8.4% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
107.0 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, Washington average
F
City profile score · Port Townsend, WA
37/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share A
52.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate D
8.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$60,015
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
471 /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.
Port Townsend profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 86/100 (A) · 52.2%
Poverty rate: 46/100 (D) · 8.4%
Household income: 35/100 (F) · $60,015
Violent crime: 18/100 (F) · 471 /100k
Cost of living: 15/100 (F) · 107.0 index
Where Port Townsend sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Port Townsend'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 - Port Townsend highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
Port Townsend, WA (this city): home $502,500, crime 1,884/100k
Berwick, PA : home $135,000, crime 1,113/100k
Flowery Branch, GA : home $422,900, crime 911/100k
Watervliet, NY : home $176,200, crime 2,483/100k
Exeter, CA : home $273,500, crime 2,321/100k
Snohomish, WA : home $599,600, crime 1,773/100k
Yelm, WA : home $439,100, crime 2,153/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Port Townsend compare to other US cities?
Where Port Townsend sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income35% higher than other cities
Home value85% pricier than other cities
Median rent70% pricier than other cities
Safety35% 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, Port Townsend ranks #72 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 Port Townsend 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 Port Townsend near the bottom of Washington's cities
Among the 599 Washington cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Port Townsend ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Port Townsend only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#448 of 565
21st percentile in Washington
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 599
0th percentile in Washington
Median Home Value
#192 of 565
66th percentile in Washington
Poverty Rate
#201 of 598
66th percentile in Washington
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#61 of 599
89th 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
35th percentile nationally for median household income · 35th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Port Townsend's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Port Townsend'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 Port Townsend's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$502,50015th percentilemore affordable than 15% 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
Port Townsend's home-value-to-income ratio: 8.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#15,131 of 15,516
More affordable than 2% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,221 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 8.4×, Port Townsend sits in the pressured band:
national rank #15,131 of 15,516 and #3,221 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
$60,015Port Townsend, WA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Port Townsend, 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 Port Townsend, WA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)52.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)37.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
10,290
Median Income
$60,015
Median Home Value
$502,500
Median Age
59.4
Poverty Rate
8.4%
Labor force participation
37.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
52.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1884.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
471.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1413.2
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
51.9°F
Annual Precipitation
19.1"
Annual Snowfall
0.6"
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
Port Townsend's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
10,177 residents
2021
10,378 residents
2022
10,448 residents
2023
10,566 residents
2024
10,638 residents
2025
10,678 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
34
housing units authorized
Single-Family
34
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
3.3
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
51
51
0
$10.9M
2020
33
31
2
$5.3M
2021
98
53
45
$13.7M
2022
129
83
46
$26.2M
2023
65
65
0
$17.9M
2024
34
34
0
$8.5M
Permit volume decreased 33% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
53.4%
Carpool
7.4%
Public Transit
1.7%
Walk
6.1%
Work from Home
28.5%
Other
2.9%
Based on 3,510 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 Port Townsend. 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 Port Townsend 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 Port Townsend sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Port Townsend 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, 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.