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-UNION-WA · Union, WA 281 pop · income 52nd 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 Union
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Union on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Oil Trough · lowest
37,778
Oil Trough · lowest
37,778 median HH income
28.4% of the leader · rank #1
Union · this city
72,019
Union · this city
72,019 median HH income
54.1% of the leader · rank #2
Clark Mills · near
72,019
Clark Mills · near
72,019 median HH income
54.1% of the leader · rank #3
Fountain Inn · near
72,021
Fountain Inn · near
72,021 median HH income
54.1% of the leader · rank #4
Cold Spring · near
72,022
Cold Spring · near
72,022 median HH income
54.1% of the leader · rank #5
Tremonton · near
72,028
Tremonton · near
72,028 median HH income
54.1% of the leader · rank #6
Keyport · highest
133,086
Keyport · highest
133,086 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 Union 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: 281.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Union lands in the 52nd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
52nd
percentile, household income
92nd
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: Union, WA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 281 residents in Union, a small town within Washington. Households in Union report a median income of $72,019 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Typical homes in Union are valued around $667,600, and the median resident age is 65.6 years. About 22.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 30.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Washington's average monthly utility costs around $188 (state average). 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 Union'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 housing and income to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Union, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count; 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 Union?
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.
Working from home is the largest reported mode at 53.7%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
How far does income reach against housing in Union?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 9.3 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. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Union?
Within Washington, the closest population matches are Neilton (281 residents, $55,250 income); Spangle (280 residents, $70,486 income); Beverly (283 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Menifee, AR (281 residents); Oil Trough, AR (281 residents); Stanley, ID (281 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.
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
C-
City profile score · Union, WA
53/100
4 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.
Household income C-
$72,019
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share D
22.7%
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).
Union profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Household income: 52/100 (C-) · $72,019
Bachelor's+ share: 42/100 (D) · 22.7%
Cost of living: 15/100 (F) · 107.0 index
How does Union compare to other US cities?
Union measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income52% higher than other cities
Home value92% 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 Union 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 Union near the bottom of Washington's cities
Among the 599 Washington cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Union ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Union only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#366 of 565
35th percentile in Washington
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 599
0th percentile in Washington
Median Home Value
#97 of 565
83rd percentile in Washington
Poverty Rate
#489 of 598
0th percentile in Washington
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#344 of 599
42nd 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
52nd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Union's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$667,6008th percentilemore affordable than 8% 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
Union's home-value-to-income ratio: 9.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#15,282 of 15,516
More affordable than 2% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#11,177 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 9.3×, Union sits in the pressured band:
national rank #15,282 of 15,516 and #11,177 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$72,019Union, WA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Union, 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 Union, WA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)22.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)30.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
281
Median Income
$72,019
Median Home Value
$667,600
Median Age
65.6
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
30.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
22.7%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
30.5%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
53.7%
Other
15.8%
Based on 82 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 Union. 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 Union 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 Union sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Union 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.