North Puyallup vs Ruston

A side-by-side comparison of North Puyallup and Ruston: population, income, housing, and more.

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

North Puyallup has the higher population (1,363 vs 1,293 in Ruston). Ruston has the higher median household income ($113,971 vs $81,063 in North Puyallup). Ruston has the higher median home value ($808,200 vs $335,500 in North Puyallup).

Population, income & housing

	North Puyallup	Ruston
Population	1,363	1,293
Median age	64.0 yrs	47.8 yrs
Median household income	$81,063	$113,971
Median home value	$335,500	$808,200
Median gross rent	$1,051	$2,489
Housing units	835	697
Homeownership rate	81.9%	68.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	24.2%	58.0%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	1.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	North Puyallup	Ruston
Population	1,930 → 1,363 (-29.4%)	1,156 → 1,293 (+11.9%)
Median household income	$56,114 → $81,063 (+44.5%)	$90,833 → $113,971 (+25.5%)
Median home value	$152,700 → $335,500 (+119.7%)	$464,600 → $808,200 (+74.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,008 → $1,051 (+4.3%)	$1,257 → $2,489 (+98.0%)

North Puyallup

Population

1,9301,363

Median household income

$56,114$81,063

Median home value

$152,700$335,500

Median gross rent

$1,008$1,051

Ruston

Population

1,1561,293

Median household income

$90,833$113,971

Median home value

$464,600$808,200

Median gross rent

$1,257$2,489

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	North Puyallup	Ruston
Under 5	2.2%	3.3%
5 to 17	2.3%	10.4%
18 to 24	3.3%	3.1%
25 to 34	10.6%	16.8%
35 to 44	6.5%	13.7%
45 to 54	8.3%	9.6%
55 to 64	26.4%	20.0%
65 to 74	35.9%	16.9%
75 and over	4.5%	6.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	North Puyallup	Ruston
White (non-Hispanic)	58.0%	74.2%
Black or African American	2.4%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.8%	1.4%
Asian	7.1%	7.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	18.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.4%	9.4%
Hispanic or Latino	11.4%	6.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	North Puyallup	Ruston
No high school diploma	2.5%	2.0%
High school graduate	27.0%	15.4%
Some college or associate's	46.3%	24.5%
Bachelor's degree	21.7%	33.5%
Graduate or professional degree	2.5%	24.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	North Puyallup	Ruston
Drove alone	63.4%	71.1%
Carpooled	5.2%	5.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.6%	1.6%
Bicycle	3.2%	1.3%
Worked from home	27.5%	18.8%
Other means	0.0%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	North Puyallup	Ruston
1-unit, detached	56.3%	58.1%
1-unit, attached	23.1%	1.1%
2 to 4 units	5.3%	3.3%
5 to 19 units	5.6%	7.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	29.7%
Mobile home & other	9.7%	0.7%

Poverty & households

	North Puyallup	Ruston
Poverty rate	3.5%	7.3%
Average household size	1.71	1.92
Mean commute (minutes)	27	32
Median year structure built	1961	1994