City safety & data profile

BurienWA

Burien, WA is a 50K-resident city in King County with a median household income of $91,318.

King County, Washington. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Burien, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Burien has a population larger than 79% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, a median home value of $638,800, and 1 hospital serving the surrounding area.

Data updated 2026-09-03

50K
Population (place)
Top 21%
By size
$91,318
Median income (place)
$638,800
Median home (place)
12.9%
Poverty rate (place)
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The read on Burien

Burien posts a median household income higher than 62% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks, where 1 hospital serves the Burien area.

Top 38%
by median income, US cities
1
hospital in & near Burien

Where Burien income ranks nationally

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

$91,318 Top 38% higher than 62% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles

Burien $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 Burien, WA beyond the headline numbers

Burien sits inside King County, Washington, at roughly 47.47°N, -122.35°W. Population 50,467, $91,318 median household income. Median home value $638,800, median rent $1,782. Poverty rate 12.9%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.

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

Poverty in Burien, WA stands at 12.9%, above the midpoint of reporting cities. A median income can look comfortable while a share this size sits well beneath it, which is why the two figures belong together.

The median home in Burien costs around 7.0 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.

18.6% of Burien workers are remote, above the midpoint of reporting cities.

Among the CDC measures on this page, obesity departs furthest from its peer median: 26.4% in Burien, the lowest-prevalence quarter of the 3,759 cities reporting that measure.

5.6% of Burien workers commute by public transit, a larger share than at least three quarters of reporting cities.

Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Burien 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)
50,467
Burien · Census Place
Median Income (place)
$91,318
Near average
Median Home Value (place)
$638,800
+54% vs avg
Median Age (place)
40.4
years · ACS place

10-Year Trends 2013–2024

County-level trend (King County): Burien'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
2.3M+16%
Median Income
$124,746+74%
Median Home Value
$859,900+128%
Poverty Rate
8.6%-25%
Unemployment
4.8%-38%

Economics

Economics indicators for Burien, WA
IndicatorValue
Median Rent
$1,782/mo
Poverty Rate
12.9% +4% vs avg
Unemployment 7%
Bachelor's Degree+ 33.2%
Work From Home 18.6%
Public Transit 5.6%

Population

White 47.7%
African American 7.7%
Asian 15.4%
Two or More Ethnicities 5%

Health Profile 15 measures

Health Indicators

Short Sleep Duration
32.3%
High Blood Pressure
30.4%
Obesity
26.4%
Physical Inactivity
18.7%
Frequent Mental Distress
16.6%
Binge Drinking
16.3%
Frequent Physical Distress
12.6%
Lack of Health Insurance
11.5%
Current Asthma
10.5%
Current Smoking
10.1%

Preventive Care

Dental Visit 63%
Annual Checkup 69.6%

Other Measures

Diabetes
9.4%
Coronary Heart Disease
5.2%
Stroke
3%

Hospitals 1 total

Rating Distribution
★★★★★
0
★★★★
1
★★★
0
★★
0
0
Average Rating
4/5
Total Hospitals
1
With ER
1
HIGHLINE MEDICAL CENTER
BURIEN · Acute Care Hospitals · ER
★★★★☆

What alerts and safety updates affect Burien?

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

City alert dispatch desk

Sheet WA-BURIEN · Burien

Burien: 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 Burien; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse Washington state hubs · Methodology

Read with this city profile

Frequently Asked Questions 6

What is the population of Burien, WA?
Burien, WA has a population of 50,467 people, located in King County, Washington.
What is the median household income in Burien?
The median household income in Burien, WA is $91,318 per year, per the U.S. Census ACS. The poverty rate is 12.9%.
What is the median home value in Burien?
The median home value in Burien, WA is $638,800. Median rent is $1,782/month.
What are the top health concerns in Burien?
The top health indicators in Burien include Short Sleep Duration (32.3%), High Blood Pressure (30.4%), Obesity (26.4%). Data from CDC PLACES.
How many hospitals are in Burien?
Burien has 1 hospital with an average rating of 4/5 stars. 1 have emergency departments.
What is the median age in Burien?
The median age in Burien, WA is 40.4 years. 33.2% of residents have a bachelor's degree or higher.

Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8

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

Similar poverty rate

Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside WA (12.9% here).

Similar median income

Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside WA ($91,318 here).

Compare Burien 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

Using Burien'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 Burien 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 Burien 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 (King 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.