City · Benton County, Washington

Richland, Washington

Richland is a city in Benton County, Washington, part of the Kennewick-Richland, WA metro area. It has 62,753 residents. Richland, Washington has a quality-of-life score of 67 out of 100 (high), ranking #5,219 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Washington it ranks #145 of 395 cities and towns. It ranks best on rent-burdened households (low), high school diploma or higher (high) and distance to an airport (low). It ranks worst on fine particulate matter (PM2.5) (high), drought exposure (high) and drug overdose deaths (high).

67High

Quality-of-life score: #5,219 of 15,651 cities and towns
Washington: #145 of 395 in WA
Population: 62,753 (2020-2024)
Land area: 42 mi²
Density: 1,477.7 /mi²
FIPS code: 5358235

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.

Safety44#8,748/15,637
Economy73#4,293/15,631
Housing88#1,729/14,977
Health66#5,354/15,609
Healthcare58#6,503/15,650
Environment19#12,505/15,453
Education59#6,425/15,649
Infrastructure97#393/15,650
Community36#9,938/15,651
Leisure & amenities53#7,346/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Rent-burdened households · low39.2%
94/100Washington 50.0%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070
High school diploma or higher · high95.5%
93/100Washington 92.3%United States 89.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
Distance to an airport · low9 mi
92/100Washington 29 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauBenton County value
New homes permitted · high12.4 /1k
91/100Washington 4.9 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
Adult smoking · low9.2%
89/100Washington 12.2%United States 16.1%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Physical inactivity · low17.0%
89/100Washington 19.0%United States 26.5%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate

Weaknesses

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · high10.0 µg/m³
3/100Washington 8.4 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyBenton County value
Drought exposure · high83%
9/100Washington 54%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAABenton County value
Drug overdose deaths · high29.3 /100k
10/100Washington 32.7 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataBenton County value
Students per teacher · high18.5×
12/100Washington 17.9×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsBenton County value
Property crime rate · high1,875 /100k
17/100Washington 1,975 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationBenton County value
Pharmacies · low1.1 /10k
17/100Washington 1.0 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsBenton County value

Trends

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

PopulationRising
56,399 (2015-2019) → 62,753 (2020-2024)
+11%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
New homes permittedImproving
8.7 /1k (2021) → 12.4 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+42%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Home price to income ratioWorsening
3.4× (2015-2019) → 4.6× (2020-2024)
+34%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Median household incomeImproving
$77,686 (2015-2019) → $95,813 (2020-2024)
+23%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
88.8% (2015-2019) → 93.2% (2020-2024)
+4.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
43.0% (2015-2019) → 46.6% (2020-2024)
+3.6 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, Richland, Washington improved on 3 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 4. 7 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.

Improved3

Bachelor's++3.6 points43.0% → 46.6%
Household income+23%$77,686 → $95,813
Broadband+4.4 points88.8% → 93.2%

Declined4

Price / income+1.2×3.4× → 4.6×
Unemployment+1.6 points4.0% → 5.6%
Inequality+0.0230.416 → 0.439
Rent / income+2 points24.9% → 26.9%

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of Richland, Washington between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	19.7 min2015-2019	20.4 min2020-2024	+0.6 min	Within the margin of error	40%
Bachelor's degree or higher	43.0%2015-2019	46.6%2020-2024	+3.6 points	Improved	57%
Broadband subscriptions	88.8%2015-2019	93.2%2020-2024	+4.4 points	Improved	28%
Child poverty rate	14.5%2015-2019	11.5%2020-2024	−3 points	Within the margin of error	61%
Effective property tax rate	0.90%2015-2019	0.76%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Little change	46%
High school diploma or higher	96.1%2015-2019	95.5%2020-2024	−0.6 points	Within the margin of error	26%
Home price to income ratio	3.4×2015-2019	4.6×2020-2024	+1.2×	Declined	17%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4162015-2019	0.4392020-2024	+0.023	Declined	31%
Median household income	$77,6862015-2019	$95,8132020-2024	+23%	Improved	40%
Poverty rate	8.9%2015-2019	9.0%2020-2024	+0.1 points	Within the margin of error	43%
Public transit commuters	0.6%2015-2019	0.7%2020-2024	+0.1 points	Within the margin of error	97%
Rent as share of income	24.9%2015-2019	26.9%2020-2024	+2 points	Declined	40%
Rent-burdened households	35.7%2015-2019	39.2%2020-2024	+3.6 points	Within the margin of error	43%
Unemployment rate	4.0%2015-2019	5.6%2020-2024	+1.6 points	Declined	20%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	6.4%2015-2019	5.8%2020-2024	−0.6 points	Within the margin of error	55%

“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 Richland, Washington five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Richland, 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, Richland, Washington itself moved −6.9 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

62,753 residents (±51)

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

25,216 households (±601)

Richland, Washington
Washington share

Under $25k9.8%2,466
$25k–50k12%3,114
$50k–75k13%3,389

Homes

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

Owners and renters

25,216 households (±601)

Richland, Washington
Washington share

Own64%16,250
Rent36%8,966

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

29,274 workers (±814)

Richland, Washington
Washington share

Drive alone73%21,420
Carpool7.9%2,308
Public transit0.7%†204

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 Benton County, the county holding most of Richland's residents.

Benton County has 4,960 employer establishments, 230 for every 10,000 residents (0.93× the US rate of 248; 0.89× Washington's), with 76,642 paid employees at an average annual pay of $67,346. The Census Bureau also counts 11,650 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 4,960; 11,650 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 230; US 248 · Washington 258
Paid employees: 76,642
Average annual pay: $67,346; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	510	23.6	1.13×About typical	7,379	$66,657	539
Specialty trade contractors	476	22.1	1.43×More than typical	6,046	$87,123	543
Restaurants and other eating places	397	18.4	1.00×About typical	7,172	$26,965	51
Lessors of real estate	316	14.6	1.19×About typical	869	$50,209	1,218
Construction of buildings	214	9.9	1.31×More than typical	1,276	$70,199	268
Offices of other health practitioners	173	8	1.32×More than typical	1,014	$46,822	292
Real estate agents and brokers	161	7.5	1.53×More than typical	254	$53,539	371
Full-service restaurants	154	7.1	0.93×About typical	3,020	$31,162	14
Services to buildings and dwellings	152	7	1.05×About typical	1,186	$38,255	455
Building finishing contractors	151	7	1.84×More than typical	924	$47,919	203
Limited-service restaurants	148	6.9	0.86×About typical	3,262	$23,124	21
Offices of physicians	142	6.6	1.02×About typical	3,092	$80,666	112

Rank places for an industry Open Benton County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 215,705 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 $2.9B of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Richland, Washington: $46,352 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $2.9B; −14% vs FY2025
Per resident: $46,352; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.2%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.1%; 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 Energy$2.9B99.7%
Department of the Army$6.4M0.2%
Public Buildings Service$1.4M0.0%
Department of Veterans Affairs$677.7K0.0%
Department of the Navy$369K0.0%
Forest Service$160.4K0.0%
Environmental Protection Agency$67.7K0.0%
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service$28.2K0.0%

Top recipients

BATTELLE MEMORIAL INSTITUTE$1.1B36%
HANFORD TANK WASTE OPERATIONS & CLOSURE, LLC$789.9M27%
BECHTEL NATIONAL, INC.$473.9M16%
CENTRAL PLATEAU CLEANUP COMPANY, LLC$444.4M15%
HANFORD LABORATORY MANAGEMENT AND INTEGRATION LLC$96.7M3.3%

Spending by fiscal year

2.5BFY2017
2.5BFY2018
2.6BFY2019
2.8BFY2020
2.7BFY2021
2.6BFY2022
2.8BFY2023
3.1B

Top industries (NAICS)

Scientific research and development services · 5417$1.1B36%
Waste treatment and disposal · 5622$783.6M27%
Remediation and other waste management services · 5629$541.2M19%
Construction (NAICS 2349) · 2349$473.9M16%
Management, scientific, and technical consulting services · 5416$21.3M0.7%
Other professional, scientific, and technical services · 5419

Largest awards whose ZIP code lies mostly in Richland, Washington

BATTELLE MEMORIAL INSTITUTE/PACIFIC NORTHWEST LABORATORY OPERATING AND MANAGING CONTRACT$30.9B
BATTELLE MEMORIAL INSTITUTE· Benton County, WA· Facilities & utilities· Oct 24, 2016 – Aug 26, 2026· DEAC0576RL01830
THIS MODIFICATION UPDATES SECTION J, LIST OF ATTACHMENTS, ATTACHMENT J-E, LIST OF APPLICABLE DIRECTIVES, TO ALIGN WITH PROJECT VELOCITY DIRECTION FROM DOE HQ.$17.3B
BECHTEL NATIONAL, INC.· Benton County, WA· Construction & real property· Oct 21, 2016 – Aug 20, 2026· DEAC2701RV14136
MANAGEMENT OF THE HANFORD SITE TANK FARMS$10.6B
WASHINGTON RIVER PROTECTION SOLUTIONS LLC· Benton County, WA· Facilities & utilities· Oct 26, 2016 – Aug 7, 2026· DEAC2708RV14800

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

Richland, Washington's figures are part of those of Benton County, WA ($3.7B in FY2026), never added to them: 78% of that total.

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

See federal money in Benton 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.

Richland, 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.

Benton County63100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Kennewick-Richland, WA54

Other cities and towns in Benton 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/5358235

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends