Ellensburg vs Kittitas

A side-by-side comparison of Ellensburg and Kittitas: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Ellensburg has the higher population (18,913 vs 1,186 in Kittitas). Kittitas has the higher median household income ($66,150 vs $49,888 in Ellensburg). Ellensburg has the higher median home value ($357,800 vs $278,100 in Kittitas).

Population, income & housing

	Ellensburg	Kittitas
Population	18,913	1,186
Median age	26.7 yrs	49.6 yrs
Median household income	$49,888	$66,150
Median home value	$357,800	$278,100
Median gross rent	$1,258	$1,253
Housing units	9,242	678
Homeownership rate	37.4%	69.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	41.3%	27.5%
Unemployment rate	7.6%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ellensburg	Kittitas
Population	20,167 → 18,913 (-6.2%)	1,503 → 1,186 (-21.1%)
Median household income	$39,645 → $49,888 (+25.8%)	$46,319 → $66,150 (+42.8%)
Median home value	$234,000 → $357,800 (+52.9%)	$154,600 → $278,100 (+79.9%)
Median gross rent	$1,004 → $1,258 (+25.3%)	$1,016 → $1,253 (+23.3%)

Ellensburg

Population

20,16718,913

Median household income

$39,645$49,888

Median home value

$234,000$357,800

Median gross rent

$1,004$1,258

Kittitas

Population

1,5031,186

Median household income

$46,319$66,150

Median home value

$154,600$278,100

Median gross rent

$1,016$1,253

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ellensburg	Kittitas
Under 5	4.3%	3.0%
5 to 17	10.8%	9.8%
18 to 24	31.9%	9.9%
25 to 34	16.0%	13.8%
35 to 44	10.3%	8.7%
45 to 54	7.9%	13.1%
55 to 64	8.0%	23.6%
65 to 74	5.8%	10.5%
75 and over	5.1%	7.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ellensburg	Kittitas
White (non-Hispanic)	75.1%	70.5%
Black or African American	1.8%	3.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.0%
Asian	3.1%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	6.3%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	13.1%	22.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ellensburg	Kittitas
No high school diploma	6.0%	11.6%
High school graduate	22.6%	30.7%
Some college or associate's	30.2%	30.2%
Bachelor's degree	22.6%	23.0%
Graduate or professional degree	18.7%	4.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ellensburg	Kittitas
Drove alone	69.2%	77.0%
Carpooled	7.2%	8.1%
Public transit	0.6%	0.0%
Walked	9.9%	0.0%
Bicycle	1.7%	5.5%
Worked from home	10.3%	7.6%
Other means	1.1%	1.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ellensburg	Kittitas
1-unit, detached	50.4%	74.5%
1-unit, attached	2.5%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	14.7%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	13.9%	1.2%
20 or more units	15.3%	7.5%
Mobile home & other	3.1%	16.8%

Poverty & households

	Ellensburg	Kittitas
Poverty rate	21.0%	13.0%
Average household size	1.99	1.89
Mean commute (minutes)	17	30
Median year structure built	1989	1978