Birch Bay vs Ferndale

A side-by-side comparison of Birch Bay and Ferndale: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Ferndale has the higher population (15,447 vs 11,103 in Birch Bay). Ferndale has the higher median household income ($83,839 vs $77,120 in Birch Bay). Ferndale has the higher median home value ($492,400 vs $439,100 in Birch Bay).

Population, income & housing

	Birch Bay	Ferndale
Population	11,103	15,447
Median age	42.1 yrs	33.6 yrs
Median household income	$77,120	$83,839
Median home value	$439,100	$492,400
Median gross rent	$1,201	$1,461
Housing units	5,947	5,895
Homeownership rate	81.1%	66.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.9%	32.8%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	4.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Birch Bay	Ferndale
Population	9,323 → 11,103 (+19.1%)	14,043 → 15,447 (+10.0%)
Median household income	$62,413 → $77,120 (+23.6%)	$73,074 → $83,839 (+14.7%)
Median home value	$274,300 → $439,100 (+60.1%)	$300,600 → $492,400 (+63.8%)
Median gross rent	$1,115 → $1,201 (+7.7%)	$996 → $1,461 (+46.7%)

Birch Bay

Population

9,32311,103

Median household income

$62,413$77,120

Median home value

$274,300$439,100

Median gross rent

$1,115$1,201

Ferndale

Population

14,04315,447

Median household income

$73,074$83,839

Median home value

$300,600$492,400

Median gross rent

$996$1,461

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Birch Bay	Ferndale
Under 5	6.5%	9.0%
5 to 17	15.9%	17.8%
18 to 24	7.2%	6.3%
25 to 34	12.0%	18.5%
35 to 44	11.3%	13.7%
45 to 54	10.2%	11.6%
55 to 64	13.3%	8.4%
65 to 74	14.3%	9.2%
75 and over	9.3%	5.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Birch Bay	Ferndale
White (non-Hispanic)	78.8%	68.6%
Black or African American	1.0%	0.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.8%	2.0%
Asian	1.6%	7.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.9%	0.1%
Some other race	0.2%	0.1%
Two or more races	9.1%	5.9%
Hispanic or Latino	7.7%	15.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Birch Bay	Ferndale
No high school diploma	6.6%	6.0%
High school graduate	21.1%	22.1%
Some college or associate's	41.4%	39.0%
Bachelor's degree	19.8%	19.3%
Graduate or professional degree	11.1%	13.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Birch Bay	Ferndale
Drove alone	80.7%	80.8%
Carpooled	8.6%	4.7%
Public transit	0.3%	1.5%
Walked	0.9%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.5%	11.2%
Other means	0.1%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Birch Bay	Ferndale
1-unit, detached	71.8%	66.0%
1-unit, attached	2.4%	3.2%
2 to 4 units	2.4%	7.7%
5 to 19 units	5.4%	5.5%
20 or more units	0.5%	12.1%
Mobile home & other	17.4%	5.5%

Poverty & households

	Birch Bay	Ferndale
Poverty rate	8.6%	10.5%
Average household size	2.34	2.79
Mean commute (minutes)	27	23
Median year structure built	1990	1995