Providence County, RI

County Profile

664,854 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Providence County, RI.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

65out of 100
Area Score
Top 27% of 1,453 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 13 sources
Opportunity749th of 1,463 counties measured55
GrowthTop 44% of 1,453 counties measured53
Housing affordability949th of 1,462 counties measured70
Climate875th of 1,463 counties measured65
Physical resilienceTop 26% of 1,463 counties measured76
AccessTop 7% of 1,463 counties measured98
Economic stabilityTop 43% of 1,463 counties measured65
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.0% and median household income $78,787, putting employment conditions in the middle range of counties measured.

Rent takes 29% of renter income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 3.4 times what its owners earn.

Rhode Island TF Green Intl is 13 miles away, closer than 86% of measured US counties.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
664,854
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$78,787
Top 20% nationally
Density
1,624/sq mi
409.5 sq mi of land
Median age
38.0
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Providence County
Rhode Island
Nearest major airport
PVD
13 mi · Rhode Island TF Green Intl
Median home value
$373,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.0%, lower than in 53% of the 1,467 measured US counties.

Employment fell 1.9% over the past year, to 337,503 employed residents.

32% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 81% of measured US counties.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023$66,67168th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023$73,18781st percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$1,7222024 ACS 5-Year$78,787Top 20%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$6332024 ACS 5-Year$41,523Top 21%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income2023$58,880Top 40%of 1,3892023
Poverty rate ±0.6%2024 ACS 5-Year13.0%Bottom 49%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±0.4 min2024 ACS 5-Year27.9 minBottom 35%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±0.8%2024 ACS 5-Year32.3%Top 19%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±1.0%2024 ACS 5-Year70.7%16th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 2026337,503Top 7%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026−0.8%Bottom 39%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026−1.9%Bottom 24%of 1,467July 2026
Labor forceJuly 2026351,63293rd percentileof 1,467July 2026
Labor force participation ±0.6%2024 ACS 5-Year81.0%Top 22%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.2%2024 ACS 5-Year2.3%95th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026−0.9%Top 13%of 1,467July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20264.0%Top 47%of 1,467July 2026
Worked from home ±0.5%2024 ACS 5-Year12.3%77th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/076.52.5
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.0% in July 2026. It has been rising, over a series running from 2020-01 to 2026-07. 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

202120222023202479k66k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $78,787 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

Searches the 40 largest occupations here that have a published wage.

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.

26% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 38% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.6 students for every full-time teacher across 192 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
197
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.6
across 192 of them
Math proficiency
26.1%
2018-19 school year
Reading proficiency
37.5%
2018-19 school year
The 12 largest of 197 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
East Providence HighEast Providence1,69115.516%42%
Cranston High School WestCranston1,65315.430%63%
Woonsocket High SchoolWoonsocket1,64615.212%33%
Cranston High School EastCranston1,52513.122%42%
Cumberland High SchoolCumberland1,42813.642%67%
Classical High SchoolProvidence1,11617.275%90%
North Providence HighNorth Providence1,08512.826%50%
Central High SchoolProvidence1,05016.72%13%
Mount Pleasant HighProvidence99716.12%9%
William E. Tolman HighPawtucket99514.68%22%
Lincoln Senior High SchoolLincoln97314.739%70%
Davies Career-Tech High SchoolDavies Career and Tech89811.816%42%

63.6% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Rhode Island’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

Prices for everything a household buys run about 2% above the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 101.5, against 100 for the nation. Nationally, housing drives most of the spread between places in this index; other goods vary far less.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA Metro Area is up 52% over five years, and up 4.7% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $4,683 a year in real estate taxes, about 1.25% of the median home value.

The typical renter household here spends 29% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,312 a month.

A median home at $373,600 costs 3.4 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $108,867, above the historic benchmark of about 3 times income.

Cost of living
101.5

Prices here run about 2% above the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Published for the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA Metro Area as a whole. Prices are regional — people shop, commute and rent across a metropolitan area rather than within a city boundary — so this describes the cost of living around this place better than a figure drawn to its own limits would.

Rent as a share of income
28.9%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.4×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Median gross rent
$1,312
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$373,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Providence County’s median household income of $78,787, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living indexthe Providence-Warwick, RI-MA Metro Area’s figure2023101.5Bottom 23%of 8872023
Home price change (1 year)the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+4.7%71st percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+51.9%78th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+111.8%79th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.12024 ACS 5-Year3.4Bottom 19%of 3,2172024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±0.8%2024 ACS 5-Year56.9%5th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±1672024 ACS 5-Year277,74097th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$212024 ACS 5-Year$1,312Bottom 13%of 3,2152024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$3,4372024 ACS 5-Year$373,60089th percentileof 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$442024 ACS 5-Year$4,68396th percentileof 3,1722024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$2,2102024 ACS 5-Year$108,867Top 9%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.02%2024 ACS 5-Year1.25%79th percentileof 3,1262024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±0.5%2024 ACS 5-Year28.9%Bottom 38%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±3592024 ACS 5-Year1,12276th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year0.4%9th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year6.3%27th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±1,3162024 ACS 5-Year18,53096th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures and the cost-of-living index.

Development Momentum

53/ 100
Top 44% of 1,453 published county profiles
Permitting has been rising for the last 2 years of a series running from 2020 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run. The chart below compares the first year with the last, which can point the other way.

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 675,912 in 2024.

Federal tax returns show Providence County lost about 0.2% of its residents through moves within the US in the most recent year, counting those who arrived against those who left. Households that moved in reported an average income of $66,671, below the $73,187 of households that moved out.

At 1.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US counties.

Units permitted
1,006
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.5
Bottom 28% nationally
Year over year
+35%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
39.1%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

20202021202220232024676k659k
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. It has been rising for the last 3 years, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
−0.2%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
78%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$66,671
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$73,187
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Kent County, RI 2,883 people · 14% of arrivals
  2. Bristol County, MA 2,122 people · 10% of arrivals
  3. Suffolk County, MA 1,016 people · 5.0% of arrivals
  4. Norfolk County, MA 985 people · 4.8% of arrivals
  5. Worcester County, MA 839 people · 4.1% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Kent County, RI 3,774 people · 17% of departures
  2. Bristol County, MA 1,685 people · 7.8% of departures
  3. Washington County, RI 931 people · 4.3% of departures
  4. Norfolk County, MA 801 people · 3.7% of departures
  5. Worcester County, MA 763 people · 3.5% of departures

Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

202020212022202320242025871473
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+50%).

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, 12.7 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND4.9"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year552024 calendar year
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals47.5"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals36.6"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals22°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals84°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year02024 calendar year
Median air quality index2024 calendar year382024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals44°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. Air quality is measured by EPA monitors and published by county only where a monitor sits; a county without one shows nothing rather than an estimate, and a county reading is still the county’s. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

76 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, hurricane and heat wave, with inland flooding alone responsible for 72% of it. Heat wave is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.

Overall hazard risk is lower than 74% of measured US counties.

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, tsunami, volcanic activity, avalanche.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). These are FEMA’s own figures for this county rather than a value derived from surrounding geographies. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Providence County records 2.3 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 3.6 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 19.4 per 100,000 residents in Providence County.

Homicide
2.3
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
3.6
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
19.4
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
7.7
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe Providence County as a whole. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. City profiles inside this area carry their own figure where their department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. The cost-of-living index above is a price level for all consumption, not a household budget, and it excludes taxes. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

6 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Rhode Island TF Green Intl at 13 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±0.5%2024 ACS 5-Year90.5%Top 22%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle13 miTop 14%of 1,463NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle6Top 13%of 1,463NASR current cycle
No internet access ±0.5%2024 ACS 5-Year7.4%Top 26%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Rhode Island TF Green IntlPVD13 mi8,700 ft
General Edward Lawrence Logan IntlBOS45 mi10,083 ft
Westover ARB/MetroCEF54 mi11,597 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
65
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
Demographics, IncomeInternal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division
U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county)
filing years 2022–2023
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
Housing, IncomeU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar year
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 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 every source with how often each updates.

ZIP areas

Only ZIP areas whose income or home value differ from their city’s by at least ten percent get a profile of their own, so this is a selection rather than every ZIP code in the county.