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Place dossier plate
SheetWA-WENATCHEE-WA · Wenatchee, WA 35,502 pop · income 49th pct · 14 tracts
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 Wenatchee
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Wenatchee on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Richmond · lowest
48,223
Richmond · lowest
48,223 median HH income
41.8% of the leader · rank #1
Wenatchee · this city
70,000
Wenatchee · this city
70,000 median HH income
60.6% of the leader · rank #2
Steele · near
70,000
Steele · near
70,000 median HH income
60.6% of the leader · rank #3
Kasigluk · near
70,000
Kasigluk · near
70,000 median HH income
60.6% of the leader · rank #4
Crawfordsville · near
70,000
Crawfordsville · near
70,000 median HH income
60.6% of the leader · rank #5
Norman · near
70,000
Norman · near
70,000 median HH income
60.6% of the leader · rank #6
Graham · highest
115,501
Graham · highest
115,501 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 Wenatchee 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: 35,502.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Wenatchee - the verdict
Wenatchee ranks in the 49th percentile for household income and the 16th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
49th
percentile, household income
77th
percentile, home value
70th
percentile, median rent
16th
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: Wenatchee, WA
35,502 people live in Wenatchee, Washington - a small city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $70,000 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 8.2%. Typical homes in Wenatchee are valued around $391,200, and the median resident age is 36.0 years. About 28.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 60.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 73 residential building permits were authorized in Wenatchee (Rapid Growth), up 26% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Wenatchee's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 3023.4 incidents per 100,000 residents, above the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 52.5°F with 9.0 inches of precipitation per year and 16.5 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. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Washington run around $188, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Commute times here average 15.2 minutes, with 76.7% driving alone and 6.0% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. 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 Wenatchee'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 climate and hazard context to housing and income to work and mobility to within-city variation to schools and households to population change to reported crime to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Wenatchee, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Wenatchee?
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 52.5°F, with 9.0 inches of precipitation and 16.5 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Wenatchee?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.2%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What can 14 Census tracts reveal inside Wenatchee?
PlainCities matches 14 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
Which cities make useful reference points for Wenatchee?
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.
Within Washington, the closest population matches are Mount Vernon (35,312 residents, $73,277 income); Graham (35,090 residents, $115,501 income); University Place (34,850 residents, $94,952 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Richmond, KY (35,498 residents); Kendall West, FL (35,492 residents); Torrington, CT (35,481 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.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Wenatchee?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 76.7%. The reported mean trip to work is 15.2 minutes.
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.
Drive alone
76.7%
Work from home
6.0%
Public transit
2.2%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 16,183 workers age 16+.
What does the education layer cover for Wenatchee?
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 4 public schools within the city match. 28.7% 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
8.2%
Bachelor's degree+
28.7%
Matched public schools
4
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Is Wenatchee growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -60 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 73 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
2020 estimate
35,607
2025 estimate
35,547
Period change
-0.2%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Wenatchee?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3023.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 33% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
Total reported rate
3023.4
Violent rate
236.5
Property rate
2786.9
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Below median income · poverty 8.2% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
107.0 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, Washington average
D
City profile score · Wenatchee, WA
41/100
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 C
28.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income D
$70,000
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate D
8.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime D
237 /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.
Wenatchee profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 56/100 (C) · 28.7%
Household income: 49/100 (D) · $70,000
Poverty rate: 47/100 (D) · 8.2%
Violent crime: 42/100 (D) · 237 /100k
Cost of living: 15/100 (F) · 107.0 index
Where Wenatchee sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Wenatchee'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 - Wenatchee highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Wenatchee, WA (this city): home $391,200, crime 3,023/100k
Richmond, KY : home $205,900, crime 2,188/100k
Torrington, CT : home $195,800, crime 1,120/100k
Stockbridge, GA : home $248,000, crime 2,580/100k
Springville, UT : home $429,200, crime 985/100k
Amherst, MA : home $454,000, crime 467/100k
Mount Vernon, WA : home $429,300, crime 1,966/100k
University Place, WA : home $578,100, crime 2,160/100k
Walla Walla, WA : home $356,600, crime 2,498/100k
Longview, WA : home $339,000, crime 3,392/100k
How does Wenatchee compare to other US cities?
Here's how Wenatchee stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income49% higher than other cities
Home value77% pricier than other cities
Median rent70% pricier than other cities
Safety16% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Washington and the picture shifts: Wenatchee ranks #112 of 156 Washington cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Wenatchee 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 Wenatchee near the bottom of Washington's cities
Among the 599 Washington cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Wenatchee ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Wenatchee only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#389 of 565
31st percentile in Washington
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 599
0th percentile in Washington
Median Home Value
#312 of 565
45th percentile in Washington
Poverty Rate
#213 of 598
64th percentile in Washington
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#253 of 599
58th 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
49th percentile nationally for median household income · 16th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Wenatchee's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Wenatchee'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 Wenatchee's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$391,20023rd percentilemore affordable than 23% 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
Wenatchee's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,688 of 15,516
More affordable than 12% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,849 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 5.6×, Wenatchee sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,688 of 15,516 and #2,849 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
$70,000Wenatchee, WA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Wenatchee, 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 Wenatchee, WA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)28.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)60.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
35,502
Median Income
$70,000
Median Home Value
$391,200
Median Age
36.0
Poverty Rate
8.2%
Labor force participation
60.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
28.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3023.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
236.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2786.9
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
52.5°F
Annual Precipitation
9.0"
Annual Snowfall
16.5"
Schools
Total Schools
4
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Wenatchee's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
35,607 residents
2021
35,626 residents
2022
35,501 residents
2023
35,300 residents
2024
35,484 residents
2025
35,547 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Rapid Growth
Total Permits (2024)
73
housing units authorized
Single-Family
21
detached homes
Multifamily
52
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
58
40
18
$12.9M
2020
193
27
166
$25.2M
2021
149
44
105
$26.1M
2022
278
17
261
$36.1M
2023
24
21
3
$7.3M
2024
73
21
52
$16.2M
Permit volume increased 26% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
15.2 minutes
Drive Alone
76.7%
Carpool
8.3%
Public Transit
2.2%
Walk
3.6%
Work from Home
6.0%
Other
3.2%
Based on 16,183 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 Wenatchee. 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 Wenatchee 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 Wenatchee sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Wenatchee 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.