Centralia vs Fords Prairie

A side-by-side comparison of Centralia and Fords Prairie: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Centralia has the higher population (18,457 vs 1,762 in Fords Prairie). Fords Prairie has the higher median household income ($55,556 vs $52,387 in Centralia). Fords Prairie has the higher median home value ($297,400 vs $267,600 in Centralia).

Population, income & housing

	Centralia	Fords Prairie
Population	18,457	1,762
Median age	37.8 yrs	52.9 yrs
Median household income	$52,387	$55,556
Median home value	$267,600	$297,400
Median gross rent	$1,003	$1,196
Housing units	7,628	885
Homeownership rate	58.5%	77.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.6%	22.5%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	8.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Centralia	Fords Prairie
Population	17,216 → 18,457 (+7.2%)	2,662 → 1,762 (-33.8%)
Median household income	$42,449 → $52,387 (+23.4%)	$72,394 → $55,556 (-23.3%)
Median home value	$157,300 → $267,600 (+70.1%)	$213,600 → $297,400 (+39.2%)
Median gross rent	$876 → $1,003 (+14.5%)	$875 → $1,196 (+36.7%)

Centralia

Population

17,21618,457

Median household income

$42,449$52,387

Median home value

$157,300$267,600

Median gross rent

$876$1,003

Fords Prairie

Population

2,6621,762

Median household income

$72,394$55,556

Median home value

$213,600$297,400

Median gross rent

$875$1,196

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Centralia	Fords Prairie
Under 5	6.4%	1.8%
5 to 17	14.5%	11.0%
18 to 24	9.4%	5.7%
25 to 34	17.2%	14.8%
35 to 44	12.3%	6.1%
45 to 54	8.8%	11.0%
55 to 64	12.4%	28.6%
65 to 74	10.8%	13.2%
75 and over	8.3%	7.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Centralia	Fords Prairie
White (non-Hispanic)	72.9%	85.1%
Black or African American	1.1%	0.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.6%	0.0%
Asian	1.2%	3.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	0.7%
Two or more races	3.6%	2.0%
Hispanic or Latino	19.8%	7.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Centralia	Fords Prairie
No high school diploma	13.4%	1.7%
High school graduate	32.8%	21.1%
Some college or associate's	36.3%	54.7%
Bachelor's degree	12.0%	16.8%
Graduate or professional degree	5.6%	5.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Centralia	Fords Prairie
Drove alone	70.4%	83.5%
Carpooled	17.9%	6.5%
Public transit	1.5%	0.0%
Walked	3.6%	6.9%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.4%	3.1%
Other means	1.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Centralia	Fords Prairie
1-unit, detached	56.7%	61.7%
1-unit, attached	3.9%	2.1%
2 to 4 units	10.2%	16.7%
5 to 19 units	6.3%	2.0%
20 or more units	11.3%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	11.7%	17.4%

Poverty & households

	Centralia	Fords Prairie
Poverty rate	19.9%	14.2%
Average household size	2.46	2.03
Mean commute (minutes)	26	19
Median year structure built	1975	1977