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Place dossier plate
SheetWA-RICHLAND-WA · Richland, WA 61,912 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 Richland
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Richland on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Pontiac · lowest
42,791
Pontiac · lowest
42,791 median HH income
18.8% of the leader · rank #1
Sierra · near
92,543
Sierra · near
92,543 median HH income
40.7% of the leader · rank #2
Wharton · near
92,548
Wharton · near
92,548 median HH income
40.7% of the leader · rank #3
Richland · this city
92,550
Richland · this city
92,550 median HH income
40.7% of the leader · rank #4
Ora · near
92,550
Ora · near
92,550 median HH income
40.7% of the leader · rank #5
Morro Bay · near
92,553
Morro Bay · near
92,553 median HH income
40.7% of the leader · rank #6
Sammamish · highest
227,273
Sammamish · highest
227,273 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 Richland 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: 61,912.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Richland - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Richland lands in the 73rd percentile for household income and the 28th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
73rd
percentile, household income
78th
percentile, home value
70th
percentile, median rent
28th
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: Richland, WA
Washington's Richland is a small city, with 61,912 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Richland brings in $92,550 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 7.0%. Home values in Richland run a median of $401,800, and the median resident age is 36.4 years. 46.0% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 59.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 449 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 41% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 2190.4 in FBI UCR data, near the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 53.6°F with 7.3 inches of precipitation per year.
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. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,472 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Washington's average monthly utility costs around $188 (state average). Workers in Richland report an average commute of 17.4 minutes, with 75.4% driving alone and 14.3% working from home. 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 Richland'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 climate and hazard context to housing and income to reported crime to population change to work and mobility to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Richland, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates.
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
Which cities make useful reference points for Richland?
Within Washington, the closest population matches are Lakewood (63,034 residents, $70,524 income); Shoreline (59,280 residents, $113,336 income); Sammamish (66,375 residents, $227,273 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Pontiac, MI (61,914 residents); St. Cloud, FL (61,963 residents); Marietta, GA (61,773 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.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 53.6°F, with 7.3 inches of precipitation. 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.
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.
How far does income reach against housing in Richland?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 7.0%, 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. 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 can the FBI record say about safety in Richland?
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 2190.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, near the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 4% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
Population change
Is Richland growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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 +4,366 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +7.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 449 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
+7.2%
2025 estimate
65,258
2020 estimate
60,892
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the journey to work look like in Richland?
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 75.4%. The reported mean trip to work is 17.4 minutes.
Public transit
0.6%
Work from home
14.3%
Drive alone
75.4%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 28,708 workers age 16+.
The NCES join finds 16 public schools within the city match. 46.0% 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
16
Bachelor's degree+
46.0%
Poverty estimate
7.0%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Above median income · poverty 7.0% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
107.0 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, Washington average
C-
City profile score · Richland, WA
52/100
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-
46.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income B
$92,550
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate C-
7.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime D
250 /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.
Richland profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 80/100 (A-) · 46.0%
Household income: 72/100 (B) · $92,550
Poverty rate: 53/100 (C-) · 7.0%
Violent crime: 40/100 (D) · 250 /100k
Cost of living: 15/100 (F) · 107.0 index
Where Richland sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Richland'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 - Richland highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Richland, WA (this city): home $401,800, crime 2,190/100k
Pontiac, MI : home $110,600, crime 2,626/100k
St. Cloud, FL : home $324,100, crime 947/100k
Marietta, GA : home $401,100, crime 2,109/100k
Dearborn Heights, MI : home $174,900, crime 1,698/100k
Lakewood, WA : home $420,500, crime 4,270/100k
Shoreline, WA : home $759,400, crime 2,745/100k
Sammamish, WA : home $1,240,300, crime 567/100k
Lacey, WA : home $427,900, crime 2,655/100k
Olympia, WA : home $457,900, crime 4,000/100k
How does Richland compare to other US cities?
Richland 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 value78% pricier than other cities
Median rent70% pricier than other cities
Safety28% 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, Richland ranks #86 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 Richland 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 Richland near the bottom of Washington's cities
Among the 599 Washington cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Richland ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Richland only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#229 of 565
59th percentile in Washington
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 599
0th percentile in Washington
Median Home Value
#302 of 565
47th percentile in Washington
Poverty Rate
#253 of 598
57th percentile in Washington
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#97 of 599
84th 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 · 28th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Richland's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Richland'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 Richland's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$401,80022nd percentilemore affordable than 22% 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
Richland's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,633 of 15,516
More affordable than 25% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#373 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 4.3×, Richland sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,633 of 15,516 and #373 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
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
$92,550Richland, WA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Richland, 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 Richland, WA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)46.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)7.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)59.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
61,912
Median Income
$92,550
Median Home Value
$401,800
Median Age
36.4
Poverty Rate
7.0%
Labor force participation
59.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
46.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2190.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
250.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1940.2
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
53.6°F
Annual Precipitation
7.3"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
16
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Richland's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
60,892 residents
2021
61,962 residents
2022
62,827 residents
2023
63,765 residents
2024
64,590 residents
2025
65,258 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
449
housing units authorized
Single-Family
279
detached homes
Multifamily
170
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
7.3
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
760
370
390
$160.2M
2020
572
386
186
$151.7M
2021
518
406
112
$153.8M
2022
490
270
220
$143.2M
2023
436
218
218
$118.5M
2024
449
279
170
$144.5M
Permit volume decreased 41% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
17.4 minutes
Drive Alone
75.4%
Carpool
7.2%
Public Transit
0.6%
Walk
1.5%
Work from Home
14.3%
Other
1.0%
Based on 28,708 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 Richland. 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 Richland 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 Richland sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Richland 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.