City safety & data profile

Elk PlainWA

Elk Plain, WA is a 14K-resident city in Pierce County with a median household income of $107,313.

Pierce County, Washington. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Elk Plain, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Elk Plain has a population larger than 24% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, and a median home value of $473,500.

Data updated 2026-09-04

14K
Population (place)
Bottom 25%
By size
$107,313
Median income (place)
$473,500
Median home (place)
8.3%
Poverty rate (place)
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The read on Elk Plain

Elk Plain posts a median household income higher than 75% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks.

Top 25%
by median income, US cities

Where Elk Plain income ranks nationally

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

$107,313 Top 25% higher than 75% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles

Elk Plain $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 Elk Plain, WA beyond the headline numbers

Elk Plain sits inside Pierce County, Washington, at roughly 47.05°N, -122.40°W. Population 14,205, $107,313 median household income. Median home value $473,500, median rent $2,172. Poverty rate 8.3%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.

At 8.3%, poverty in Elk Plain, WA runs below the midpoint of reporting cities -- enough to matter locally, not enough to dominate the city's profile.

A median home in Elk Plain runs about 4.4 times median household income, above the midpoint. Multiples in this range usually mean buyers are arriving from outside the local wage base.

Remote work covers 10.9% of Elk Plain workers, under the midpoint for reporting cities.

Among the CDC measures on this page, frequent mental distress departs furthest from its peer median: 19.4% in Elk Plain, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,759 cities reporting that measure.

Public transit carries 0% of Elk Plain workers, a smaller share than at least three quarters of reporting cities.

Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Elk Plain 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)
14,205
Elk Plain · Census Place
Median Income (place)
$107,313
+20% vs avg
Median Home Value (place)
$473,500
+14% vs avg
Median Age (place)
38
years · ACS place

10-Year Trends 2013–2024

County-level trend (Pierce County): Elk Plain'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
930K+16%
Median Income
$99,564+68%
Median Home Value
$526,600+119%
Poverty Rate
8.8%-29%
Unemployment
4.9%-53%

Economics

Economics indicators for Elk Plain, WA
IndicatorValue
Median Rent
$2,172/mo
Poverty Rate
8.3% -33% vs avg
Unemployment 2.9%
Bachelor's Degree+ 17.5%
Work From Home 10.9%
Public Transit 0%

Population

White 72.6%
African American 4.1%
Asian 4%
Two or More Ethnicities 6.2%

Health Profile 15 measures

Health Indicators

Obesity
38.6%
Short Sleep Duration
37.8%
High Blood Pressure
33.5%
Physical Inactivity
20%
Frequent Mental Distress
19.4%
Binge Drinking
17.5%
Frequent Physical Distress
15%
Current Smoking
13.5%
Current Asthma
11.4%
Diabetes
11.2%

Preventive Care

Dental Visit 64.1%
Annual Checkup 70%

Other Measures

Lack of Health Insurance
8.6%
Coronary Heart Disease
5.6%
Stroke
3.2%

What alerts and safety updates affect Elk Plain?

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

City alert dispatch desk

Sheet WA-ELK-PLAIN · Elk Plain

Elk Plain: 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 Elk Plain; 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 Elk Plain in the CAP feed
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Frequently Asked Questions 5

What is the population of Elk Plain, WA? ▼
Elk Plain, WA has a population of 14,205 people, located in Pierce County, Washington.
What is the median household income in Elk Plain? ▼
The median household income in Elk Plain, WA is $107,313 per year, per the U.S. Census ACS. The poverty rate is 8.3%.
What is the median home value in Elk Plain? ▼
The median home value in Elk Plain, WA is $473,500. Median rent is $2,172/month.
What are the top health concerns in Elk Plain? ▼
The top health indicators in Elk Plain include Obesity (38.6%), Short Sleep Duration (37.8%), High Blood Pressure (33.5%). Data from CDC PLACES.
What is the median age in Elk Plain? ▼
The median age in Elk Plain, WA is 38 years. 17.5% of residents have a bachelor's degree or higher.

Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8

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

Similar poverty rate

Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside WA (8.3% here).

Oceanside, CA 8.3% San Leandro, CA 8.3% Appleton, WI 8.3% Brentwood, CA 8.3%

Similar median income

Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside WA ($107,313 here).

Patchogue, NY $107,306 Fort Lee, NJ $107,274 Rancho Mirage, CA $107,364 Calverton, MD $107,381

Compare Elk Plain 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

Frederickson, WA 19K Spanaway, WA 27K Graham, WA 23K Parkland, WA 36K South Hill, WA 52K Puyallup, WA 40K Lakewood, WA 60K Joint Base Lewis McChord, WA 11K
All cities in Washington → Compare Elk Plain vs Frederickson → All comparisons → Browse all cities

Using Elk Plain'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 Elk Plain 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 Elk Plain 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 (Pierce 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.