City · Kitsap County, Washington

Bainbridge Island, Washington

Bainbridge Island is a city in Kitsap County, Washington, part of the Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA metro area. It has 24,631 residents. Bainbridge Island, Washington has a quality-of-life score of 91 out of 100 (very high), ranking #1,404 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Washington it ranks #9 of 395 cities and towns. It ranks best on food insecurity (low), physical inactivity (low) and poor or fair health (low). It ranks worst on average commute time (high), home price to income ratio (high) and distance to an emergency room (high).

91Very high

Quality-of-life score: #1,404 of 15,651 cities and towns
Washington: #9 of 395 in WA
Population: 24,631 (2020-2024)
Land area: 28 mi²
Density: 892.0 /mi²
FIPS code: 5303736

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 75 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety65#5,394/15,637
Economy95#731/15,631
Housing62#5,757/14,977
Health86#2,120/15,609
Healthcare60#6,279/15,650
Environment97#449/15,453
Education90#1,509/15,649
Infrastructure92#1,327/15,650
Community54#7,253/15,651
Leisure & amenities54#7,159/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Bainbridge Island, Washington ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Kitsap County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Food insecurity · low4.2%
100/100Washington 10.5%United States 15.6%2022Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Physical inactivity · low10.4%
100/100Washington 19.0%United States 26.5%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Poor or fair health · low9.1%
99/100Washington 17.4%United States 19.9%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Lack of reliable transportation · low4.1%
99/100Washington 7.6%United States 8.3%2022Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Adult smoking · low6.2%
99/100Washington 12.2%United States 16.1%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Public transit commuters · high13.4%
99/100Washington 3.5%United States 3.2%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08301

Weaknesses

Average commute time · high37.3 min
3/100Washington 26.6 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Home price to income ratio · high6.7×
7/100Washington 5.8×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Distance to an emergency room · high12.7 mi
11/100Washington 7.1 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesKitsap County value
Mental health care shortage · high18.0
11/100Washington 9.7United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationKitsap County value
Pharmacies · low1.0 /10k
15/100Washington 1.0 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsKitsap County value
Income inequality (Gini index) · high0.472
18/100Washington 0.469United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

Public transit commutersWorsening
26.3% (2015-2019) → 13.4% (2020-2024)
−13 pts5 yearsCensus table B08301US 5.0% → 3.2%
Median household incomeImproving
$117,990 (2015-2019) → $172,188 (2020-2024)
+46%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
35.8% (2015-2019) → 42.0% (2020-2024)
+6.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
New homes permittedWorsening
3.8 /1k (2021) → 2.6 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−30%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
72.0% (2015-2019) → 76.4% (2020-2024)
+4.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Child poverty rateWorsening
0.2% (2015-2019) → 3.3% (2020-2024)
+3 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Bainbridge Island, Washington improved on 1 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 2. 10 moved within the margin of error and 1 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved1

Household income+46%$117,990 → $172,188

Declined2

Transit use−13 points26.3% → 13.4%
Inequality+0.0440.429 → 0.473

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Bainbridge Island, Washington between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	40.8 min2015-2019	37.3 min2020-2024	−3.5 min	Within the margin of error	82%
Bachelor's degree or higher	72.0%2015-2019	76.4%2020-2024	+4.4 points	Within the margin of error	63%
Broadband subscriptions	95.8%2015-2019	97.4%2020-2024	+1.6 points	Within the margin of error	13%
Effective property tax rate	0.84%2015-2019	0.68%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Little change	49%
High school diploma or higher	98.4%2015-2019	99.3%2020-2024	+0.8 points	Within the margin of error	44%
Home price to income ratio	6.0×2015-2019	6.7×2020-2024	+0.7×	Within the margin of error	34%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4292015-2019	0.4732020-2024	+0.044	Declined	19%
Median household income	$117,9902015-2019	$172,1882020-2024	+46%	Improved	81%
Poverty rate	3.6%2015-2019	3.5%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	45%
Public transit commuters	26.3%2015-2019	13.4%2020-2024	−13 points	Declined	1%
Rent as share of income	25.6%2015-2019	26.5%2020-2024	+0.9 points	Within the margin of error	48%
Rent-burdened households	35.8%2015-2019	42.0%2020-2024	+6.1 points	Within the margin of error	34%
Unemployment rate	3.1%2015-2019	2.8%2020-2024	−0.3 points	Within the margin of error	56%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	2.0%2015-2019	2.9%2020-2024	+0.8 points	Within the margin of error	36%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Bainbridge Island, Washington five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Bainbridge Island, Washington in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Bainbridge Island, Washington itself moved −3.5 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

24,631 residents (±33)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79
60–69

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

9,887 households (±304)

Bainbridge Island, Washington
Washington share

Under $25k5.2%†515
$25k–50k5.4%†530
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

9,887 households (±304)

Bainbridge Island, Washington
Washington share

Own81%8,045
Rent19%1,842

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

11,114 workers (±456)

Bainbridge Island, Washington
Washington share

Drive alone37%4,131
Carpool3.5%†388
Public transit13%1,494

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Kitsap County, the county holding most of Bainbridge Island's residents.

Kitsap County has 6,272 employer establishments, 226 for every 10,000 residents (0.91× the US rate of 248; 0.88× Washington's), with 63,168 paid employees at an average annual pay of $52,842. The Census Bureau also counts 17,739 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 6,272; 17,739 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 226; US 248 · Washington 258
Paid employees: 63,168
Average annual pay: $52,842; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Kitsap County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Restaurants and other eating places	510	18.4	1.00×About typical	7,653	$27,725	55
Specialty trade contractors	492	17.7	1.15×About typical	2,968	$64,952	683
Ambulatory health care services	481	17.3	0.83×About typical	4,829	$68,780	1,002
Lessors of real estate	409	14.7	1.20×About typical	908	$65,331	1,932
Construction of buildings	384	13.8	1.83×More than typical	1,572	$67,694	442
Services to buildings and dwellings	255	9.2	1.36×More than typical	1,237	$37,002	801
Real estate agents and brokers	213	7.7	1.58×More than typical	211	$75,507	651
Full-service restaurants	212	7.6	1.00×About typical	3,602	$32,356	22
Offices of other health practitioners	201	7.2	1.19×About typical	989	$47,393	676
Management, scientific and technical consulting	181	6.5	0.97×About typical	601	$86,631	986
Limited-service restaurants	175	6.3	0.79×Fewer than typical	2,910	$23,537	20
Landscaping services	157	5.7	1.62×More than typical	682	$43,183	292

Rank places for an industry Open Kitsap County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 277,358 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $8.6M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Bainbridge Island, Washington: $351 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $8.6M; +257% vs FY2025
Per resident: $351; US $1,994
Sole-source: 11%; US 30%
Single offer: 3.6%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Department of the Army$7.3M84%
Departmental Offices$725.5K8.4%
Department of Veterans Affairs$242.6K2.8%
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration$194.5K2.3%
Office of Justice Programs$156.2K1.8%
Environmental Protection Agency$65.8K0.8%

Top recipients

SEVENSON ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, INC.$7.3M84%
BLUE TRIDENT, LLC$1.1M13%
NOR'EASTERN TRAWL SYSTEMS, INC.$194.5K2.3%
CH2M HILL, INC$65.8K0.8%
SARAH JO WARD LLC$33K0.4%

Spending by fiscal year

4.6MFY2017
1.9MFY2018
3.1MFY2019
3.9MFY2020
886KFY2021
9.9MFY2022
18.5MFY2023
96.7MFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Remediation and other waste management services · 5629$7.3M85%
Nonresidential building construction · 2362$1.1M13%
Other professional, scientific, and technical services · 5419$98.2K1.1%
Other textile product mills · 3149$93.4K1.1%
Management, scientific, and technical consulting services · 5416$33K0.4%
Navigational, measuring, electromedical, and control instruments manufacturing · 3345$3,000

Largest awards whose ZIP code lies mostly in Bainbridge Island, Washington

REPLACE A FAILING SHEET PILE WALL AT A U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA) SUPERFUND REMEDIAL SITE ON THE NATIONAL PRIORITIES LIST (NPL) LOCATED ON BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, WASHINGTON.$72.1M
SEVENSON ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, INC.· Kitsap County, WA· Facilities & utilities· Sep 3, 2024 – Jun 5, 2026· W912DW24C0014
R10 DES: REMEDIAL DESIGN (RD) FOR WYCKOFF/EAGLE HARBOR SUPERFUND SITE$28.9M
CH2M HILL, INC· Kitsap County, WA· Facilities & utilities· Dec 6, 2021 – May 27, 2026· 68HE0722F0011
R10 ESO: WYCKOFF/EAGLE HARBOR SUPERFUND SITE REMEDIAL ACTIVITIES TECHNICAL SUPPORT$13.2M
OCH JV· Kitsap County, WA· Facilities & utilities· Sep 28, 2023 – Dec 31, 2025· 68HE0723F0148

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Bainbridge Island, Washington, so they do not add up across cities.

Bainbridge Island, Washington's figures are part of those of Kitsap County, WA ($1B in FY2026), never added to them: 0.8% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Bainbridge Island is mostly in Kitsap County.

See federal money in Kitsap County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Bainbridge Island, Washington is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Emily RandallD-WA-6 · 100% of residentsWith party 100%Missed 3.0%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Kitsap County88100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA91

Other cities and towns in Kitsap County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/5303736

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends