Cranston vs Providence

A side-by-side comparison of Cranston and Providence: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Providence has the higher population (190,214 vs 82,632 in Cranston). Cranston has the higher median household income ($87,716 vs $66,772 in Providence). Cranston has the higher median home value ($348,800 vs $322,800 in Providence).

Population, income & housing

	Cranston	Providence
Population	82,632	190,214
Median age	40.1 yrs	32.9 yrs
Median household income	$87,716	$66,772
Median home value	$348,800	$322,800
Median gross rent	$1,332	$1,333
Housing units	33,733	79,275
Homeownership rate	67.3%	41.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	35.8%	34.7%
Unemployment rate	5.8%	7.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cranston	Providence
Population	81,254 → 82,632 (+1.7%)	179,494 → 190,214 (+6.0%)
Median household income	$72,017 → $87,716 (+21.8%)	$45,610 → $66,772 (+46.4%)
Median home value	$243,500 → $348,800 (+43.2%)	$200,300 → $322,800 (+61.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,070 → $1,332 (+24.5%)	$994 → $1,333 (+34.1%)

Cranston

Population

81,25482,632

Median household income

$72,017$87,716

Median home value

$243,500$348,800

Median gross rent

$1,070$1,332

Providence

Population

179,494190,214

Median household income

$45,610$66,772

Median home value

$200,300$322,800

Median gross rent

$994$1,333

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cranston	Providence
Under 5	5.1%	5.4%
5 to 17	15.0%	14.8%
18 to 24	7.0%	16.5%
25 to 34	14.9%	17.3%
35 to 44	15.1%	12.6%
45 to 54	11.2%	11.9%
55 to 64	14.6%	9.9%
65 to 74	9.8%	6.8%
75 and over	7.3%	4.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cranston	Providence
White (non-Hispanic)	66.8%	34.0%
Black or African American	5.0%	11.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.4%
Asian	7.2%	5.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.8%
Two or more races	3.6%	3.4%
Hispanic or Latino	16.7%	44.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cranston	Providence
No high school diploma	9.4%	18.1%
High school graduate	25.8%	27.5%
Some college or associate's	29.1%	19.8%
Bachelor's degree	21.6%	18.3%
Graduate or professional degree	14.2%	16.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cranston	Providence
Drove alone	74.8%	62.6%
Carpooled	9.6%	9.8%
Public transit	1.6%	4.2%
Walked	1.1%	7.3%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.8%
Worked from home	10.9%	12.7%
Other means	2.0%	2.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cranston	Providence
1-unit, detached	62.7%	24.9%
1-unit, attached	3.0%	3.7%
2 to 4 units	18.8%	47.0%
5 to 19 units	5.8%	9.8%
20 or more units	9.5%	14.5%
Mobile home & other	0.2%	0.2%

Poverty & households

	Cranston	Providence
Poverty rate	8.7%	20.1%
Average household size	2.42	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	24	25
Median year structure built	1957	1938