Blue Rapids vs Waterville

A side-by-side comparison of Blue Rapids and Waterville: population, income, housing, and more.

Blue Rapids and Waterville are places in Kansas. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Blue Rapids has the higher population (918 vs 748 in Waterville). Waterville has the higher median household income ($70,625 vs $51,136 in Blue Rapids). Waterville has the higher median home value ($90,300 vs $55,200 in Blue Rapids).

Population, income & housing

	Blue Rapids	Waterville
Population	918	748
Median age	46.4 yrs	43.6 yrs
Median household income	$51,136	$70,625
Median home value	$55,200	$90,300
Median gross rent	$775	$917
Housing units	452	360
Homeownership rate	80.2%	85.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.4%	15.0%
Unemployment rate	2.6%	0.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Blue Rapids	Waterville
Population	1,247 → 918 (-26.4%)	635 → 748 (+17.8%)
Median household income	$49,167 → $51,136 (+4.0%)	$53,977 → $70,625 (+30.8%)
Median home value	$80,900 → $55,200 (-31.8%)	$84,500 → $90,300 (+6.9%)
Median gross rent	$599 → $775 (+29.4%)	$550 → $917 (+66.7%)

Blue Rapids

Population

1,247918

Median household income

$49,167$51,136

Median home value

$80,900$55,200

Median gross rent

$599$775

Waterville

Population

635748

Median household income

$53,977$70,625

Median home value

$84,500$90,300

Median gross rent

$550$917

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Blue Rapids	Waterville
Under 5	3.3%	5.5%
5 to 17	13.5%	13.5%
18 to 24	12.6%	12.6%
25 to 34	6.9%	9.0%
35 to 44	9.5%	12.4%
45 to 54	14.4%	7.6%
55 to 64	13.0%	9.6%
65 to 74	12.2%	20.7%
75 and over	14.7%	9.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Blue Rapids	Waterville
White (non-Hispanic)	92.8%	87.8%
Black or African American	0.4%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.9%	5.3%
Hispanic or Latino	3.5%	6.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Blue Rapids	Waterville
No high school diploma	13.7%	16.0%
High school graduate	36.7%	28.5%
Some college or associate's	32.1%	40.4%
Bachelor's degree	7.7%	11.9%
Graduate or professional degree	9.7%	3.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Blue Rapids	Waterville
Drove alone	89.5%	83.3%
Carpooled	9.0%	9.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.2%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	0.2%	0.5%
Other means	0.0%	6.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Blue Rapids	Waterville
1-unit, detached	78.3%	90.6%
1-unit, attached	0.2%	4.4%
2 to 4 units	3.5%	4.2%
5 to 19 units	1.3%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.4%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	16.2%	0.8%

Poverty & households

	Blue Rapids	Waterville
Poverty rate	8.6%	3.9%
Average household size	2.11	2.35
Mean commute (minutes)	17	20
Median year structure built	1953	1948