City safety & data profile
CentraliaWA
Centralia, WA is a 17K-resident city in Lewis County with a median household income of $56,219.
Lewis County, Washington. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Centralia, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Centralia has a population larger than 34% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, a median home value of $318,200, and 1 hospital serving the surrounding area.
- 17K
- Population (place)
- Bottom 35%
- By size
- $56,219
- Median income (place)
- $318,200
- Median home (place)
- 19.6%
- Poverty rate (place)
The read on Centralia
Centralia posts a median household income higher than 17% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks, where 1 hospital serves the Centralia area.
- Bottom 18%
- by median income, US cities
- 1
- hospital in & near Centralia
Composite score · Centralia, WA
24/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2024
A transparent index Areazine derives from Census ACS medians (income, poverty, bachelor's share) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when published, not an official Census Bureau or FBI rating. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability rating, not a recommendation to move to or avoid any place. Missing inputs drop out and redistribute weight. How it is calculated.
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents. State-level rate (per-city UCR reporting is incomplete/voluntary): every city in the state shares this value; lower is stronger on this axis.
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis. ACS 5-Year Estimates.
Median household income vs cities tracked on Areazine; ACS 5-Year Estimates.
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS 5-Year Estimates.
Curious how Centralia stacks up nationwide? See the full tables: Healthiest Cities in America (health outcomes only) · Community Wellbeing Cities (this page's blended composite).
Where Centralia income ranks nationally
Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)
$56,219 Bottom 17% higher than 17% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles
Each bar is a $20,000-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
Biggest cities by headcount 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.
- Seattle
Seattle, WA
780,995 residents
- Spokane 229,447
Spokane, WA
229,447 residents
- Tacoma 222,906
Tacoma, WA
222,906 residents
- Vancouver 196,442
Vancouver, WA
196,442 residents
- Bellevue 139,820
Bellevue, WA
139,820 residents
- Kent 126,952
Kent, WA
126,952 residents
- Everett 108,010
Everett, WA
108,010 residents
- Renton 100,242
Renton, WA
100,242 residents
- Federal Way 95,171
Federal Way, WA
95,171 residents
- Spokane Valley 94,919
Spokane Valley, WA
94,919 residents
What this shows Seattle is the largest WA city on this list; Sammamish leads median income.
Highest median incomes in WA
Median household income among the same 109-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.
- Sammamish
Sammamish, WA
$239,690 median
- Mercer Island
Mercer Island, WA
$219,069 median
- Snoqualmie
Snoqualmie, WA
$214,107 median
- Cottage Lake
Cottage Lake, WA
$213,106 median
- Mill Creek East
Mill Creek East, WA
$192,937 median
- Maltby
Maltby, WA
$185,457 median
- Union Hill-Novelty Hill
Union Hill-Novelty Hill, WA
$185,369 median
- Bainbridge Island
Bainbridge Island, WA
$172,188 median
- Bellevue
Bellevue, WA
$165,576 median
- Woodinville
Woodinville, WA
$164,398 median
What this shows Sammamish leads this pool on median income; Seattle is the population leader instead.
The quick read
Reading Centralia, WA beyond the headline numbers
Centralia sits inside Lewis County, Washington, at roughly 46.72°N, -122.95°W. Population 16,753, $56,219 median household income. Median home value $318,200, median rent $1,084. Poverty rate 19.6%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.
1 hospital in/around Centralia, 3/5 avg rating, 1 with an ER. Climate: 51.5°F annual average, 41.4" precipitation.
Among the CDC measures on this page, frequent physical distress departs furthest from its peer median: 16.5% in Centralia, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,759 cities reporting that measure.
19.6% of Centralia, 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 Centralia costs around 5.7 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.
19.4% of Centralia adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, the lowest quarter of reporting cities.
Only 7.2% of Centralia workers report working from home, the lowest quarter of reporting cities -- an economy still built around showing up somewhere.
A typical renter in Centralia, WA pays $1,084/month, in the cheapest quarter of reporting cities -- rent here is not what strains a local paycheck.
Unemployment in Centralia sits at 5.7%, above the midpoint of reporting cities.
Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Centralia 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.
A Decade of Change 2013–2024
County-level trend (Lewis County): Centralia'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.
Economics
The clearest outlier in Centralia's numbers is poverty rate: 19.6%, which is 58% above what's typical across the tracked-city set. Median household income also diverges: $56,219, 37% below average.
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Median Rent | |
| Poverty Rate | 19.6% +58% vs avg |
| Unemployment | 5.7% |
| Bachelor's Degree+ | 19.4% |
| Work From Home | 7.2% |
| Public Transit | 1.6% |
Population Snapshot
Health Profile 15 measures
Health Indicators
Preventive Care
Other Measures
Local Hospitals 1 total
CMS Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating (1-5): a composite score across dozens of reported measures, not a single outcome guarantee for any patient. It isn't adjusted for patient case mix and isn't directly comparable across hospital types, a critical-access facility and a large teaching hospital aren't rated on the same measure set.
Climate
NOAA 1991-2020 NormalsFlood Claims on Record
FEMA NFIP, county-levelLewis County has recorded 116 National Flood Insurance Program claims totaling $5.5M in payouts since 2016.
17 claims trace back to 2025-12-AtmosphericRiver, the biggest named event in the county's flood-claim history.
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims, via OpenFEMA. County-level data: individual claims are not attributed to a specific city or address by FEMA.
What alerts and safety updates affect Centralia?
No area-tagged alerts are on record for Centralia right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.
City alert dispatch desk
Sheet WA-CENTRALIA-WA · Centralia
Centralia: 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 Centralia; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse Washington state hubs · Methodology
Questions & Answers 8
What is the population of Centralia, WA? ▼
What is the median household income in Centralia? ▼
What is the median home value in Centralia? ▼
What are the top health concerns in Centralia? ▼
How many hospitals are in Centralia? ▼
What is the median age in Centralia? ▼
What is the climate like in Centralia? ▼
Has Centralia had flood insurance claims? ▼
Cities nationwide with a comparable poverty or income figure 8
Two ACS-derived peer sets for Centralia, both outside Washington so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.
Similar poverty rate
Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside WA (19.6% here).
Similar median income
Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside WA ($56,219 here).
Compare Centralia 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.
Cities Close By 8
Turning this into a research checklist
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 Centralia area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
- A median income figure alone can mislead, cross-check it against the poverty rate for the fuller picture.
- Compare Centralia 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 (Lewis 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 2026-09-16.