Chinle vs Fort Defiance

A side-by-side comparison of Chinle and Fort Defiance: population, income, housing, and more.

Chinle and Fort Defiance are places in Arizona. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Chinle has the higher population (4,395 vs 3,614 in Fort Defiance). Fort Defiance has the higher median household income ($56,250 vs $46,458 in Chinle). Chinle has the higher median home value ($38,000 vs $37,800 in Fort Defiance).

Population, income & housing

	Chinle	Fort Defiance
Population	4,395	3,614
Median age	31.9 yrs	32.5 yrs
Median household income	$46,458	$56,250
Median home value	$38,000	$37,800
Median gross rent	$504	$802
Housing units	1,479	1,186
Homeownership rate	47.3%	51.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.0%	17.2%
Unemployment rate	14.6%	10.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Chinle	Fort Defiance
Population	4,879 → 4,395 (-9.9%)	4,590 → 3,614 (-21.3%)
Median household income	$31,250 → $46,458 (+48.7%)	$35,375 → $56,250 (+59.0%)
Median home value	$23,800 → $38,000 (+59.7%)	$34,800 → $37,800 (+8.6%)
Median gross rent	$480 → $504 (+5.0%)	$504 → $802 (+59.1%)

Chinle

Population

4,8794,395

Median household income

$31,250$46,458

Median home value

$23,800$38,000

Median gross rent

$480$504

Fort Defiance

Population

4,5903,614

Median household income

$35,375$56,250

Median home value

$34,800$37,800

Median gross rent

$504$802

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Chinle	Fort Defiance
Under 5	7.4%	5.6%
5 to 17	26.8%	21.0%
18 to 24	7.7%	14.4%
25 to 34	12.1%	14.4%
35 to 44	15.8%	12.3%
45 to 54	12.4%	8.8%
55 to 64	7.5%	11.2%
65 to 74	5.7%	7.6%
75 and over	4.7%	4.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Chinle	Fort Defiance
White (non-Hispanic)	3.0%	1.5%
Black or African American	1.3%	1.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	88.4%	86.1%
Asian	4.5%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.2%	5.1%
Hispanic or Latino	1.7%	5.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Chinle	Fort Defiance
No high school diploma	15.1%	7.9%
High school graduate	27.5%	29.5%
Some college or associate's	34.4%	45.4%
Bachelor's degree	13.4%	12.2%
Graduate or professional degree	9.7%	5.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Chinle	Fort Defiance
Drove alone	85.8%	87.8%
Carpooled	0.0%	4.0%
Public transit	1.0%	0.0%
Walked	8.5%	5.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.6%	3.1%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Chinle	Fort Defiance
1-unit, detached	45.8%	68.3%
1-unit, attached	2.3%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	26.2%	7.4%
5 to 19 units	10.3%	3.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	15.3%	21.2%

Poverty & households

	Chinle	Fort Defiance
Poverty rate	35.9%	16.9%
Average household size	3.40	3.67
Mean commute (minutes)	18	17
Median year structure built	1991	1980