City safety & data profile

Central FallsRI

Central Falls, RI is a 19K-resident city in Providence County with a median household income of $49,285.

Providence County, Rhode Island. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Central Falls, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Central Falls has a population larger than 42% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, and a median home value of $352,100.

Data updated 2026-09-04

19K
Population (place)
Bottom 43%
By size
$49,285
Median income (place)
$352,100
Median home (place)
24.6%
Poverty rate (place)
My saved cities

The read on Central Falls

Central Falls posts a median household income higher than 8% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks.

Bottom 9%
by median income, US cities

Where Central Falls income ranks nationally

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

$49,285 Bottom 8% higher than 8% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles

Central Falls $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 RI

Population among 11 RI places with 10,000+ residents and ACS income on Areazine. Tooltip shows the income rank in the same pool.

residents

What this shows Providence is the largest RI city on this list; Westerly leads median income.

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

Highest median incomes in RI

Median household income among the same 11-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.

median

What this shows Westerly posts the highest place-level median income in RI; Providence is largest by headcount.

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

The quick read

Reading Central Falls, RI beyond the headline numbers

Central Falls sits inside Providence County, Rhode Island, at roughly 41.89°N, -71.39°W. Population 19,303, $49,285 median household income. Median home value $352,100, median rent $1,200. Poverty rate 24.6%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.

24.6% of Central Falls, RI 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 Central Falls costs around 7.1 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.

Only 5.2% of Central Falls workers report working from home, the lowest quarter of reporting cities -- an economy still built around showing up somewhere.

Among the CDC measures on this page, lack of health insurance departs furthest from its peer median: 26.2% in Central Falls, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,759 cities reporting that measure.

4.9% of Central Falls workers commute by public transit, a larger share than at least three quarters of reporting cities.

Central Falls's median age is 32.5 years, in the youngest quarter of reporting cities.

Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Central Falls 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)
19,303
Central Falls · Census Place
Median Income (place)
$49,285
-45% vs avg
Median Home Value (place)
$352,100
-15% vs avg
Median Age (place)
32.5
years · ACS place

10-Year Trends 2013–2024

County-level trend (Providence County): Central Falls'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
665K+6%
Median Income
$78,787+60%
Median Home Value
$373,600+67%
Poverty Rate
13.4%-22%
Unemployment
6.5%-41%

Economics

Economics indicators for Central Falls, RI
IndicatorValue
Median Rent
$1,200/mo
Poverty Rate
24.6% +98% vs avg
Unemployment 7.9%
Bachelor's Degree+ 10.8%
Work From Home 5.2%
Public Transit 4.9%

Population

White 20.9%
African American 11.1%
Asian 0.1%

Health Profile 15 measures

Health Indicators

Physical Inactivity
44.4%
Short Sleep Duration
44%
Obesity
41.3%
High Blood Pressure
33.6%
Lack of Health Insurance
26.2%
Frequent Mental Distress
22.4%
Frequent Physical Distress
19.8%
Current Smoking
19%
Diabetes
15.5%
Binge Drinking
15.3%

Preventive Care

Dental Visit 47.6%
Annual Checkup 79.2%

Other Measures

Current Asthma
13.2%
Coronary Heart Disease
6.9%
Stroke
3.9%

What alerts and safety updates affect Central Falls?

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

City alert dispatch desk

Sheet RI-CENTRAL-FALLS · Central Falls

Central Falls: 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 Central Falls; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse Rhode Island state hubs · Methodology

Read with this city profile

Tracking Safety Alerts in Your Area

How Areazine tags Central Falls in the CAP feed
All safety guides →

Frequently Asked Questions 5

What is the population of Central Falls, RI? ▼
Central Falls, RI has a population of 19,303 people, located in Providence County, Rhode Island.
What is the median household income in Central Falls? ▼
The median household income in Central Falls, RI is $49,285 per year, per the U.S. Census ACS. The poverty rate is 24.6%.
What is the median home value in Central Falls? ▼
The median home value in Central Falls, RI is $352,100. Median rent is $1,200/month.
What are the top health concerns in Central Falls? ▼
The top health indicators in Central Falls include Physical Inactivity (44.4%), Short Sleep Duration (44%), Obesity (41.3%). Data from CDC PLACES.
What is the median age in Central Falls? ▼
The median age in Central Falls, RI is 32.5 years. 10.8% of residents have a bachelor's degree or higher.

Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8

Two ACS-derived peer sets for Central Falls, both outside Rhode Island so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.

Similar poverty rate

Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside RI (24.6% here).

Greenville, NC 24.6% Jackson, MI 24.6% Birmingham, AL 24.7% Waterbury, CT 24.7%

Similar median income

Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside RI ($49,285 here).

Charleston, IL $49,300 Springfield, MO $49,311 El Dorado, AR $49,244 Camden, AR $49,361

Compare Central Falls 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

Pawtucket, RI 72K Valley Falls, RI 12K Lincoln, RI 22K Providence, RI 191K East Providence, RI 47K North Providence, RI 34K Cumberland, RI 35K Seekonk, MA 14K
All cities in Rhode Island → Compare Central Falls vs Pawtucket → All comparisons → Browse all cities

Using Central Falls'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 Central Falls 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 Central Falls against Rhode Island peers on any ranking lens. Explore Rhode Island

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 (Providence 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.