Rainier vs Yelm

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

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

Yelm has the higher population (10,618 vs 2,499 in Rainier). Rainier has the higher median household income ($101,644 vs $88,279 in Yelm). Yelm has the higher median home value ($439,100 vs $388,900 in Rainier).

Population, income & housing

	Rainier	Yelm
Population	2,499	10,618
Median age	38.5 yrs	30.6 yrs
Median household income	$101,644	$88,279
Median home value	$388,900	$439,100
Median gross rent	$1,128	$1,363
Housing units	880	3,529
Homeownership rate	90.2%	69.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.8%	26.1%
Unemployment rate	8.0%	3.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Rainier	Yelm
Population	2,385 → 2,499 (+4.8%)	8,985 → 10,618 (+18.2%)
Median household income	$69,688 → $101,644 (+45.9%)	$75,000 → $88,279 (+17.7%)
Median home value	$206,000 → $388,900 (+88.8%)	$255,200 → $439,100 (+72.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,338 → $1,128 (-15.7%)	$1,373 → $1,363 (-0.7%)

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

Yelm

Population

8,98510,618

Median household income

$75,000$88,279

Median home value

$255,200$439,100

Median gross rent

$1,373$1,363

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Rainier	Yelm
Under 5	7.0%	6.8%
5 to 17	19.6%	24.2%
18 to 24	3.4%	10.6%
25 to 34	14.8%	18.7%
35 to 44	13.4%	14.3%
45 to 54	12.1%	10.8%
55 to 64	15.6%	8.6%
65 to 74	10.0%	3.3%
75 and over	4.0%	2.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Rainier	Yelm
White (non-Hispanic)	89.6%	66.4%
Black or African American	0.0%	4.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.3%	1.2%
Asian	0.5%	0.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	5.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.8%	7.6%
Hispanic or Latino	5.4%	13.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Rainier	Yelm
No high school diploma	9.6%	6.0%
High school graduate	34.2%	27.2%
Some college or associate's	36.4%	40.8%
Bachelor's degree	13.0%	16.0%
Graduate or professional degree	6.7%	10.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Rainier	Yelm
Drove alone	74.1%	75.6%
Carpooled	1.8%	13.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.8%
Walked	0.0%	2.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	20.3%	5.6%
Other means	3.9%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Rainier	Yelm
1-unit, detached	79.2%	78.8%
1-unit, attached	3.5%	1.7%
2 to 4 units	0.5%	4.6%
5 to 19 units	2.2%	5.7%
20 or more units	0.0%	5.4%
Mobile home & other	14.7%	3.7%

Poverty & households

	Rainier	Yelm
Poverty rate	14.2%	5.4%
Average household size	3.10	3.05
Mean commute (minutes)	35	33
Median year structure built	1993	2004