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Place dossier plate
SheetWA-VASHON-WA · Vashon, WA 10,424 pop · income 86th 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 Vashon
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Vashon on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Pine Castle · lowest
46,154
Pine Castle · lowest
46,154 median HH income
36.3% of the leader · rank #1
Carmel-by-the… · near
115,729
Carmel-by-the… · near
115,729 median HH income
91.1% of the leader · rank #2
Woodway · near
115,729
Woodway · near
115,729 median HH income
91.1% of the leader · rank #3
West Falmouth · near
115,735
West Falmouth · near
115,735 median HH income
91.1% of the leader · rank #4
Vashon · this city
115,750
Vashon · this city
115,750 median HH income
91.1% of the leader · rank #5
Crabtree · near
115,750
Crabtree · near
115,750 median HH income
91.1% 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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Vashon 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: 10,424.
Nationally, Vashon sits in the 86th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
86th
percentile, household income
93rd
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: Vashon, WA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 10,424 residents in Vashon, a small town within Washington. Vashon households earn a median of $115,750 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 4.8%. Home values in Vashon run a median of $717,700, and the median resident age is 51.7 years. Educational attainment runs 51.9% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 54.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 1 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
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. 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. The average commute for Vashon workers runs 19.2 minutes, with 44.1% driving alone and 40.1% working from home. 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 Vashon'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 schools and households to comparison shortlist to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Vashon, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history; 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 Vashon?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 44.1%. The reported mean trip to work is 19.2 minutes.
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 51.9% 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 matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
Which cities make useful reference points for Vashon?
Within Washington, the closest population matches are Fairwood CDP (Spokane County) (10,439 residents, $84,911 income); Port Townsend (10,290 residents, $60,015 income); Lake Morton-Berrydale (10,591 residents, $127,074 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Gunbarrel, CO (10,424 residents); Camden, AR (10,427 residents); Pine Castle, FL (10,429 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 Vashon?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 6.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.8%, 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.
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
51.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income A-
$115,750
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate B-
4.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better 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.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Vashon profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 85/100 (A) · 51.9%
Household income: 84/100 (A-) · $115,750
Poverty rate: 67/100 (B-) · 4.8%
Cost of living: 15/100 (F) · 107.0 index
How does Vashon compare to other US cities?
Vashon measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income86% higher than other cities
Home value93% 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 Vashon 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 Vashon near the bottom of Washington's cities
Among the 599 Washington cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Vashon ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Vashon only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#123 of 565
78th percentile in Washington
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 599
0th percentile in Washington
Median Home Value
#76 of 565
87th percentile in Washington
Poverty Rate
#326 of 598
45th percentile in Washington
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#65 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
86th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Vashon's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$717,7007th percentilemore affordable than 7% 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
Vashon's home-value-to-income ratio: 6.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,261 of 15,516
More affordable than 8% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,009 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 6.2×, Vashon sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,261 of 15,516 and #3,009 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
$115,750Vashon, WA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Vashon, 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 Vashon, WA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)51.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)54.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
10,424
Median Income
$115,750
Median Home Value
$717,700
Median Age
51.7
Poverty Rate
4.8%
Labor force participation
54.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
51.9%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
19.2 minutes
Drive Alone
44.1%
Carpool
6.5%
Public Transit
5.4%
Walk
1.4%
Work from Home
40.1%
Other
2.5%
Based on 4,703 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 Vashon. 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 Vashon 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 Vashon sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Vashon 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, NCES CCD, 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.