Airway Heights, Washington

Area Profile

11,245 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Airway Heights, in Spokane County.

64out of 100
Area Score
Top 39% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity2141st of 3,904 published cities54
Growth1554th of 2,973 published cities49
Housing affordability3602nd of 4,223 published cities55
Climate2639th of 4,223 published cities66
Physical resilienceTop 12% of 4,182 published cities89
AccessTop 40% of 4,226 published cities95
Economic stability3712th of 4,226 published cities35
The quick read

Residential permitting has slowed: 39 units authorized over the past twelve months, 36% below the prior year.

Buying strains local incomes far more than renting does — the median home is 5.5 times median household income, against a historic benchmark near three — while rent takes 27% of it.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Airway Heights in the top 12% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
11,245
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$62,874
Bottom 44% nationally
Density
1,871/sq mi
6.0 sq mi of land
Median age
33.1
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Spokane County
Washington
Metro area
Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA
Nearest major airport
GEG
3 mi · Spokane Intl
Median home value
$348,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.8% is lower than 70% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 0.3% over the past year, to 250,659 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$10,322$62,874Bottom 44%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$4,014$29,126Bottom 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate19.5%Top 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute21.7 minBottom 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher17.0%Bottom 40%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment250,659Top 26%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-0.7%Bottom 37%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.3%Top 37%June 2026
Labor force260,633Top 26%June 2026
Labor force participation52.3%Bottom 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$68,570Top 49%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$54,660Top 39%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.4%Top 36%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.8%Bottom 30%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202465k56k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $62,874 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 — Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides10,580$47,410
Fast Food and Counter Workers7,870$35,780
Retail Salespersons7,400$36,880
Registered Nurses6,850$111,750
Stockers and Order Fillers5,330$40,510
Cashiers4,470$36,290

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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Spokane County, WA, which contains this city.

There are 14.7 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
1
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.7
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Sunset ElementaryCheney School District63414.7

77.8% 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 Washington’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 $1,389 takes 27% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 5.5 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
26.5%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
5.5×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,389
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$348,500
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income5.54Top 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate28.9%Bottom 2%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3413,982Top 14%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$64$1,389Top 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$33,839$348,500Top 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income26.5%Top 13%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate6.3%Bottom 35%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
49/ 100
Ranks 1554 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, 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 11% since 2020, reaching 11,950 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before.

Population is still rising, but more slowly than in the preceding year.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 3.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
39
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
3.5
Top 39% nationally
Year over year
−36%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202412k11k
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
20202021202220232024202510922
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−71%).

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 25°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 16.5 inches, including 45.4 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 38, in the Good band, and one day a year passes 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station SPOKANE INTL AP, 2.9 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND2.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index62.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation16.5"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall45.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low25°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high84°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10012024 calendar year
Median air quality index38.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing42°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
38
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
62
90th percentile index
Days above 100
1
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

89 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are wildfire and heat wave.

WildfireElevated
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, ice storm, inland flooding, strong wind, winter weather, earthquake, avalanche, hail, lightning, landslide, tornado, drought.

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.

Spokane County records 3.1 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 14.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 45.5 per 100,000 residents in Spokane County.

Homicide
3.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
14.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
45.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
22.1
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 Spokane 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 Airway Heights rather than Airway Heights 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

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 3 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Spokane IntlGEG3 mi8,199 ft
Grant County IntlMWH87 mi13,503 ft
Glacier Park IntlGPI160 mi9,007 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
64
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Other cities in Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
SpokaneSpokane County230,29368vs Airway Heights
Spokane ValleySpokane County106,36568vs Airway Heights
CheneySpokane County12,80462vs Airway Heights
Liberty LakeSpokane County12,73773vs Airway Heights
FairwoodSpokane County10,674vs Airway Heights

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
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 Airway Heights

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
990019,440$62,51862