Washington brings to mind images of Olympia, beautiful landscapes, and some of the best people you’ll find in the good ole US of A.
However, like all states, Washington has certain places that are going on hard times. These Washington places have an above average percent of people that are living in poverty, out of work, or not making as much as they should be.
With all the talk about income inequality going on around the country, we thought it prudent to take a look at the places in each state that are struggling to make it even as the economy continues to improve. So we set our sites on bringing attention to the poorest places in Washington.
To do so, we analyzed the newest Census data from the American Community Survey for the 120 places in Washington with more than 5,000 people.
Again, this isn’t a commentary on the people that live there or the vibrant culture and traditions of these places. Instead, it’s just a look at the facts.
What’s the poorst city in Washington? According to the facts, Cheney is the poorest place in Washington for 2023.
Rich people more your cup of tea? Feel free to check out the best places in Washington or the most dangerous.
For more on how we calculated the top ten, and for more information about these places, read on.
If you’re looking for something more national, check out the poorest states in America or the poorest cities in America.
For more Washington reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In Washington
- Cheapest Places To Live In Washington
- Most Dangerous Cities In Washington
Article Table Of Contents
The 10 Poorest Cities In Washington For 2023
1. Cheney
Cheney, unfortunately, ranks as the poorest place in Washington thanks to combination of low pay and and a lack of jobs.
The city of 12,743 people averages the 3rd lowest median household income in Washington and the highest poverty rate. At the very least, the cost of living ranks in the bottom 15% of place in the state, so things like housing are relatively affordable.
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2. Pullman
The second poorest city in Washington is Pullman.
The city ranks as having the 2nd highest incidence of poverty and lowest median household income. However, the unemployment rate ‘only’ ranks as the 11th highest in the Evergreen State.
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3. Sunnyside
Placing as the third poorest city, Sunnyside’s median income ranks as the 4th lowest.
And that’s a sign that there’s a relatively substantial jump in the quality of the economy from second to third place on our list. The poverty rate is 18.562651275367717% and ranks near the bottom of places in the state.
But what makes up for the relatively low incomes of the city is its low cost of living. The income you do make here goes further than in most parts of the Evergreen State.
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4. Ellensburg
Ellensburg ranks as the fourth poorest place in Washington.
The town ranks as having the 9th lowest median household income and the 5th highest incidence of poverty in the state.
That being said, there’s still a ton of cultural diversity in the city as it hosts many events throughout the year.
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5. Centralia
The fifth poorest city in Washington is Centralia.
The city ranks as having the 6th lowest median income in the state. However, an extremely low cost of living prevents a good number of folks from living in poverty as the poverty rate only ranks as the 7th highest in Washington.
Still not the best news for Centralia.
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6. Union Gap
Union Gap ranks as the sixth poorest place in the Evergreen State.
It ranks as having the 6th highest incidence of poverty and the 10th highest unemployment rate.
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7. Aberdeen
Aberdeen places as the seventh poorest city in Washington.
The city of over 16,842 ranks as having the 3rd highest incidence of poverty in the state. However, it has a very low cost of living which helps to pay the bills each month.
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8. Hoquiam
Hoquiam ranks as the eighth poorest city in Washington.
The big issue for the town is the unemployment rate which ranks as the 6th highest in the state.
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9. Clarkston
Clarkston couldn’t stay out of the top ten poorest places in Washington; it ranks number 9.
While the median income is the 7th lowest, there are a substantial number of people that live below the poverty line. Overall, Clarkston ranks as having the 16th most people living in poverty of all the places we analyzed in Washington.
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10. Shelton
And rounding out the top ten poorest cities in Washington is Shelton.
The city of 10,288 people ranks in the bottom 20% for both median income and poverty rate in the Evergreen State.
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Methodology: How We Determined The Poorest Places In Washington for 2023
The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the poorest places is to simply the poverty rate. That is, the number of people living below a federally established level of income for a household of a certain size.
However, we don’t think that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “poorest places”. So we looked at this set of criteria from the newly released 2017-2021 American Community Survey:
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income adjusted for the cost of living
- Unemployment Rate
The “median household income adjusted for the cost of living” attempts to gauge how expensive it is to live in a place and how that impacts the quality of life. For example, a town might have fewer people living below the official poverty line, but the cost of living is so high they’d still feel poor.
The unemployment rate tries to capture the prospects for improvement in the city or town. If more people are employed, the brighter the future looks and vice versa.
After we collected the data for all 120 places with more than 5,000 people in Washington, we ranked each place from 1 to 120 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the poorest.
We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Poor Score” with the place having the lowest overall Poor Score, Cheney, crowned the “Poorest Place In Washington For 2023”.
Summary: The Poorest Places In Washington For 2023
Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the poorest places in Washington, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Washington.
When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very bottom of the income ladder for everyone that lives there.
If you’re curious enough, here are the richest cities in Washington, according to data:
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Richest: Snoqualmie
2nd Richest: Sammamish
3rd Richest: Duvall
For more Washington reading, check out:
- Richest Cities In Washington
- Safest Places In Washington
- Worst Places To Live In Washington
- Most Expensive Places To Live In Washington
Detailed List Of The Poorest Places To Live In Washington
Rank | City | Population |
---|---|---|
1 | Cheney | 12,743 |
2 | Pullman | 32,968 |
3 | Sunnyside | 16,343 |
4 | Ellensburg | 19,215 |
5 | Centralia | 17,988 |
6 | Union Gap | 6,499 |
7 | Aberdeen | 16,842 |
8 | Hoquiam | 8,700 |
9 | Clarkston | 7,164 |
10 | Shelton | 10,288 |
11 | Othello | 8,470 |
12 | Prosser | 6,061 |
13 | Port Townsend | 10,002 |
14 | Yakima | 96,266 |
15 | Kelso | 12,566 |
16 | Toppenish | 8,843 |
17 | Chehalis | 7,427 |
18 | Airway Heights | 10,108 |
19 | Spokane | 225,709 |
20 | Sequim | 7,896 |
21 | Walla Walla | 33,765 |
22 | Bellingham | 90,545 |
23 | College Place | 9,739 |
24 | Bremerton | 43,345 |
25 | Port Angeles | 19,888 |
26 | Burlington | 9,220 |
27 | Longview | 37,542 |
28 | Grandview | 10,894 |
29 | Lakewood | 62,972 |
30 | Olympia | 54,579 |
31 | Pasco | 76,398 |
32 | Blaine | 5,773 |
33 | Des Moines | 32,631 |
34 | Mount Vernon | 34,824 |
35 | Tukwila | 21,545 |
36 | Oak Harbor | 24,267 |
37 | Seatac | 30,867 |
38 | Vancouver | 188,331 |
39 | Spokane Valley | 102,178 |
40 | Washougal | 16,664 |
41 | Kent | 134,890 |
42 | Kennewick | 83,082 |
43 | Tacoma | 217,332 |
44 | Federal Way | 99,792 |
45 | Quincy | 7,630 |
46 | Lynnwood | 38,812 |
47 | Burien | 51,646 |
48 | Snohomish | 10,091 |
49 | Tumwater | 24,855 |
50 | Woodland | 6,368 |
51 | Sedro-Woolley | 12,266 |
52 | Lacey | 52,572 |
53 | Everett | 110,438 |
54 | Ocean Shores | 6,637 |
55 | Fife | 10,869 |
56 | Ephrata | 8,348 |
57 | Moses Lake | 24,764 |
58 | Wenatchee | 35,086 |
59 | East Wenatchee | 14,113 |
60 | Poulsbo | 11,652 |
61 | Auburn | 85,306 |
62 | Puyallup | 42,366 |
63 | Lynden | 15,410 |
64 | Sumner | 10,545 |
65 | Milton | 8,501 |
66 | Ferndale | 14,777 |
67 | Port Orchard | 15,315 |
68 | Selah | 8,081 |
69 | Richland | 59,718 |
70 | Enumclaw | 12,544 |
71 | Fircrest | 7,109 |
72 | Orting | 8,781 |
73 | Anacortes | 17,437 |
74 | Liberty Lake | 11,647 |
75 | Yelm | 10,205 |
76 | Seattle | 726,054 |
77 | University Place | 34,565 |
78 | Renton | 105,313 |
79 | Sultan | 5,208 |
80 | Shoreline | 58,213 |
81 | Lake Stevens | 35,135 |
82 | Marysville | 69,957 |
83 | Maple Valley | 27,643 |
84 | Battle Ground | 20,536 |
85 | Pacific | 7,130 |
86 | North Bend | 7,393 |
87 | Arlington | 19,832 |
88 | Kirkland | 91,656 |
89 | Ridgefield | 10,432 |
90 | Monroe | 19,879 |
91 | Steilacoom | 6,673 |
92 | Mountlake Terrace | 21,210 |
93 | Normandy Park | 6,716 |
94 | Edmonds | 42,622 |
95 | Dupont | 9,974 |
96 | West Richland | 15,988 |
97 | Kenmore | 23,556 |
98 | Bothell | 47,355 |
99 | Bellevue | 149,365 |
100 | Newcastle | 12,855 |