Central Falls, Rhode Island

Area Profile

22,701 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Central Falls, in Providence County.

55out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 28% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3623rd of 3,904 published cities31
GrowthTop 27% of 2,973 published cities64
Housing affordability4043rd of 4,223 published cities40
Climate2818th of 4,223 published cities65
Physical resilienceTop 33% of 4,182 published cities72
AccessTop 21% of 4,226 published cities98
Economic stability3479th of 4,226 published cities40
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 4.2% and the Opportunity signal places Central Falls in the bottom 7%.

Buying strains local incomes far more than renting does — the median home is 7.1 times median household income, against a historic benchmark near three — while rent takes 29% of it.

A major airport is 12 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
22,701
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$49,285
Bottom 22% nationally
Density
19,013/sq mi
1.2 sq mi of land
Median age
32.5
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Providence County
Rhode Island
Metro area
Providence-Warwick, RI-MA
Nearest major airport
PVD
12 mi · Rhode Island TF Green Intl
Median home value
$352,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.2% is lower than 55% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 2.6% over the past year, to 9,576 employed residents.

Median household income of $49,285 is below 78% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$8,160$49,285Bottom 22%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,206$21,117Bottom 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate24.6%Top 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute30.2 minTop 33%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher10.8%Bottom 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment9,576Bottom 3%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-1.3%Bottom 28%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-2.6%Bottom 13%June 2026
Labor force9,997Bottom 2%June 2026
Labor force participation62.7%Top 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$69,290Top 47%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$53,680Top 41%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.8%Bottom 10%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.2%Bottom 45%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/066.52.8
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.2% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202449k40k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $49,285 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Providence-Warwick, RI-MA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers21,530$33,700
Retail Salespersons20,910$35,230
Home Health and Personal Care Aides15,670$40,890
Registered Nurses15,180$99,880
Cashiers14,440$34,540
General and Operations Managers14,110$110,360

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

8% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 16% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.0 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
10
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.0
across all schools here
Math proficiency
7.9%
Reading proficiency
16.2%
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Central Falls Sr HighCentral Falls78814.6
The Learning Community · charterLearning Community56912.45%28%
Calcutt Middle SchoolCentral Falls47613.63%5%
Ella Risk SchoolCentral Falls41411.25%13%
Veterans Memorial ElementaryCentral Falls40612.74%9%
Segue Inst for Learning · charterSegue Institute for Learning35913.36%18%
Blackstone Valley Prep Jr High · charterBlackstone Valley Prep A RI Mayoral Academy32313.532%27%
Raices Dual Language AcademyCentral Falls20612.18%12%
G. Harold Hunt SchoolCentral Falls16213.5
Raices Upper Dual Language AcdCentral Falls6312.6

91.6% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Rhode Island’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,200 takes 29% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 7.1 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
29.2%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
7.1×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,200
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$352,100
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income7.14Top 5%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate25.6%Bottom 2%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±5368,426Top 7%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$75$1,200Top 33%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$30,455$352,100Top 22%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income29.2%Top 8%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate8.8%Bottom 46%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
64/ 100
Top 27% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing — 2 consecutive years, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 2% since 2020, reaching 23,034 in 2024.

98% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 1.9 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
43
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.9
Bottom 45% nationally
Year over year
+617%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
97.7%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202423k23k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
202020212022202320242025202.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+233%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 84°F and January a low of 22°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 47.5 inches, including 36.6 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 38, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station PROVIDENCE T F GREEN AP, 11.8 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.9"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index55.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation47.5"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall36.6"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low22°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high84°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index38.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing44°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
38
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
55
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

72 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, hurricane and earthquake.

Inland floodingModerate
HurricaneModerate
EarthquakeModerate
LandslideModerate

Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, cold wave, lightning, ice storm, tornado, hail, coastal flooding, strong wind, winter weather, drought, wildfire.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Providence County records 2.4 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 3.8 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 19.1 per 100,000 residents in Providence County.

Homicide
2.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
3.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
19.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
7.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Providence County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Central Falls rather than Central Falls itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

5 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 12 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Rhode Island TF Green IntlPVD12 mi8,700 ft
General Edward Lawrence Logan IntlBOS38 mi10,083 ft
Bradley IntlBDL66 mi9,510 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
55
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Other cities in Providence-Warwick, RI-MA

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
ProvidenceProvidence County191,76760vs Central Falls
New BedfordBristol County100,99850vs Central Falls
Fall RiverBristol County94,08253vs Central Falls
CranstonProvidence County83,25067vs Central Falls
WarwickKent County83,17573vs Central Falls
PawtucketProvidence County75,89364vs Central Falls
TauntonBristol County60,43363vs Central Falls
East ProvidenceProvidence County47,28168vs Central Falls
AttleboroBristol County46,76267vs Central Falls
WoonsocketProvidence County43,52157vs Central Falls
North Attleborough TownBristol County30,98472vs Central Falls
NewportNewport County24,87462vs Central Falls

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Central Falls

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
0286322,701$49,28550