Rock Island vs Waterville

A side-by-side comparison of Rock Island and Waterville: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Waterville has the higher population (1,353 vs 1,142 in Rock Island). Waterville has the higher median household income ($75,854 vs $55,114 in Rock Island). Rock Island has the higher median home value ($255,500 vs $247,300 in Waterville).

Population, income & housing

	Rock Island	Waterville
Population	1,142	1,353
Median age	36.4 yrs	48.0 yrs
Median household income	$55,114	$75,854
Median home value	$255,500	$247,300
Median gross rent	$1,094	$1,533
Housing units	414	530
Homeownership rate	84.0%	79.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	10.3%	11.2%
Unemployment rate	1.7%	1.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Rock Island	Waterville
Population	953 → 1,142 (+19.8%)	1,513 → 1,353 (-10.6%)
Median household income	$48,611 → $55,114 (+13.4%)	$59,830 → $75,854 (+26.8%)
Median home value	$156,500 → $255,500 (+63.3%)	$174,000 → $247,300 (+42.1%)
Median gross rent	$618 → $1,094 (+77.0%)	$743 → $1,533 (+106.3%)

Rock Island

Population

9531,142

Median household income

$48,611$55,114

Median home value

$156,500$255,500

Median gross rent

$618$1,094

Waterville

Population

1,5131,353

Median household income

$59,830$75,854

Median home value

$174,000$247,300

Median gross rent

$743$1,533

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Rock Island	Waterville
Under 5	5.7%	4.4%
5 to 17	22.9%	9.6%
18 to 24	4.6%	10.2%
25 to 34	14.7%	13.2%
35 to 44	12.8%	10.6%
45 to 54	15.9%	11.4%
55 to 64	11.0%	20.3%
65 to 74	6.7%	17.5%
75 and over	5.8%	2.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Rock Island	Waterville
White (non-Hispanic)	46.4%	71.6%
Black or African American	2.0%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	2.1%
Asian	0.0%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.5%	5.9%
Hispanic or Latino	49.6%	19.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Rock Island	Waterville
No high school diploma	30.5%	20.7%
High school graduate	28.5%	37.8%
Some college or associate's	30.6%	30.3%
Bachelor's degree	6.2%	8.8%
Graduate or professional degree	4.2%	2.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Rock Island	Waterville
Drove alone	79.8%	79.3%
Carpooled	10.2%	4.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	3.9%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.9%	13.4%
Other means	2.2%	2.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Rock Island	Waterville
1-unit, detached	64.0%	86.2%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.2%
Mobile home & other	36.0%	13.6%

Poverty & households

	Rock Island	Waterville
Poverty rate	9.4%	6.8%
Average household size	2.81	2.77
Mean commute (minutes)	23	33
Median year structure built	1977	1944