Census-designated place · Franklin County, Washington

Basin City, Washington

Basin City is a census-designated place in Franklin County, Washington, part of the Kennewick-Richland, WA metro area. It has 1,176 residents. Basin City, Washington has a quality-of-life score of 19 out of 100 (very low), ranking #12,728 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Washington it ranks #375 of 395 cities and towns. It ranks best on home price to income ratio (low), distance to an airport (low) and median Air Quality Index (low). It ranks worst on unemployment rate (high), reading scores (low) and math scores (low).

19Very low

Quality-of-life score: #12,728 of 15,651 cities and towns
Washington: #375 of 395 in WA
Population: 1,176 (2020-2024)
Land area: 3 mi²
Density: 368.7 /mi²
FIPS code: 5304405

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 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.

Safety37#9,905/15,637
Economy29#11,031/15,631
Housing79#3,186/14,977
Health52#7,445/15,609
Healthcare17#13,060/15,650
Environment17#12,803/15,453
Education3#15,142/15,649
Infrastructure55#7,108/15,650
Community6#14,675/15,651
Leisure & amenities15#13,376/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Basin City, Washington ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Franklin 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

Home price to income ratio · low0.4×
100/100Washington 5.8×United States 4.1×2018-2022U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077High uncertainty
Distance to an airport · low6 mi
100/100Washington 29 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauFranklin County value
Median Air Quality Index · low23
97/100Washington 382025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyFranklin County value
Injury deaths · low57 /100k
91/100Washington 86 /100kUnited States 87 /100k2019-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteFranklin County value
Time spent in the emergency room · low117 min
89/100Washington 156 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesFranklin County value
Distance to an Amtrak station · low7 mi
88/100Washington 13 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauFranklin County value

Weaknesses

Unemployment rate · high25.9%
0/100Washington 4.7%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025High uncertainty
Reading scores · low2.33
1/100Washington 2.98United States 3.052019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteFranklin County value
Math scores · low2.33
1/100Washington 2.91United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteFranklin County value
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · high10.2 µg/m³
2/100Washington 8.4 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyFranklin County value
Primary care physicians · low19 /100k
4/100Washington 85 /100kUnited States 76 /100k2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteFranklin County value
Lack of reliable transportation · high16.9%
5/100Washington 7.6%United States 8.3%2022Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate

Trends

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

High school diploma or higherImproving
23.0% (2015-2019) → 50.9% (2020-2024)
+28 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Child poverty rateImproving
45.0% (2015-2019) → 20.9% (2020-2024)
−24 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Uninsured residents (under 65)Improving
40.2% (2015-2019) → 18.1% (2020-2024)
−22 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%
Income inequality (Gini index)Worsening
0.257 (2015-2019) → 0.480 (2020-2024)
+87%5 yearsCensus table B19083US 0.482 → 0.483
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
0.0% (2015-2019) → 14.1% (2020-2024)
+14 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Broadband subscriptionsWorsening
100.0% (2015-2019) → 91.8% (2020-2024)
−8.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%

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, Basin City, Washington improved on 1 of 6 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 4 moved within the margin of error and 0 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

Uninsured−22 points40.2% → 18.1%

Declined1

Inequality+0.2230.257 → 0.480

All 6 measures

Change of every measure of Basin City, Washington between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Broadband subscriptions	100.0%2015-2019	91.8%2020-2024	−8.2 points	Within the margin of error	1%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.2572015-2019	0.4802020-2024	+0.223	Declined	0%
Median household income	$55,1602015-2019	$59,8402020-2024	+8.5%	Within the margin of error	15%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent-burdened households	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	56%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	40.2%2015-2019	18.1%2020-2024	−22 points	Improved	100%

“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 Basin City, Washington five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Basin City, 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.

No place that looked like Basin City, Washington five years ago has more measures that improved than declined, with a higher standing among its peers today.

For comparison, Basin City, Washington itself moved −36.7 points in standing on average over the same 4 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

1,176 residents (±527)

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

268 households (±113)

Basin City, Washington
Washington share

Under $25k24%†64
$25k–50k9.7%†26
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

268 households (±113)

Basin City, Washington
Washington share

Own75%†202
Rent25%†66

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

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

432 workers (±268)

Basin City, Washington
Washington share

Drive alone69%†300
Carpool14%†61
Public transit

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 Kennewick-Richland, 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 Franklin County, the county holding most of Basin City's residents.

Franklin County has 1,968 employer establishments, 197 for every 10,000 residents (0.80× the US rate of 248; 0.77× Washington's), with 24,069 paid employees at an average annual pay of $53,863. The Census Bureau also counts 4,785 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,968; 4,785 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 197; US 248 · Washington 258
Paid employees: 24,069
Average annual pay: $53,863; US $68,342

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

Specialty trade contractors	266	26.7	1.72×More than typical	2,514	$66,977	249
Restaurants and other eating places	128	12.8	0.70×Fewer than typical	2,063	$26,241	24
Truck transportation	122	12.2	2.42×More than typical	954	$69,471	354
Ambulatory health care services	106	10.6	0.51×Fewer than typical	1,213	$59,014	137
Construction of buildings	106	10.6	1.41×More than typical	388	$58,585	118
Foundation, structure and building exterior contractors	104	10.4	3.31×More than typical	651	$49,263	47
Services to buildings and dwellings	98	9.8	1.46×More than typical	599	$40,174	243
Building finishing contractors	84	8.4	2.22×More than typical	435	$52,869	81
Lessors of real estate	67	6.7	0.55×Fewer than typical	225	$35,040	501
Child day care services	57	5.7	2.34×More than typical	323	$42,050	219
Automotive repair and maintenance	56	5.6	1.12×About typical	313	$43,508	92
Limited-service restaurants	55	5.5	0.69×Fewer than typical	1,202	$23,358	9

Rank places for an industry Open Franklin County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 99,683 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 $12.6K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Basin City, Washington: $10.72 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $12.6K; +25% vs FY2025
Per resident: $10.72; US $1,994
Sole-source: 100%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; 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$12.6K100%

Top recipients

FISH & WILDLIFE, WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF$12.6K100%

Spending by fiscal year

41.9KFY2017
25.8KFY2018
294.8FY2019
7.4KFY2020
11.5KFY2021
10.3KFY2022
13.3KFY2023
11.4KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Aquaculture · 1125$12.6K100%

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 Basin City, Washington, so they do not add up across cities.

Basin City, Washington's figures are part of those of Franklin County, WA ($9.2M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.1% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Basin City is mostly in Franklin County.

See federal money in Franklin 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.

Basin City, Washington is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

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.

Franklin County30100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Kennewick-Richland, WA54

Other cities and towns in Franklin 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
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/5304405

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends