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Place dossier plate
SheetWA-WAPATO-WA · Wapato, WA 4,577 pop · income 22nd 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 Wapato
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Wapato on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Crittenden · lowest
51,336
Crittenden · lowest
51,336 median HH income
37.5% of the leader · rank #1
Springfield · near
51,339
Springfield · near
51,339 median HH income
37.5% of the leader · rank #2
Wapato · this city
51,341
Wapato · this city
51,341 median HH income
37.5% of the leader · rank #3
Earlimart · near
51,343
Earlimart · near
51,343 median HH income
37.5% of the leader · rank #4
Socorro · near
51,343
Socorro · near
51,343 median HH income
37.5% of the leader · rank #5
Jakin · near
51,346
Jakin · near
51,346 median HH income
37.5% of the leader · rank #6
Glen Head · highest
136,786
Glen Head · highest
136,786 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 Wapato 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: 4,577.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Wapato places in the 22nd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
22nd
percentile, household income
36th
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: Wapato, WA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 4,577 residents in Wapato, a small town within Washington. Wapato households earn a median of $51,341 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 16.9%. Wapato's housing stock carries a median value of $177,600, and the median resident age is 24.6 years. 6.1% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 60.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 0 residential units authorized here in 2024 (No Permits), down 100% from five years earlier. NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 52.3°F with 7.8 inches of precipitation per year and 20.4 inches of snowfall.
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). Natural-hazard exposure scores 70.0 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Wapato'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 population change to climate and hazard context to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Wapato, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, local building permits, annual population history, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Is Wapato growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -123 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 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 downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
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 52.3°F, with 7.8 inches of precipitation and 20.4 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Wapato?
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.
Within Washington, the closest population matches are Belfair (4,601 residents, $74,477 income); Deer Park (4,605 residents, $57,294 income); Moxee (4,545 residents, $97,194 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Beavercreek, OR (4,577 residents); Gates, NY (4,576 residents); Coopertown, TN (4,576 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 Wapato?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 72.6%. 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. 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.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Wapato?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 16.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
3.5×
Home value
$177,600
Household income
$51,341
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
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 10 public schools within the city match. 6.1% 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
16.9%
Bachelor's degree+
6.1%
Matched public schools
10
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
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 F
$51,341
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
16.9%
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.
Bachelor's+ share F
6.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Wapato profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 22/100 (F) · $51,341
Poverty rate: 19/100 (F) · 16.9%
Cost of living: 15/100 (F) · 107.0 index
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 6.1%
How does Wapato compare to other US cities?
Where Wapato sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income22% higher than other cities
Home value36% 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 Wapato 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 Wapato near the bottom of Washington's cities
Among the 599 Washington cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Wapato ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Wapato only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#507 of 565
10th percentile in Washington
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 599
0th percentile in Washington
Median Home Value
#526 of 565
7th percentile in Washington
Poverty Rate
#65 of 598
89th percentile in Washington
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#575 of 599
4th 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
22nd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Wapato's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$177,600Among the most affordablemore affordable than 64% 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
Wapato's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#8,818 of 15,516
More affordable than 43% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,134 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.5×, Wapato sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,818 of 15,516 and #7,134 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
$51,341Wapato, WA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Wapato, 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 Wapato, WA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)6.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)16.9%
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
4,577
Median Income
$51,341
Median Home Value
$177,600
Median Age
24.6
Poverty Rate
16.9%
Labor force participation
60.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
6.1%
Climate
Avg Temperature
52.3°F
Annual Precipitation
7.8"
Annual Snowfall
20.4"
Schools
Total Schools
10
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Wapato's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
4,592 residents
2021
4,558 residents
2022
4,521 residents
2023
4,501 residents
2024
4,497 residents
2025
4,469 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
2
2
0
$0.3M
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
0
0
0
-
Permit volume decreased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
72.6%
Carpool
21.6%
Public Transit
0.5%
Walk
1.5%
Work from Home
1.9%
Other
1.9%
Based on 1,754 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 Wapato. 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 Wapato 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 Wapato sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Wapato 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, 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.