Like all states, Washington has certain places that are going on hard times. These Washington places have an above-average percentage of people living in poverty, out of work, or not making as much as they should be.
Even as the economy continues to improve, it’s worthwhile to look at the places in each state struggling to make ends meet. So we set our sites on locating the poorest places in Washington.
To do so, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the newest Census data from the American Community Survey for the 122 cities in Washington with more than 5,000 people.
$46,812 median income · 30.4% poverty · #1 lowest income in Washington
Located in
Whitman County, Washington
Pullman, unfortunately, ranks as the poorest place in Washington thanks to combination of low pay and and a lack of jobs.
The city of 32,229 people averages the lowest median household income in Washington and the 2nd 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.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$54,503 median income · 31.3% poverty · #5 lowest income in Washington
Located in
Spokane County, Washington
The second poorest city in Washington is Cheney.
The city ranks as having the highest incidence of poverty and 5th lowest median household income. However, the unemployment rate ‘only’ ranks as the 2nd highest in the Evergreen State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$52,195 median income · 23.8% poverty · #3 lowest income in Washington
Located in
Grays Harbor County, Washington
Placing as the third poorest city, Aberdeen’s median income ranks as the 3rd 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 23.8% 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.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$54,152 median income · 20.7% poverty · #4 lowest income in Washington
Located in
Asotin County, Washington
Clarkston ranks as the fourth poorest place in Washington.
The town ranks as having the 4th lowest median household income and the 8th 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.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$55,438 median income · 22.4% poverty · #6 lowest income in Washington
Located in
Kittitas County, Washington
The fifth poorest city in Washington is Ellensburg.
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 6th highest in Washington.
Still not the best news for Ellensburg.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$56,219 median income · 19.6% poverty · #7 lowest income in Washington
Located in
Lewis County, Washington
Centralia ranks as the sixth poorest place in the Evergreen State.
It ranks as having the 9th highest incidence of poverty and the 44th highest unemployment rate.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$49,795 median income · 17.2% poverty · #2 lowest income in Washington
Located in
Grays Harbor County, Washington
Hoquiam places as the seventh poorest city in Washington.
The city of over 8,800 ranks as having the 16th highest incidence of poverty in the state. However, it has a very low cost of living which helps to pay the bills each month.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$60,923 median income · 18.5% poverty · #11 lowest income in Washington
Located in
Yakima County, Washington
Sunnyside ranks as the eighth poorest city in Washington.
The big issue for the town is the unemployment rate which ranks as one of the highest in the state.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$65,849 median income · 24.1% poverty · #19 lowest income in Washington
Located in
Adams County, Washington
Othello couldn’t stay out of the top ten poorest places in Washington; it ranks number 9.
While the median income is the 19th lowest, there are a substantial number of people that live below the poverty line. Overall, Othello ranks as having the 4th most people living in poverty of all the places we analyzed in Washington.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$61,106 median income · 17.9% poverty · #12 lowest income in Washington
Located in
Yakima County, Washington
And rounding out the top ten poorest cities in Washington is Grandview.
The city of 11,187 people ranks in the bottom 20% for both median income and poverty rate in the Evergreen State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Washington’s statewide median.
Washington statewide median: $98,141
Washington statewide median: 9.9%
On the map
Where poverty hits hardest in Washington
Saturday Night Science
How we determined the poorest places in Washington for 2026
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 used Saturday Night Science to look at this set of criteria from the newly released 2020-2024 American Community Survey:
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income
After we collected the data for all 122 places with more than 5,000 people in Washington, we ranked each place from 1 to 122 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, Pullman, crowned the “Poorest Place In Washington For 2026”. The median Washington home is 39 years old — old enough that it pays to compare home warranty plans before something expensive breaks.
The full plate
Detailed list of the poorest places to live in Washington
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Poor Score | Population | Median income | Poverty | Unemployment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pullman | 1.50 | 32,229 | $46,812 | 30.4% | 8.3% |
| 2 | Cheney | 3.00 | 12,804 | $54,503 | 31.3% | 13.1% |
| 3 | Aberdeen | 4.00 | 17,088 | $52,195 | 23.8% | 10.0% |
| 4 | Clarkston | 6.00 | 7,191 | $54,152 | 20.7% | 9.6% |
| 5 | Ellensburg | 6.00 | 20,874 | $55,438 | 22.4% | 8.9% |
| 6 | Centralia | 8.00 | 18,830 | $56,219 | 19.6% | 5.7% |
| 7 | Hoquiam | 9.00 | 8,800 | $49,795 | 17.2% | 10.0% |
| 8 | Sunnyside | 11.50 | 16,277 | $60,923 | 18.5% | 12.3% |
| 9 | Othello | 11.50 | 8,795 | $65,849 | 24.1% | 5.5% |
| 10 | Grandview | 13.00 | 11,187 | $61,106 | 17.9% | 6.7% |
| 11 | Airway Heights | 14.00 | 11,245 | $62,874 | 19.5% | 8.9% |
| 12 | Ephrata | 15.50 | 8,560 | $69,551 | 20.8% | 6.1% |
| 13 | Longview | 16.50 | 38,069 | $61,747 | 16.0% | 6.0% |
| 14 | Bellingham | 16.50 | 93,438 | $66,755 | 18.6% | 5.6% |
| 15 | Yakima | 17.50 | 96,961 | $62,815 | 16.6% | 8.4% |
| 16 | Toppenish | 18.00 | 8,723 | $67,854 | 18.0% | 8.7% |
| 17 | Union Gap | 19.50 | 6,584 | $59,651 | 13.8% | 13.4% |
| 18 | Omak | 20.00 | 5,036 | $76,544 | 26.1% | 4.4% |
| 19 | Shelton | 20.00 | 10,612 | $69,598 | 17.4% | 3.8% |
| 20 | Walla Walla | 23.00 | 33,925 | $66,748 | 14.3% | 7.7% |
| 21 | Port Townsend | 24.75 | 10,438 | $62,606 | 13.5% | 10.4% |
| 22 | Sequim | 25.50 | 8,161 | $59,707 | 12.9% | 9.7% |
| 23 | Chehalis | 26.00 | 7,587 | $73,702 | 15.0% | 4.0% |
| 24 | Kennewick | 26.50 | 85,295 | $73,576 | 14.3% | 5.1% |
| 25 | Moses Lake | 26.50 | 26,083 | $74,752 | 15.8% | 4.6% |
| 26 | Mount Vernon | 27.00 | 35,377 | $75,777 | 16.1% | 6.0% |
| 27 | Prosser | 27.50 | 6,305 | $76,985 | 16.8% | 8.0% |
| 28 | Ocean Shores | 28.50 | 7,302 | $58,202 | 12.3% | 7.3% |
| 29 | Spokane | 29.00 | 230,293 | $70,064 | 13.8% | 5.7% |
| 30 | Selah | 31.00 | 8,437 | $74,783 | 13.9% | 4.4% |
| 31 | Bremerton | 32.50 | 44,830 | $74,940 | 13.8% | 5.7% |
| 32 | Sedro-Woolley | 33.00 | 12,831 | $80,885 | 15.7% | 4.8% |
| 33 | Lakewood | 33.00 | 62,937 | $74,720 | 13.2% | 5.7% |
| 34 | Burlington | 33.50 | 10,003 | $80,475 | 14.5% | 4.3% |
| 35 | Lynnwood | 33.50 | 40,110 | $77,704 | 14.2% | 4.3% |
| 36 | College Place | 34.00 | 9,854 | $61,914 | 11.3% | 6.4% |
| 37 | Port Angeles | 34.25 | 20,118 | $62,606 | 11.5% | 5.1% |
| 38 | Spokane Valley | 34.50 | 106,365 | $74,042 | 12.9% | 5.2% |
| 39 | Kelso | 36.00 | 12,684 | $66,751 | 12.0% | 6.6% |
| 40 | Olympia | 37.50 | 55,951 | $81,302 | 14.0% | 7.3% |
| 41 | Tukwila | 39.50 | 21,451 | $78,381 | 13.0% | 6.4% |
| 42 | Blaine | 43.00 | 6,100 | $84,030 | 13.1% | 5.5% |
| 43 | Wenatchee | 43.00 | 35,484 | $73,040 | 10.4% | 3.2% |
| 44 | Everett | 44.50 | 111,845 | $83,512 | 12.9% | 5.8% |
| 45 | Woodland | 44.50 | 6,487 | $81,193 | 12.9% | 1.9% |
| 46 | Federal Way | 45.50 | 99,493 | $86,909 | 13.0% | 5.4% |
| 47 | Pasco | 49.00 | 79,575 | $85,586 | 12.6% | 5.3% |
| 48 | Ferndale | 50.00 | 15,999 | $87,579 | 12.8% | 3.1% |
| 49 | Tacoma | 50.00 | 222,758 | $85,884 | 12.4% | 5.6% |
| 50 | Arlington | 51.50 | 21,095 | $88,231 | 12.7% | 4.2% |
| 51 | Burien | 52.50 | 51,513 | $91,318 | 12.9% | 7.0% |
| 52 | Oak Harbor | 53.50 | 24,362 | $76,084 | 8.3% | 5.4% |
| 53 | Vancouver | 54.00 | 195,300 | $81,338 | 10.2% | 5.7% |
| 54 | SeaTac | 55.00 | 32,414 | $81,104 | 9.3% | 7.0% |
| 55 | Lacey | 56.50 | 57,737 | $90,625 | 11.6% | 4.9% |
| 56 | East Wenatchee | 57.50 | 14,199 | $77,558 | 8.0% | 4.6% |
| 57 | Fife | 58.00 | 10,949 | $90,532 | 11.2% | 5.2% |
| 58 | Des Moines | 58.00 | 32,823 | $92,483 | 12.1% | 7.5% |
| 59 | Pacific | 59.00 | 7,066 | $115,625 | 13.8% | 4.6% |
| 60 | Connell | 59.00 | 5,054 | $77,721 | 7.9% | 4.0% |
| 61 | Port Orchard | 60.50 | 17,149 | $89,795 | 9.7% | 3.9% |
| 62 | Kent | 61.50 | 135,603 | $92,302 | 10.8% | 7.0% |
| 63 | Milton | 65.50 | 8,894 | $96,540 | 10.2% | 5.3% |
| 64 | Steilacoom | 66.50 | 6,686 | $100,851 | 11.1% | 6.0% |
| 65 | Stanwood | 67.00 | 8,373 | $90,242 | 8.0% | 6.4% |
| 66 | Washougal | 67.50 | 17,490 | $106,368 | 11.2% | 7.7% |
| 67 | Richland | 68.00 | 62,753 | $95,813 | 9.0% | 5.6% |
| 68 | Auburn | 70.00 | 85,676 | $97,884 | 8.9% | 6.0% |
| 69 | Snohomish | 70.50 | 10,239 | $87,250 | 6.7% | 10.6% |
| 70 | Anacortes | 72.00 | 17,966 | $91,951 | 7.3% | 4.2% |
| 71 | University Place | 73.00 | 34,911 | $99,031 | 8.2% | 5.1% |
| 72 | Quincy | 73.00 | 7,998 | $87,902 | 6.2% | 7.7% |
| 73 | Renton | 74.00 | 105,317 | $100,432 | 8.1% | 4.9% |
| 74 | Tumwater | 75.50 | 26,956 | $95,212 | 7.0% | 5.3% |
| 75 | Marysville | 76.00 | 73,002 | $103,974 | 8.1% | 3.9% |
| 76 | Shoreline | 76.00 | 61,431 | $112,751 | 8.8% | 4.6% |
| 77 | Poulsbo | 76.50 | 12,165 | $116,250 | 9.3% | 3.7% |
| 78 | Yelm | 77.00 | 11,102 | $90,750 | 6.1% | 3.8% |
| 79 | Puyallup | 77.50 | 42,746 | $97,826 | 7.0% | 6.0% |
| 80 | Seattle | 79.00 | 754,195 | $123,860 | 9.9% | 4.6% |
| 81 | Lynden | 79.00 | 16,234 | $103,233 | 7.3% | 3.6% |
| 82 | West Richland | 80.50 | 17,586 | $119,892 | 8.5% | 4.8% |
| 83 | Monroe | 80.50 | 19,755 | $110,461 | 7.3% | 5.7% |
| 84 | Buckley | 81.00 | 5,371 | $124,583 | 9.3% | 4.5% |
| 85 | Sultan | 81.00 | 6,116 | $94,730 | 5.8% | 1.0% |
| 86 | Duvall | 81.50 | 8,526 | $197,361 | 12.8% | 2.5% |
| 87 | Mountlake Terrace | 83.50 | 23,104 | $107,687 | 7.0% | 4.2% |
| 88 | Enumclaw | 85.50 | 12,798 | $121,250 | 7.5% | 3.7% |
| 89 | Battle Ground | 86.50 | 21,886 | $104,977 | 5.9% | 3.7% |
| 90 | Gig Harbor | 87.00 | 12,424 | $118,395 | 7.0% | 2.7% |
| 91 | Sumner | 89.50 | 10,733 | $98,191 | 4.9% | 5.3% |
| 92 | Fircrest | 90.50 | 7,069 | $113,926 | 5.7% | 6.8% |
| 93 | Mill Creek | 93.00 | 20,956 | $124,364 | 6.4% | 4.5% |
| 94 | Brier | 93.50 | 6,545 | $132,045 | 6.7% | 3.3% |
| 95 | Ridgefield | 93.50 | 13,408 | $116,389 | 5.6% | 6.9% |
| 96 | Lake Stevens | 97.50 | 40,253 | $122,336 | 5.2% | 4.8% |
| 97 | Liberty Lake | 97.50 | 12,737 | $118,723 | 5.0% | 2.7% |
| 98 | Edgewood | 98.50 | 13,032 | $116,132 | 4.6% | 1.8% |
| 99 | Bellevue | 99.00 | 151,847 | $165,576 | 7.2% | 4.2% |
| 100 | Mukilteo | 99.00 | 21,323 | $132,861 | 5.7% | 3.1% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 122 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
The poorest cities in Washington for 2026
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. Not sold on Washington? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
Questions and answers
Poorest Places In Washington FAQs
What is the poorest city in Washington?
Pullman is the poorest city in Washington for 2026. The median household income in Pullman is $46,812, against a statewide median of $98,141. Cheney and Aberdeen are next.
What are the 10 poorest cities in Washington?
The ten poorest cities in Washington are Pullman, Cheney, Aberdeen, Clarkston, Ellensburg, Centralia, Hoquiam, Sunnyside, Othello, and Grandview. We ranked all 122 places with more than 5,000 residents on income, poverty, and unemployment.
What is the poverty rate in Pullman?
The poverty rate in Pullman is 30.4%, compared to 9.9% across Washington as a whole. Poverty rate is one of the three measures in our Poor Score, along with income and unemployment.
What income counts as poor in Washington?
The ten poorest cities in Washington all post median household incomes of $65,849 or less. The statewide median is $98,141, so these places sit well below the typical Washington paycheck.
How do you decide which places in Washington are the poorest?
We pull median household income, poverty rate, and unemployment for every Washington place with more than 5,000 residents from the Census American Community Survey, rank each measure, and average the ranks into a Poor Score. Pullman has the worst combined score for 2026.
