City · Thurston County, Washington

Rainier, Washington

Rainier is a city in Thurston County, Washington, part of the Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA metro area. It has 2,455 residents. Rainier, Washington has a quality-of-life score of 59 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #6,445 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Washington it ranks #199 of 395 cities and towns. It ranks best on income inequality (Gini index) (low), median Air Quality Index (low) and mental health providers (high). It ranks worst on depression (high), drug overdose deaths (high) and suicide rate (high).

59Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #6,445 of 15,651 cities and towns
Washington: #199 of 395 in WA
Population: 2,455 (2020-2024)
Land area: 2 mi²
Density: 1,412.4 /mi²
FIPS code: 5357220

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.

Safety40#9,383/15,637
Economy71#4,578/15,631
Housing46#8,072/14,977
Health47#8,294/15,609
Healthcare63#5,749/15,650
Environment88#1,805/15,453
Education44#8,824/15,649
Infrastructure60#6,186/15,650
Community47#8,349/15,651
Leisure & amenities44#8,830/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Income inequality (Gini index) · low0.303
98/100Washington 0.469United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
Median Air Quality Index · low27
96/100Washington 382025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyThurston County value
Mental health providers · high616 /100k
93/100Washington 568 /100kUnited States 348 /100k2025University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteThurston County value
Preventable hospital stays · low1,702 /100k
93/100Washington 1,865 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteThurston County value
Distance to an Amtrak station · low6 mi
89/100Washington 13 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauThurston County value
Physical inactivity · low17.8%
85/100Washington 19.0%United States 26.5%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate

Weaknesses

Depression · high29.9%
5/100Washington 25.5%United States 20.7%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Drug overdose deaths · high31.1 /100k
8/100Washington 32.7 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataThurston County value
Suicide rate · high23.7 /100k
11/100Washington 17.0 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataThurston County value
Mammography screening · low37.0%
11/100Washington 41.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteThurston County value
Pharmacies · low1.0 /10k
13/100Washington 1.0 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsThurston County value
Students per teacher · high18.1×
14/100Washington 17.9×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsThurston County value

Trends

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

New homes permittedWorsening
1.4 /1k (2021) → 0.4 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−72%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
27.3% (2015-2019) → 38.5% (2020-2024)
+11 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Median household incomeImproving
$69,688 (2015-2019) → $106,019 (2020-2024)
+52%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
87.2% (2015-2019) → 94.9% (2020-2024)
+7.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
3.0× (2015-2019) → 4.0× (2020-2024)
+36%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
16.0% (2015-2019) → 22.4% (2020-2024)
+6.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%

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, Rainier, Washington improved on 2 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 9 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

Household income+52%$69,688 → $106,019
Broadband+7.7 points87.2% → 94.9%

Declined1

Price / income+1.1×3.0× → 4.0×

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Rainier, Washington between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	36.4 min2015-2019	37.9 min2020-2024	+1.5 min	Within the margin of error	32%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.0%2015-2019	22.4%2020-2024	+6.4 points	Within the margin of error	76%
Broadband subscriptions	87.2%2015-2019	94.9%2020-2024	+7.7 points	Improved	48%
Child poverty rate	24.1%2015-2019	26.9%2020-2024	+2.8 points	Within the margin of error	27%
Effective property tax rate	1.02%2015-2019	0.74%2020-2024	−0.3 points	Within the margin of error	71%
High school diploma or higher	89.4%2015-2019	90.5%2020-2024	+1.1 points	Within the margin of error	47%
Home price to income ratio	3.0×2015-2019	4.0×2020-2024	+1.1×	Declined	20%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3202015-2019	0.3032020-2024	−0.017	Within the margin of error	65%
Median household income	$69,6882015-2019	$106,0192020-2024	+52%	Improved	86%
Poverty rate	16.6%2015-2019	14.6%2020-2024	−2 points	Within the margin of error	63%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	20.9%2015-2019	23.9%2020-2024	+3 points	Within the margin of error	33%

“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 Rainier, Washington five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Rainier, 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, Rainier, Washington itself moved +1.4 points in standing on average over the same 9 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

2,455 residents (±29)

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

788 households (±110)

Rainier, Washington
Washington share

Under $25k6.3%†50
$25k–50k11%†85
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

788 households (±110)

Rainier, Washington
Washington share

Own86%676
Rent14%†112

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

1,020 workers (±145)

Rainier, Washington
Washington share

Drive alone69%708
Carpool3.7%†38
Public transit0.0%0

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 Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, 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 Thurston County, the county holding most of Rainier's residents.

Thurston County has 6,656 employer establishments, 222 for every 10,000 residents (0.90× the US rate of 248; 0.86× Washington's), with 86,664 paid employees at an average annual pay of $53,456. The Census Bureau also counts 18,681 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 6,656; 18,681 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 222; US 248 · Washington 258
Paid employees: 86,664
Average annual pay: $53,456; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	664	22.2	1.06×About typical	7,103	$67,699	1,303
Specialty trade contractors	524	17.5	1.13×About typical	4,008	$71,229	780
Restaurants and other eating places	493	16.5	0.90×About typical	8,407	$27,458	46
Lessors of real estate	375	12.5	1.02×About typical	1,112	$52,228	1,951
Construction of buildings	317	10.6	1.40×More than typical	1,666	$82,219	391
Offices of other health practitioners	252	8.4	1.39×More than typical	1,302	$45,654	847
Services to buildings and dwellings	222	7.4	1.10×About typical	1,168	$38,978	742
Limited-service restaurants	193	6.5	0.80×About typical	3,799	$23,812	21
Full-service restaurants	191	6.4	0.83×About typical	3,361	$32,727	10
Personal care services	174	5.8	1.22×About typical	861	$37,482	669
Offices of physicians	172	5.7	0.89×About typical	2,592	$82,025	202
Building equipment contractors	159	5.3	0.88×About typical	1,641	$81,152	109

Rank places for an industry Open Thurston County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 299,197 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 $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Rainier, Washington: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; 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

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

290.4FY2019
85.8FY2020
175.4FY2021
0FY2022
763.1FY2024
-475.2FY2025

What was bought

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

Rainier, Washington's figures are part of those of Thurston County, WA ($9.9M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

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

See federal money in Thurston 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.

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

House

Senate

County

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

Thurston County77100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA81

Other cities and towns in Thurston 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/5357220

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends