City safety & data profile

BellinghamWA

Bellingham, WA is a 85K-resident city in Whatcom County with a median household income of $66,755.

Whatcom County, Washington. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Bellingham, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Bellingham has a population larger than 90% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, a median home value of $627,500, and 1 hospital serving the surrounding area.

Data updated 2026-09-04

85K
Population (place)
Top 10%
By size
$66,755
Median income (place)
$627,500
Median home (place)
18.6%
Poverty rate (place)
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The read on Bellingham

Bellingham posts a median household income higher than 32% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks, where 1 hospital serves the Bellingham area.

Bottom 33%
by median income, US cities
1
hospital in & near Bellingham

Where Bellingham income ranks nationally

Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)

$66,755 Bottom 32% higher than 32% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles

Bellingham $0 $260,000 every profiled place, bucketed by value

Each bar is a $20K-wide band; taller bars hold more places Areazine profiles. 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, American Community Survey (place-level) · 2024 ACS 5-year

Largest cities in WA

Population among 109 WA places with 10,000+ residents and ACS income on Areazine. Tooltip shows the income rank in the same pool.

residents

What this shows Seattle is the largest WA city on this list; Sammamish leads median income.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) As of 2024 ACS 5-year

Highest median incomes in WA

Median household income among the same 109-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.

median

What this shows Sammamish posts the highest place-level median income in WA; Seattle is largest by headcount.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) As of 2024 ACS 5-year

The quick read

Reading Bellingham, WA beyond the headline numbers

Bellingham sits inside Whatcom County, Washington, at roughly 48.76°N, -122.49°W. Population 85,146, $66,755 median household income. Median home value $627,500, median rent $1,577. Poverty rate 18.6%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.

1 hospital in/around Bellingham, 4/5 avg rating, 1 with an ER.

18.6% of Bellingham, WA residents live below the poverty line, placing it in the hardest-hit quarter of reporting cities. Read every median on this page against that: half the households are above it, and a large minority are far below.

The median home in Bellingham costs around 9.4 times what a median household earns in a year -- the most expensive quarter of reporting cities, and far enough ahead of local pay that ownership is largely closed to median earners.

14.7% of Bellingham workers are remote, above the midpoint of reporting cities.

Among the CDC measures on this page, short sleep duration departs furthest from its peer median: 29.9% in Bellingham, the lowest-prevalence quarter of the 3,852 cities reporting that measure.

3.3% of Bellingham workers commute by public transit, a larger share than at least three quarters of reporting cities.

Bellingham's median age is 34.1 years, in the youngest quarter of reporting cities.

Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Bellingham from FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC. Economic comparison bars use the unweighted average across tracked Census places with a reported value, not a household-weighted national median.

Population (place)
85,146
Bellingham · Census Place
Median Income (place)
$66,755
-25% vs avg
Median Home Value (place)
$627,500
+52% vs avg
Median Age (place)
34.1
years · ACS place

10-Year Trends 2013–2024

County-level trend (Whatcom County): Bellingham's own historical series isn't separately published by the Census Bureau, so these year-over-year figures track the surrounding county, not the city alone.

20132024
Population
231K+13%
Median Income
$81,784+57%
Median Home Value
$585,800+111%
Poverty Rate
12.9%-21%
Unemployment
4.8%-49%

Economics

Economics indicators for Bellingham, WA
IndicatorValue
Median Rent
$1,577/mo
Poverty Rate
18.6% +50% vs avg
Unemployment 5.6%
Bachelor's Degree+ 48.5%
Work From Home 14.7%
Public Transit 3.3%

Population

White 79.1%
African American 1.3%
Asian 5.3%
Two or More Ethnicities 4.1%

Health Profile 15 measures

Health Indicators

Short Sleep Duration
29.9%
Obesity
26%
High Blood Pressure
25.7%
Frequent Mental Distress
19.7%
Binge Drinking
18.5%
Physical Inactivity
16.6%
Frequent Physical Distress
12.5%
Current Asthma
11.2%
Current Smoking
10.5%
Lack of Health Insurance
8.2%

Preventive Care

Dental Visit 63.2%
Annual Checkup 68.7%

Other Measures

Diabetes
7.7%
Coronary Heart Disease
5%
Stroke
2.7%

Hospitals 1 total

Rating Distribution
★★★★★
0
★★★★
1
★★★
0
★★
0
★
0
Average Rating
4/5
Total Hospitals
1
With ER
1
ST JOSEPH HOSPITAL
BELLINGHAM · Acute Care Hospitals · ER
★★★★☆

What alerts and safety updates affect Bellingham?

No area-tagged alerts are on record for Bellingham right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.

City alert dispatch desk

Sheet WA-BELLINGHAM · Bellingham

Bellingham: no area-tagged alerts on record — state hubs carry the live CAP stream.

  • FEED-QUIET No tagged alerts
  • LEAD-NONE Feed idle
  • DESK-IDLE Awaiting feed

Counts reflect published articles tagged to Bellingham; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse Washington state hubs · Methodology

Read with this city profile

Tracking Safety Alerts in Your Area

How Areazine tags Bellingham in the CAP feed
All safety guides →

Frequently Asked Questions 6

What is the population of Bellingham, WA? ▼
Bellingham, WA has a population of 85,146 people, located in Whatcom County, Washington.
What is the median household income in Bellingham? ▼
The median household income in Bellingham, WA is $66,755 per year, per the U.S. Census ACS. The poverty rate is 18.6%.
What is the median home value in Bellingham? ▼
The median home value in Bellingham, WA is $627,500. Median rent is $1,577/month.
What are the top health concerns in Bellingham? ▼
The top health indicators in Bellingham include Short Sleep Duration (29.9%), Obesity (26%), High Blood Pressure (25.7%). Data from CDC PLACES.
How many hospitals are in Bellingham? ▼
Bellingham has 1 hospital with an average rating of 4/5 stars. 1 have emergency departments.
What is the median age in Bellingham? ▼
The median age in Bellingham, WA is 34.1 years. 48.5% of residents have a bachelor's degree or higher.

Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8

Two ACS-derived peer sets for Bellingham, both outside Washington so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.

Similar poverty rate

Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside WA (18.6% here).

San Bernardino, CA 18.6% Lynchburg, VA 18.6% Chapel Hill, NC 18.6% Dalton, GA 18.6%

Similar median income

Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside WA ($66,755 here).

King City, CA $66,761 Seagoville, TX $66,743 Wilmington, NC $66,738 Salem, VA $66,725

Compare Bellingham with another city

Pick a second U.S. city to open a side-by-side profile on population, income, health, and hospitals, the same federal datasets as this page.

Quick picks:

Nearby Cities 8

Ferndale, WA 13K Lynden, WA 14K Anacortes, WA 18K Sedro-Woolley, WA 11K Mount Vernon, WA 34K Oak Harbor, WA 23K Camano, WA 14K Arlington, WA 19K
All cities in Washington → Compare Bellingham vs Ferndale → All comparisons → Browse all cities

Using Bellingham's profile

Use this as a starting research checklist, not a verdict on whether to live here.

  • Check live recalls, weather and hazard alerts scoped to the Bellingham area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
  • Read the poverty rate alongside the income figure, two places with the same median can have very different realities.
  • Compare Bellingham against Washington peers on any ranking lens. Explore Washington

Population and economics (income, home value, poverty, education) are place-level U.S. Census ACS; health is CDC PLACES; hospital counts reflect facilities in and around the city. County-level trends are labeled when shown.

Data Sources

All data on this page comes from official U.S. government sources. Population and economic data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates, place geography). Health data from the CDC PLACES program (2023). Hospital ratings from CMS Hospital Compare (2024). Climate data from NOAA. Education data from NCES. Cost of living from Bureau of Economic Analysis. Crime statistics, where referenced on Areazine, originate from the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Housing market figures referenced on Areazine come from HUD Fair Market Rents. Census economics and population are at place geography; some health and hospital indicators are reported at the county level (Whatcom County) where that is the smallest published unit.

Every figure on Areazine is published directly from official U.S. government sources, no number is typed in by an editor. City demographic and health figures are compiled directly from U.S. Census (place-level ACS), CDC, and CMS releases, updated quarterly within 30 days of upstream release. County-level trends are labeled when shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.