Lewiston vs Sweetwater

A side-by-side comparison of Lewiston and Sweetwater: population, income, housing, and more.

Lewiston and Sweetwater are places in Idaho. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Lewiston has the higher population (34,471 vs 168 in Sweetwater). Sweetwater has the higher median household income ($120,500 vs $71,047 in Lewiston). Lewiston has the higher median home value ($290,900 vs $190,500 in Sweetwater).

Population, income & housing

	Lewiston	Sweetwater
Population	34,471	168
Median age	39.7 yrs	53.8 yrs
Median household income	$71,047	$120,500
Median home value	$290,900	$190,500
Median gross rent	$938	—
Housing units	14,999	70
Homeownership rate	70.0%	82.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.0%	32.7%
Unemployment rate	3.0%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lewiston	Sweetwater
Population	32,664 → 34,471 (+5.5%)	239 → 168 (-29.7%)
Median household income	$56,479 → $71,047 (+25.8%)	$52,917 → $120,500 (+127.7%)
Median home value	$189,400 → $290,900 (+53.6%)	$118,800 → $190,500 (+60.4%)
Median gross rent	$722 → $938 (+29.9%)	—

Lewiston

Population

32,66434,471

Median household income

$56,479$71,047

Median home value

$189,400$290,900

Median gross rent

$722$938

Sweetwater

Population

239168

Median household income

$52,917$120,500

Median home value

$118,800$190,500

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lewiston	Sweetwater
Under 5	5.4%	0.0%
5 to 17	15.9%	5.4%
18 to 24	9.5%	0.0%
25 to 34	12.7%	2.4%
35 to 44	12.7%	11.9%
45 to 54	11.2%	31.0%
55 to 64	12.5%	32.7%
65 to 74	11.3%	8.3%
75 and over	8.9%	8.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lewiston	Sweetwater
White (non-Hispanic)	89.0%	54.8%
Black or African American	0.1%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.3%	45.2%
Asian	0.9%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.0%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	4.2%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lewiston	Sweetwater
No high school diploma	6.8%	11.9%
High school graduate	28.7%	30.8%
Some college or associate's	37.5%	24.5%
Bachelor's degree	18.1%	30.2%
Graduate or professional degree	8.9%	2.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lewiston	Sweetwater
Drove alone	81.8%	95.4%
Carpooled	6.7%	4.6%
Public transit	0.2%	0.0%
Walked	2.9%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.8%	0.0%
Other means	0.8%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lewiston	Sweetwater
1-unit, detached	69.3%	54.3%
1-unit, attached	3.7%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	9.7%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	4.6%	0.0%
20 or more units	5.8%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	7.0%	45.7%

Poverty & households

	Lewiston	Sweetwater
Poverty rate	13.3%	4.2%
Average household size	2.35	2.40
Mean commute (minutes)	16	8
Median year structure built	1970	1977