Central Falls vs Pawtucket

A side-by-side comparison of Central Falls and Pawtucket: population, income, housing, and more.

Central Falls and Pawtucket are places in Rhode Island. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Pawtucket has the higher population (75,280 vs 22,481 in Central Falls). Pawtucket has the higher median household income ($67,436 vs $45,921 in Central Falls). Central Falls has the higher median home value ($300,500 vs $286,200 in Pawtucket).

Population, income & housing

	Central Falls	Pawtucket
Population	22,481	75,280
Median age	31.9 yrs	37.4 yrs
Median household income	$45,921	$67,436
Median home value	$300,500	$286,200
Median gross rent	$1,118	$1,152
Housing units	8,341	33,354
Homeownership rate	28.6%	48.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	11.5%	23.5%
Unemployment rate	10.0%	7.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Central Falls	Pawtucket
Population	19,429 → 22,481 (+15.7%)	71,844 → 75,280 (+4.8%)
Median household income	$32,982 → $45,921 (+39.2%)	$50,476 → $67,436 (+33.6%)
Median home value	$159,100 → $300,500 (+88.9%)	$194,600 → $286,200 (+47.1%)
Median gross rent	$852 → $1,118 (+31.2%)	$920 → $1,152 (+25.2%)

Central Falls

Population

19,42922,481

Median household income

$32,982$45,921

Median home value

$159,100$300,500

Median gross rent

$852$1,118

Pawtucket

Population

71,84475,280

Median household income

$50,476$67,436

Median home value

$194,600$286,200

Median gross rent

$920$1,152

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Central Falls	Pawtucket
Under 5	7.7%	5.8%
5 to 17	19.2%	15.4%
18 to 24	10.4%	7.8%
25 to 34	17.3%	16.9%
35 to 44	14.6%	14.6%
45 to 54	10.4%	12.4%
55 to 64	11.3%	12.9%
65 to 74	5.3%	8.6%
75 and over	3.8%	5.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Central Falls	Pawtucket
White (non-Hispanic)	16.1%	47.7%
Black or African American	7.9%	12.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	0.2%	1.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	2.0%	3.1%
Two or more races	4.4%	10.4%
Hispanic or Latino	69.3%	24.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Central Falls	Pawtucket
No high school diploma	39.6%	17.5%
High school graduate	29.7%	32.2%
Some college or associate's	19.1%	26.8%
Bachelor's degree	9.9%	15.1%
Graduate or professional degree	1.7%	8.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Central Falls	Pawtucket
Drove alone	65.0%	74.9%
Carpooled	15.9%	9.1%
Public transit	4.1%	3.9%
Walked	2.8%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.3%
Worked from home	4.6%	8.5%
Other means	7.5%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Central Falls	Pawtucket
1-unit, detached	11.8%	33.8%
1-unit, attached	5.0%	3.0%
2 to 4 units	65.4%	40.9%
5 to 19 units	7.4%	11.5%
20 or more units	10.5%	10.1%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.7%

Poverty & households

	Central Falls	Pawtucket
Poverty rate	22.3%	13.6%
Average household size	2.89	2.40
Mean commute (minutes)	25	26
Median year structure built	1944	1947