Rainier vs Rochester

A side-by-side comparison of Rainier and Rochester: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Rochester has the higher population (6,025 vs 2,499 in Rainier). Rainier has the higher median household income ($101,644 vs $94,754 in Rochester). Rochester has the higher median home value ($391,600 vs $388,900 in Rainier).

Population, income & housing

	Rainier	Rochester
Population	2,499	6,025
Median age	38.5 yrs	43.3 yrs
Median household income	$101,644	$94,754
Median home value	$388,900	$391,600
Median gross rent	$1,128	$1,182
Housing units	880	2,042
Homeownership rate	90.2%	86.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.8%	15.0%
Unemployment rate	8.0%	1.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Rainier	Rochester
Population	2,385 → 2,499 (+4.8%)	3,126 → 6,025 (+92.7%)
Median household income	$69,688 → $101,644 (+45.9%)	$84,766 → $94,754 (+11.8%)
Median home value	$206,000 → $388,900 (+88.8%)	$245,300 → $391,600 (+59.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,338 → $1,128 (-15.7%)	$1,244 → $1,182 (-5.0%)

Rainier

Population

2,3852,499

Median household income

$69,688$101,644

Median home value

$206,000$388,900

Median gross rent

$1,338$1,128

Rochester

Population

3,1266,025

Median household income

$84,766$94,754

Median home value

$245,300$391,600

Median gross rent

$1,244$1,182

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Rainier	Rochester
Under 5	7.0%	10.4%
5 to 17	19.6%	11.8%
18 to 24	3.4%	7.5%
25 to 34	14.8%	13.1%
35 to 44	13.4%	8.9%
45 to 54	12.1%	19.6%
55 to 64	15.6%	10.0%
65 to 74	10.0%	10.2%
75 and over	4.0%	8.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Rainier	Rochester
White (non-Hispanic)	89.6%	72.9%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.3%	0.8%
Asian	0.5%	2.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	2.8%
Two or more races	2.8%	1.6%
Hispanic or Latino	5.4%	19.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Rainier	Rochester
No high school diploma	9.6%	11.5%
High school graduate	34.2%	33.6%
Some college or associate's	36.4%	39.9%
Bachelor's degree	13.0%	11.7%
Graduate or professional degree	6.7%	3.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Rainier	Rochester
Drove alone	74.1%	73.5%
Carpooled	1.8%	10.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	20.3%	6.7%
Other means	3.9%	8.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Rainier	Rochester
1-unit, detached	79.2%	60.3%
1-unit, attached	3.5%	3.0%
2 to 4 units	0.5%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	2.2%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	3.4%
Mobile home & other	14.7%	33.2%

Poverty & households

	Rainier	Rochester
Poverty rate	14.2%	14.8%
Average household size	3.10	2.95
Mean commute (minutes)	35	32
Median year structure built	1993	1995