Fairwood vs White Center

A side-by-side comparison of Fairwood and White Center: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Fairwood has the higher population (18,437 vs 15,017 in White Center). Fairwood has the higher median household income ($119,013 vs $82,500 in White Center). Fairwood has the higher median home value ($658,000 vs $591,500 in White Center).

Population, income & housing

	Fairwood	White Center
Population	18,437	15,017
Median age	38.5 yrs	37.3 yrs
Median household income	$119,013	$82,500
Median home value	$658,000	$591,500
Median gross rent	$2,152	$1,556
Housing units	7,451	6,014
Homeownership rate	75.9%	56.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	48.5%	34.2%
Unemployment rate	5.0%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fairwood	White Center
Population	19,962 → 18,437 (-7.6%)	15,834 → 15,017 (-5.2%)
Median household income	$97,398 → $119,013 (+22.2%)	$58,704 → $82,500 (+40.5%)
Median home value	$424,800 → $658,000 (+54.9%)	$383,900 → $591,500 (+54.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,719 → $2,152 (+25.2%)	$1,192 → $1,556 (+30.5%)

Fairwood

Population

19,96218,437

Median household income

$97,398$119,013

Median home value

$424,800$658,000

Median gross rent

$1,719$2,152

White Center

Population

15,83415,017

Median household income

$58,704$82,500

Median home value

$383,900$591,500

Median gross rent

$1,192$1,556

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fairwood	White Center
Under 5	7.2%	4.2%
5 to 17	14.9%	17.9%
18 to 24	6.8%	9.5%
25 to 34	14.4%	15.1%
35 to 44	16.7%	16.2%
45 to 54	12.3%	12.8%
55 to 64	12.1%	11.2%
65 to 74	9.3%	9.3%
75 and over	6.4%	3.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fairwood	White Center
White (non-Hispanic)	54.2%	36.2%
Black or African American	7.1%	13.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.9%
Asian	19.0%	22.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.6%	0.1%
Some other race	0.2%	1.1%
Two or more races	9.0%	4.3%
Hispanic or Latino	9.8%	21.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fairwood	White Center
No high school diploma	5.2%	15.5%
High school graduate	18.5%	22.9%
Some college or associate's	27.8%	27.5%
Bachelor's degree	33.2%	25.1%
Graduate or professional degree	15.4%	9.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fairwood	White Center
Drove alone	63.7%	55.3%
Carpooled	8.3%	17.0%
Public transit	2.3%	8.4%
Walked	0.7%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.5%
Worked from home	23.4%	17.2%
Other means	1.5%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fairwood	White Center
1-unit, detached	69.2%	57.5%
1-unit, attached	3.0%	10.5%
2 to 4 units	4.2%	7.4%
5 to 19 units	16.0%	12.0%
20 or more units	7.0%	11.7%
Mobile home & other	0.5%	0.8%

Poverty & households

	Fairwood	White Center
Poverty rate	9.4%	17.1%
Average household size	2.60	2.60
Mean commute (minutes)	34	30
Median year structure built	1981	1975