Kent County vs Providence County

A side-by-side comparison of Kent County and Providence County: population, income, housing, and more.

Kent County and Providence County are counties in Rhode Island. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Providence County has the higher population (658,977 vs 170,658 in Kent County). Kent County has the higher median household income ($91,278 vs $78,204 in Providence County). Providence County has the higher median home value ($339,100 vs $333,900 in Kent County).

Population, income & housing

	Kent County	Providence County
Population	170,658	658,977
Median age	43.6 yrs	37.9 yrs
Median household income	$91,278	$78,204
Median home value	$333,900	$339,100
Median gross rent	$1,264	$1,242
Housing units	76,319	277,117
Homeownership rate	72.1%	56.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	34.3%	32.2%
Unemployment rate	4.7%	6.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Kent County	Providence County
Population	163,869 → 170,658 (+4.1%)	635,737 → 658,977 (+3.7%)
Median household income	$73,521 → $91,278 (+24.2%)	$58,974 → $78,204 (+32.6%)
Median home value	$236,300 → $333,900 (+41.3%)	$233,500 → $339,100 (+45.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,079 → $1,264 (+17.1%)	$967 → $1,242 (+28.4%)

Kent County

Population

163,869170,658

Median household income

$73,521$91,278

Median home value

$236,300$333,900

Median gross rent

$1,079$1,264

Providence County

Population

635,737658,977

Median household income

$58,974$78,204

Median home value

$233,500$339,100

Median gross rent

$967$1,242

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Kent County	Providence County
Under 5	4.6%	5.5%
5 to 17	13.7%	14.8%
18 to 24	7.0%	10.1%
25 to 34	13.4%	15.2%
35 to 44	13.0%	13.1%
45 to 54	12.9%	12.2%
55 to 64	15.5%	13.0%
65 to 74	11.8%	9.4%
75 and over	8.1%	6.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Kent County	Providence County
White (non-Hispanic)	84.7%	57.6%
Black or African American	1.8%	7.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	2.9%	4.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.4%	1.1%
Two or more races	3.6%	4.9%
Hispanic or Latino	6.4%	24.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Kent County	Providence County
No high school diploma	7.2%	13.7%
High school graduate	28.2%	28.7%
Some college or associate's	30.3%	25.4%
Bachelor's degree	21.3%	19.7%
Graduate or professional degree	13.0%	12.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Kent County	Providence County
Drove alone	79.4%	72.7%
Carpooled	6.9%	8.6%
Public transit	1.0%	2.5%
Walked	1.1%	3.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.3%
Worked from home	10.6%	10.9%
Other means	1.0%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Kent County	Providence County
1-unit, detached	67.2%	44.8%
1-unit, attached	4.2%	3.7%
2 to 4 units	10.3%	30.7%
5 to 19 units	7.3%	9.3%
20 or more units	9.5%	11.0%
Mobile home & other	1.5%	0.5%

Poverty & households

	Kent County	Providence County
Poverty rate	7.4%	13.0%
Average household size	2.32	2.46
Mean commute (minutes)	25	26
Median year structure built	1966	1956