Providence County vs Washington County

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

Providence County and Washington 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 130,073 in Washington County). Washington County has the higher median household income ($102,478 vs $78,204 in Providence County). Washington County has the higher median home value ($469,800 vs $339,100 in Providence County).

Population, income & housing

	Providence County	Washington County
Population	658,977	130,073
Median age	37.9 yrs	45.3 yrs
Median household income	$78,204	$102,478
Median home value	$339,100	$469,800
Median gross rent	$1,242	$1,303
Housing units	277,117	66,068
Homeownership rate	56.6%	76.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	32.2%	50.5%
Unemployment rate	6.3%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Providence County	Washington County
Population	635,737 → 658,977 (+3.7%)	126,060 → 130,073 (+3.2%)
Median household income	$58,974 → $78,204 (+32.6%)	$85,531 → $102,478 (+19.8%)
Median home value	$233,500 → $339,100 (+45.2%)	$343,000 → $469,800 (+37.0%)
Median gross rent	$967 → $1,242 (+28.4%)	$1,133 → $1,303 (+15.0%)

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

Washington County

Population

126,060130,073

Median household income

$85,531$102,478

Median home value

$343,000$469,800

Median gross rent

$1,133$1,303

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Providence County	Washington County
Under 5	5.5%	3.6%
5 to 17	14.8%	12.1%
18 to 24	10.1%	14.1%
25 to 34	15.2%	10.1%
35 to 44	13.1%	9.9%
45 to 54	12.2%	11.5%
55 to 64	13.0%	16.1%
65 to 74	9.4%	13.5%
75 and over	6.6%	9.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Providence County	Washington County
White (non-Hispanic)	57.6%	89.6%
Black or African American	7.2%	1.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	4.1%	2.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	1.1%	0.1%
Two or more races	4.9%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	24.9%	3.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Providence County	Washington County
No high school diploma	13.7%	4.7%
High school graduate	28.7%	20.2%
Some college or associate's	25.4%	24.6%
Bachelor's degree	19.7%	28.4%
Graduate or professional degree	12.5%	22.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Providence County	Washington County
Drove alone	72.7%	76.7%
Carpooled	8.6%	5.6%
Public transit	2.5%	1.0%
Walked	3.0%	2.4%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.5%
Worked from home	10.9%	13.2%
Other means	2.0%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Providence County	Washington County
1-unit, detached	44.8%	76.7%
1-unit, attached	3.7%	3.5%
2 to 4 units	30.7%	9.1%
5 to 19 units	9.3%	5.2%
20 or more units	11.0%	3.6%
Mobile home & other	0.5%	1.7%

Poverty & households

	Providence County	Washington County
Poverty rate	13.0%	8.0%
Average household size	2.46	2.36
Mean commute (minutes)	26	27
Median year structure built	1956	1976