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-PRAIRIE-HEIGHTS-WA · Prairie Heights, WA 4,817 pop · income 90th 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 Prairie Heights
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Prairie Heights on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Cochran · lowest
30,756
Cochran · lowest
30,756 median HH income
23.8% of the leader · rank #1
Lee Vining · near
129,407
Lee Vining · near
129,407 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #2
Shelter Island · near
129,410
Shelter Island · near
129,410 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #3
Sturbridge · near
129,413
Sturbridge · near
129,413 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #4
Prairie Heigh… · this city
129,438
Prairie Heigh… · this city
129,438 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #5
Grosse Pointe… · near
129,442
Grosse Pointe… · near
129,442 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
Columbine · highest
129,480
Columbine · highest
129,480 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 Prairie Heights 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: 4,817.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Prairie Heights places in the 90th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
90th
percentile, household income
84th
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: Prairie Heights, WA
Prairie Heights is a small town in Washington, home to 4,817 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Prairie Heights report a median income of $129,438 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 1.6%. Home values in Prairie Heights run a median of $485,800, and the median resident age is 40.5 years. About 17.9% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 60.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Washington carries a cost-of-living premium: the state registers 107.0 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Above Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,472 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $188 across Washington, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Prairie Heights'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 housing and income to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Prairie Heights, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Prairie Heights?
Within Washington, the closest population matches are Venersborg (4,827 residents, $126,667 income); Wauna (4,831 residents, $108,000 income); Longbranch (4,715 residents, $92,109 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Cochran, GA (4,815 residents); Bloomfield, WI (4,815 residents); Clinton, IN (4,814 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 Prairie Heights?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 1.6%, 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Prairie Heights?
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 81.2%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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+
$129,438
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate A
1.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
17.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; 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.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Prairie Heights profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 90/100 (A+) · $129,438
Poverty rate: 89/100 (A) · 1.6%
Bachelor's+ share: 28/100 (F) · 17.9%
Cost of living: 15/100 (F) · 107.0 index
How does Prairie Heights compare to other US cities?
Prairie Heights measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income90% higher than other cities
Home value84% 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 Prairie Heights 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 Prairie Heights near the bottom of Washington's cities
Among the 599 Washington cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Prairie Heights ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Prairie Heights only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#84 of 565
85th percentile in Washington
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 599
0th percentile in Washington
Median Home Value
#207 of 565
63rd percentile in Washington
Poverty Rate
#450 of 598
24th percentile in Washington
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#432 of 599
27th 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
90th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Prairie Heights's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$485,80016th percentilemore affordable than 16% 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
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,885 of 15,516
More affordable than 36% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,836 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.8×, Prairie Heights sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,885 of 15,516 and #7,836 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
$129,438Prairie Heights, WA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Prairie Heights, 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 Prairie Heights, WA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)17.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)1.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)60.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
4,817
Median Income
$129,438
Median Home Value
$485,800
Median Age
40.5
Poverty Rate
1.6%
Labor force participation
60.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
17.9%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
81.2%
Carpool
7.8%
Public Transit
1.2%
Walk
0.9%
Work from Home
6.7%
Other
2.2%
Based on 2,347 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 Prairie Heights. 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 Prairie Heights 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 Prairie Heights sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Prairie Heights 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, 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.