Elk Plain vs Fort Lewis

A side-by-side comparison of Elk Plain and Fort Lewis: population, income, housing, and more.

Elk Plain and Fort Lewis are places in Washington. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Fort Lewis has the higher population (13,983 vs 13,863 in Elk Plain). Elk Plain has the higher median household income ($101,250 vs $54,902 in Fort Lewis). Since 2019, Fort Lewis's population has grown faster (+7.1% vs -8.6%).

Population, income & housing

	Elk Plain	Fort Lewis
Population	13,863	13,983
Median age	39.3 yrs	23.0 yrs
Median household income	$101,250	$54,902
Median home value	$440,300	—
Median gross rent	$1,908	$2,240
Housing units	5,048	3,713
Homeownership rate	83.9%	1.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.0%	22.5%
Unemployment rate	3.1%	5.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Elk Plain	Fort Lewis
Population	15,167 → 13,863 (-8.6%)	13,054 → 13,983 (+7.1%)
Median household income	$70,041 → $101,250 (+44.6%)	$42,157 → $54,902 (+30.2%)
Median home value	$228,700 → $440,300 (+92.5%)	—
Median gross rent	$1,360 → $1,908 (+40.3%)	$1,698 → $2,240 (+31.9%)

Elk Plain

Population

15,16713,863

Median household income

$70,041$101,250

Median home value

$228,700$440,300

Median gross rent

$1,360$1,908

Fort Lewis

Population

13,05413,983

Median household income

$42,157$54,902

Median gross rent

$1,698$2,240

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Elk Plain	Fort Lewis
Under 5	4.8%	17.6%
5 to 17	17.9%	10.6%
18 to 24	5.5%	34.8%
25 to 34	16.0%	28.7%
35 to 44	12.7%	7.0%
45 to 54	12.7%	1.4%
55 to 64	16.3%	0.0%
65 to 74	9.0%	0.0%
75 and over	5.1%	0.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Elk Plain	Fort Lewis
White (non-Hispanic)	69.0%	43.9%
Black or African American	4.0%	14.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.2%	0.3%
Asian	4.6%	3.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	1.5%	5.0%
Some other race	0.8%	0.0%
Two or more races	8.2%	7.0%
Hispanic or Latino	10.7%	25.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Elk Plain	Fort Lewis
No high school diploma	6.9%	3.2%
High school graduate	38.5%	24.5%
Some college or associate's	37.6%	49.8%
Bachelor's degree	13.8%	17.2%
Graduate or professional degree	3.2%	5.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Elk Plain	Fort Lewis
Drove alone	81.7%	61.1%
Carpooled	8.7%	15.1%
Public transit	0.1%	0.2%
Walked	0.2%	20.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.7%	2.9%
Other means	0.6%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Elk Plain	Fort Lewis
1-unit, detached	85.9%	14.0%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	49.0%
2 to 4 units	0.7%	23.3%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	12.5%
20 or more units	0.2%	0.9%
Mobile home & other	11.6%	0.3%

Poverty & households

	Elk Plain	Fort Lewis
Poverty rate	6.8%	16.4%
Average household size	2.87	3.05
Mean commute (minutes)	36	12
Median year structure built	1993	1984