Rochester vs Yelm

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

Rochester 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 6,025 in Rochester). Rochester has the higher median household income ($94,754 vs $88,279 in Yelm). Yelm has the higher median home value ($439,100 vs $391,600 in Rochester).

Population, income & housing

	Rochester	Yelm
Population	6,025	10,618
Median age	43.3 yrs	30.6 yrs
Median household income	$94,754	$88,279
Median home value	$391,600	$439,100
Median gross rent	$1,182	$1,363
Housing units	2,042	3,529
Homeownership rate	86.5%	69.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.0%	26.1%
Unemployment rate	1.1%	3.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Rochester	Yelm
Population	3,126 → 6,025 (+92.7%)	8,985 → 10,618 (+18.2%)
Median household income	$84,766 → $94,754 (+11.8%)	$75,000 → $88,279 (+17.7%)
Median home value	$245,300 → $391,600 (+59.6%)	$255,200 → $439,100 (+72.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,244 → $1,182 (-5.0%)	$1,373 → $1,363 (-0.7%)

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

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)

	Rochester	Yelm
Under 5	10.4%	6.8%
5 to 17	11.8%	24.2%
18 to 24	7.5%	10.6%
25 to 34	13.1%	18.7%
35 to 44	8.9%	14.3%
45 to 54	19.6%	10.8%
55 to 64	10.0%	8.6%
65 to 74	10.2%	3.3%
75 and over	8.5%	2.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Rochester	Yelm
White (non-Hispanic)	72.9%	66.4%
Black or African American	0.0%	4.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.8%	1.2%
Asian	2.0%	0.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	5.0%
Some other race	2.8%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.6%	7.6%
Hispanic or Latino	19.9%	13.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Rochester	Yelm
No high school diploma	11.5%	6.0%
High school graduate	33.6%	27.2%
Some college or associate's	39.9%	40.8%
Bachelor's degree	11.7%	16.0%
Graduate or professional degree	3.3%	10.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Rochester	Yelm
Drove alone	73.5%	75.6%
Carpooled	10.5%	13.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.8%
Walked	0.5%	2.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.7%	5.6%
Other means	8.8%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Rochester	Yelm
1-unit, detached	60.3%	78.8%
1-unit, attached	3.0%	1.7%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	4.6%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	5.7%
20 or more units	3.4%	5.4%
Mobile home & other	33.2%	3.7%

Poverty & households

	Rochester	Yelm
Poverty rate	14.8%	5.4%
Average household size	2.95	3.05
Mean commute (minutes)	32	33
Median year structure built	1995	2004