Pawtucket vs Providence

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

Pawtucket 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 75,280 in Pawtucket). Pawtucket has the higher median household income ($67,436 vs $66,772 in Providence). Providence has the higher median home value ($322,800 vs $286,200 in Pawtucket).

Population, income & housing

	Pawtucket	Providence
Population	75,280	190,214
Median age	37.4 yrs	32.9 yrs
Median household income	$67,436	$66,772
Median home value	$286,200	$322,800
Median gross rent	$1,152	$1,333
Housing units	33,354	79,275
Homeownership rate	48.8%	41.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.5%	34.7%
Unemployment rate	7.1%	7.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Pawtucket	Providence
Population	71,844 → 75,280 (+4.8%)	179,494 → 190,214 (+6.0%)
Median household income	$50,476 → $67,436 (+33.6%)	$45,610 → $66,772 (+46.4%)
Median home value	$194,600 → $286,200 (+47.1%)	$200,300 → $322,800 (+61.2%)
Median gross rent	$920 → $1,152 (+25.2%)	$994 → $1,333 (+34.1%)

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

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)

	Pawtucket	Providence
Under 5	5.8%	5.4%
5 to 17	15.4%	14.8%
18 to 24	7.8%	16.5%
25 to 34	16.9%	17.3%
35 to 44	14.6%	12.6%
45 to 54	12.4%	11.9%
55 to 64	12.9%	9.9%
65 to 74	8.6%	6.8%
75 and over	5.6%	4.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Pawtucket	Providence
White (non-Hispanic)	47.7%	34.0%
Black or African American	12.6%	11.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.4%
Asian	1.3%	5.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	3.1%	0.8%
Two or more races	10.4%	3.4%
Hispanic or Latino	24.6%	44.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Pawtucket	Providence
No high school diploma	17.5%	18.1%
High school graduate	32.2%	27.5%
Some college or associate's	26.8%	19.8%
Bachelor's degree	15.1%	18.3%
Graduate or professional degree	8.4%	16.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Pawtucket	Providence
Drove alone	74.9%	62.6%
Carpooled	9.1%	9.8%
Public transit	3.9%	4.2%
Walked	1.7%	7.3%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.8%
Worked from home	8.5%	12.7%
Other means	1.6%	2.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Pawtucket	Providence
1-unit, detached	33.8%	24.9%
1-unit, attached	3.0%	3.7%
2 to 4 units	40.9%	47.0%
5 to 19 units	11.5%	9.8%
20 or more units	10.1%	14.5%
Mobile home & other	0.7%	0.2%

Poverty & households

	Pawtucket	Providence
Poverty rate	13.6%	20.1%
Average household size	2.40	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	26	25
Median year structure built	1947	1938