City safety & data profile
KelsoWA
Kelso, WA is a 12K-resident city in Cowlitz County with a median household income of $66,751.
Cowlitz County, Washington. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Kelso, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Kelso has a population larger than 12% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, a median home value of $337,600, and 1 hospital serving the surrounding area.
- 12K
- Population (place)
- Bottom 13%
- By size
- $66,751
- Median income (place)
- $337,600
- Median home (place)
- 12%
- Poverty rate (place)
The read on Kelso
Kelso posts a median household income higher than 32% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks, where 1 hospital serves the Kelso area.
- Bottom 33%
- by median income, US cities
- 1
- hospital in & near Kelso
Composite score · Kelso, WA
31/100
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.
See the full national tables: Healthiest Cities in America (health outcomes only) · Community Wellbeing Cities (this page's blended composite).
Where Kelso income ranks nationally
Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)
$66,751 Bottom 32% higher than 32% 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
Largest cities in WA
Ranked by headcount across the 109 WA places Areazine tracks with both population and income data. Tooltip carries the income rank.
- 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 tops this pool by population; the income lead belongs to Sammamish instead.
Income ranking: 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 posts the highest place-level median income in WA; Seattle is largest by headcount.
The quick read
Reading Kelso, WA beyond the headline numbers
Kelso sits inside Cowlitz County, Washington, at roughly 46.15°N, -122.91°W. Population 11,901, $66,751 median household income. Median home value $337,600, median rent $1,220. Poverty rate 12%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.
1 hospital in/around Kelso (nearest 8.4 mi away), 4/5 avg rating, 1 with an ER. Climate: 53.2°F annual average, 48" precipitation.
Among the CDC measures on this page, current asthma departs furthest from its peer median: 13% in Kelso, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,722 cities reporting that measure.
12.5% of Kelso adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, the lowest quarter of reporting cities.
Only 5.6% of Kelso workers report working from home, the lowest quarter of reporting cities -- an economy still built around showing up somewhere.
6.6% unemployment puts Kelso in the toughest quarter of reporting cities for job availability.
A median home in Kelso runs about 5.1 times median household income, above the midpoint. Multiples in this range usually mean buyers are arriving from outside the local wage base.
Median rent in Kelso, WA runs $1,220/month, below the midpoint for reporting cities.
Poverty in Kelso, WA stands at 12%, 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.
Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Kelso 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.
Looking Back a Decade 2013–2024
County-level trend (Cowlitz County): Kelso'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
Kelso's median household income of $66,751 runs 25% below the tracked-city average, the most notable of the economic figures Areazine tracks here. A second figure worth noting: median rent at $1,220/mo, 21% below the tracked-city average.
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Median Rent | |
| Poverty Rate | 12% -3% vs avg |
| Unemployment | 6.6% |
| Bachelor's Degree+ | 12.5% |
| Work From Home | 5.6% |
| Public Transit | 0.4% |
Headcount
Community Health 15 measures
Health Indicators
Preventive Care
Other Measures
Closest Hospitals 1 within 25 mi
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 NormalsCost of Living
BEA 20242.5% below national average
Metro area: Longview, WA (MSA)
Source: BEA Regional Price Parities via FRED. RPP of 100 = national average.
NFIP Flood Claim History
FEMA NFIP, county-levelCowlitz County has recorded 34 National Flood Insurance Program claims totaling $1.1M in payouts since 2016.
8 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 Kelso?
No area-tagged alerts are on record for Kelso right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.
City alert dispatch desk
Sheet WA-KELSO · Kelso
Kelso: 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 Kelso; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse Washington state hubs · Methodology
Related reading
What People Ask 9
What is the population of Kelso, WA? ▼
What is the median household income in Kelso? ▼
What is the median home value in Kelso? ▼
What are the top health concerns in Kelso? ▼
What hospitals are near Kelso? ▼
What is the median age in Kelso? ▼
What is the climate like in Kelso? ▼
What is the cost of living in Kelso? ▼
Has Kelso had flood insurance claims? ▼
Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8
Two ACS-derived peer sets for Kelso, 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% here).
Similar median income
Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside WA ($66,751 here).
Compare Kelso 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.
Nearby Places 8
Next steps for Kelso
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 Kelso 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 Kelso 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 (Cowlitz 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.