Kalama vs Kelso

A side-by-side comparison of Kalama and Kelso: population, income, housing, and more.

Kalama and Kelso are places in Washington. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Kelso has the higher population (12,697 vs 2,996 in Kalama). Kalama has the higher median household income ($103,438 vs $59,462 in Kelso). Kalama has the higher median home value ($428,000 vs $302,300 in Kelso).

Population, income & housing

	Kalama	Kelso
Population	2,996	12,697
Median age	52.0 yrs	38.4 yrs
Median household income	$103,438	$59,462
Median home value	$428,000	$302,300
Median gross rent	—	$1,131
Housing units	1,333	5,516
Homeownership rate	63.3%	54.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.8%	11.8%
Unemployment rate	1.7%	5.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Kalama	Kelso
Population	2,629 → 2,996 (+14.0%)	12,123 → 12,697 (+4.7%)
Median household income	$62,969 → $103,438 (+64.3%)	$39,044 → $59,462 (+52.3%)
Median home value	$248,200 → $428,000 (+72.4%)	$148,100 → $302,300 (+104.1%)
Median gross rent	—	$833 → $1,131 (+35.8%)

Kalama

Population

2,6292,996

Median household income

$62,969$103,438

Median home value

$248,200$428,000

Kelso

Population

12,12312,697

Median household income

$39,044$59,462

Median home value

$148,100$302,300

Median gross rent

$833$1,131

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Kalama	Kelso
Under 5	6.3%	5.2%
5 to 17	13.5%	15.0%
18 to 24	3.9%	8.5%
25 to 34	11.6%	17.5%
35 to 44	7.2%	12.2%
45 to 54	11.4%	11.3%
55 to 64	23.7%	15.7%
65 to 74	11.8%	7.1%
75 and over	10.6%	7.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Kalama	Kelso
White (non-Hispanic)	74.9%	80.0%
Black or African American	0.0%	1.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.1%
Asian	0.0%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.3%
Some other race	0.0%	0.1%
Two or more races	11.7%	6.4%
Hispanic or Latino	12.9%	10.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Kalama	Kelso
No high school diploma	7.5%	11.3%
High school graduate	24.0%	30.5%
Some college or associate's	49.8%	46.3%
Bachelor's degree	12.7%	9.3%
Graduate or professional degree	6.1%	2.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Kalama	Kelso
Drove alone	90.0%	87.1%
Carpooled	2.9%	4.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.2%
Walked	4.8%	1.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.6%
Worked from home	2.3%	6.1%
Other means	0.0%	0.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Kalama	Kelso
1-unit, detached	60.8%	64.6%
1-unit, attached	2.1%	2.9%
2 to 4 units	6.8%	15.5%
5 to 19 units	1.7%	7.3%
20 or more units	17.3%	4.8%
Mobile home & other	11.3%	4.9%

Poverty & households

	Kalama	Kelso
Poverty rate	11.8%	19.5%
Average household size	2.29	2.39
Mean commute (minutes)	26	21
Median year structure built	1999	1961