City · Grant County, Washington

Ephrata, Washington

Ephrata is a city in Grant County, Washington, part of the Moses Lake, WA metro area. It has 8,560 residents. Ephrata, Washington has a quality-of-life score of 27 out of 100 (low), ranking #11,396 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Washington it ranks #356 of 395 cities and towns. It ranks best on preventable hospital stays (low), median Air Quality Index (low) and grocery stores (high). It ranks worst on flu vaccinations (low), reading scores (low) and math scores (low).

27Low

Quality-of-life score: #11,396 of 15,651 cities and towns
Washington: #356 of 395 in WA
Population: 8,560 (2020-2024)
Land area: 10 mi²
Density: 816.6 /mi²
FIPS code: 5322080

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.

Safety34#10,337/15,637
Economy39#9,609/15,631
Housing66#5,120/14,977
Health38#9,738/15,609
Healthcare28#11,222/15,650
Environment41#9,185/15,453
Education10#14,079/15,649
Infrastructure59#6,353/15,650
Community15#13,262/15,651
Leisure & amenities43#8,929/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Preventable hospital stays · low1,600 /100k
95/100Washington 1,865 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteGrant County value
Median Air Quality Index · low28
95/100Washington 382025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyGrant County value
Grocery stores · high2.7 /10k
91/100Washington 1.8 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsGrant County value
Natural hazard risk · low11.9
81/100Washington 63.52025Federal Emergency Management AgencyGrant County value
Suicide rate · low10.7 /100k
80/100Washington 17.0 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataGrant County value
Time spent in the emergency room · low135 min
78/100Washington 156 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesGrant County value

Weaknesses

Flu vaccinations · low22.0%
2/100Washington 43.0%United States 44.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteGrant County value
Reading scores · low2.51
2/100Washington 2.98United States 3.052019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteGrant County value
Math scores · low2.51
4/100Washington 2.91United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteGrant County value
Drug overdose deaths · high30.2 /100k
9/100Washington 32.7 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataGrant County value
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · high9.1 µg/m³
9/100Washington 8.4 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyGrant County value
Hospital quality rating · low2.0
9/100Washington 3.3United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesGrant County value

Trends

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

PopulationRising
8,072 (2015-2019) → 8,560 (2020-2024)
+6%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
17.7% (2015-2019) → 41.6% (2020-2024)
+24 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Child poverty rateWorsening
7.3% (2015-2019) → 30.0% (2020-2024)
+23 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Poverty rateWorsening
7.7% (2015-2019) → 20.8% (2020-2024)
+13 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
80.4% (2015-2019) → 92.0% (2020-2024)
+12 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
21.7% (2015-2019) → 27.9% (2020-2024)
+6.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%

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, Ephrata, Washington improved on 2 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 3. 8 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.

Improved2

Property tax−0.4 points1.17% → 0.75%
Broadband+12 points80.4% → 92.0%

Declined3

Poverty+13 points7.7% → 20.8%
Rent burden+24 points17.7% → 41.6%
Rent / income+6.2 points21.7% → 27.9%

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Ephrata, Washington between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	20.5 min2015-2019	21.0 min2020-2024	+0.5 min	Within the margin of error	42%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.9%2015-2019	16.8%2020-2024	−2.1 points	Within the margin of error	16%
Broadband subscriptions	80.4%2015-2019	92.0%2020-2024	+12 points	Improved	67%
Effective property tax rate	1.17%2015-2019	0.75%2020-2024	−0.4 points	Improved	86%
High school diploma or higher	86.3%2015-2019	90.9%2020-2024	+4.7 points	Within the margin of error	80%
Home price to income ratio	3.0×2015-2019	3.6×2020-2024	+0.6×	Within the margin of error	39%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4132015-2019	0.3992020-2024	−0.015	Within the margin of error	64%
Median household income	$54,5872015-2019	$69,5512020-2024	+27%	Within the margin of error	50%
Poverty rate	7.7%2015-2019	20.8%2020-2024	+13 points	Declined	2%
Rent as share of income	21.7%2015-2019	27.9%2020-2024	+6.2 points	Declined	18%
Rent-burdened households	17.7%2015-2019	41.6%2020-2024	+24 points	Declined	6%
Unemployment rate	8.0%2015-2019	6.1%2020-2024	−1.9 points	Within the margin of error	81%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	8.6%2015-2019	6.6%2020-2024	−2 points	Within the margin of error	69%

“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 Ephrata, Washington five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Ephrata, 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, Ephrata, Washington itself moved −2.6 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

8,560 residents (±19)

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

3,224 households (±286)

Ephrata, Washington
Washington share

Under $25k19%†623
$25k–50k18%†580
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

3,224 households (±286)

Ephrata, Washington
Washington share

Own65%2,102
Rent35%1,122

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

3,507 workers (±406)

Ephrata, Washington
Washington share

Drive alone83%2,903
Carpool7.9%†278
Public transit0.3%†

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 Moses Lake, 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 Grant County, the county holding most of Ephrata's residents.

Grant County has 2,123 employer establishments, 206 for every 10,000 residents (0.83× the US rate of 248; 0.80× Washington's), with 24,839 paid employees at an average annual pay of $55,157. The Census Bureau also counts 5,371 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 2,123; 5,371 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 206; US 248 · Washington 258
Paid employees: 24,839
Average annual pay: $55,157; US $68,342

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

Specialty trade contractors	183	17.8	1.15×About typical	1,239	$74,669	281
Restaurants and other eating places	174	16.9	0.92×About typical	2,100	$25,683	44
Lessors of real estate	111	10.8	0.87×About typical	317	$50,464	696
Truck transportation	108	10.5	2.07×More than typical	470	$67,998	275
Ambulatory health care services	100	9.7	0.47×Fewer than typical	1,340	$61,856	134
Construction of buildings	99	9.6	1.27×More than typical	347	$46,908	242
Full-service restaurants	65	6.3	0.82×About typical	643	$31,739	17
Limited-service restaurants	65	6.3	0.79×Fewer than typical	1,184	$22,893	16
Services to buildings and dwellings	51	4.9	0.73×Fewer than typical	213	$44,779	295
Religious organizations	50	4.9	0.87×About typical	234	$24,684	—
Building equipment contractors	49	4.8	0.79×Fewer than typical	675	$89,970	41
Gasoline stations	47	4.6	1.41×More than typical	383	$34,984	—

Rank places for an industry Open Grant County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 103,035 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 $991.2K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Ephrata, Washington: $116 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $991.2K; +18,530% vs FY2025
Per resident: $116; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.3%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.3%; 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

Federal Emergency Management Agency$977.8K99%
Bureau of Reclamation$12.6K1.3%
Department of the Army$8050.1%

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

17.8KFY2017
28.4KFY2018
11.6KFY2019
14.5KFY2020
55.5KFY2021
8.8KFY2022
25.4KFY2023
78.6KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Facilities support services · 5612$974.9K98%
Architectural, engineering, and related services · 5413$8,8970.9%
Commercial and industrial machinery and equipment repair and maintenance · 8113$2,2660.2%
Investigation and security services · 5616$1,7710.2%
Wired and wireless telecommunications carriers · 5173$1,6910.2%
Electric power generation, transmission and distribution · 2211

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 Ephrata, Washington, so they do not add up across cities.

Ephrata, Washington's figures are part of those of Grant County, WA ($48.4M in FY2026), never added to them: 2.0% of that total.

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

See federal money in Grant 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.

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

House

Dan NewhouseR-WA-4 · 100% of residentsWith party 95%Missed 2.4%

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.

Grant County35100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Moses Lake, WA35

Other cities and towns in Grant 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/5322080

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends