Bellingham, Washington
Area Profile
93,438 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Bellingham, in Whatcom County.
Unemployment is 3.7% and median household income $66,755, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.
Residential permitting has slowed: 621 units authorized over the past twelve months, 18% below the prior year.
Buying strains local incomes far more than renting does — the median home is 9.4 times median household income, against a historic benchmark near three — while rent takes 28% of it.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment of 3.7% is lower than 74% of the 3,904 measured US cities.
Employment fell 0.4% over the past year, to 48,922 employed residents.
48% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 88% of measured US cities.
| Metric | Value | Compared with peers | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income ±$3,771 | $66,755 | Top 50% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$1,301 | $42,947 | Top 27% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate | 18.6% | Top 27% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute | 19.7 min | Bottom 17% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 48.5% | Top 12% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Employment | 48,922 | Top 50% | June 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years) | -1.1% | Bottom 30% | June 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year) | -0.4% | Top 39% | June 2026 |
| Labor force | 50,786 | Top 50% | June 2026 |
| Labor force participation | 66.2% | Top 30% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Mean annual wage | $71,310 | Top 41% | 2025 OEWS |
| Median annual wage | $57,820 | Top 27% | 2025 OEWS |
| Unemployment change (year over year) | 0.4% | Top 32% | June 2026 |
| Unemployment rate | 3.7% | Bottom 26% | June 2026 |
| Occupation | People employed | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 2,830 | $37,030 |
| Retail Salespersons | 2,830 | $37,840 |
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | 2,350 | $44,080 |
| Cashiers | 2,190 | $37,250 |
| Registered Nurses | 1,850 | — |
| Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners | 1,510 | $43,560 |
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.
Schools
How it’s calculated →There are 17.9 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.
| School | District | Students | Per teacher | Math | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Squalicum High School | Bellingham School District | 1,273 | 21.2 | — | — |
| Bellingham High School | Bellingham School District | 1,165 | 21.6 | — | — |
| Sehome High School | Bellingham School District | 1,116 | 21.9 | — | — |
| Irene Reither Elementary School | Meridian School District | 765 | 16.3 | — | — |
| Whatcom Middle School | Bellingham School District | 637 | 18.7 | — | — |
| Shuksan Middle School | Bellingham School District | 606 | 16.8 | — | — |
| Fairhaven Middle School | Bellingham School District | 588 | 18.4 | — | — |
| Kulshan Middle School | Bellingham School District | 575 | 18.0 | — | — |
| Meridian High School | Meridian School District | 534 | 21.4 | — | — |
| Happy Valley Elementary School | Bellingham School District | 455 | 18.2 | — | — |
| Parkview Elementary School | Bellingham School District | 422 | 16.9 | — | — |
| Geneva Elementary School | Bellingham School District | 412 | 18.7 | — | — |
40.8% 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 $1,577 takes 28% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.
A median home costs 9.4 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.
| Metric | Value | Compared with peers | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home price to income | 9.40 | Top 2% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate | 44.6% | Bottom 6% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±599 | 43,792 | Top 1% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median gross rent ±$41 | $1,577 | Top 18% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$15,464 | $627,500 | Top 8% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income | 28.3% | Top 9% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate | 5.2% | Bottom 30% | 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 →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 4% since 2020, reaching 95,860 in 2024.
Population is still rising, but more slowly than in the preceding year.
65% 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 6.6 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.
Weather & climate
5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 73°F and January a low of 34°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 34.7 inches.
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Annual precipitation | 34.7" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low | 34°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high | 73°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months | 5 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Seasonal temperature swing | 24°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
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.
Physical risk
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are earthquake, avalanche and heat wave.
Low or minimal exposure: landslide, ice storm, inland flooding, cold wave, winter weather, coastal flooding, lightning, wildfire, tsunami, drought, tornado, strong wind, hail.
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.
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.
- Crime
- The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source 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. Reported crime is also easy to misread: agency participation varies year to year, and a city that draws a large daytime workforce carries incidents its residents did not generate.
- 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 85 miles away.
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing Fld/King County Intl | BFI | 85 mi | 10,007 ft |
| Seattle-Tacoma Intl | SEA | 90 mi | 11,901 ft |
| Grant County Intl | MWH | 181 mi | 13,503 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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Other cities in Bellingham, WA
Same metropolitan area, measured the same way| City | County | Population | Area Score | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lynden | Whatcom County | 16,234 | 61 | vs Bellingham |
| Ferndale | Whatcom County | 15,999 | 58 | vs Bellingham |
| Birch Bay | Whatcom County | 10,837 | — | vs Bellingham |
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.
Similar places
Matched on AreaProfile signals, not geographyCompare
Put Bellingham side by side with a similar place.
Data & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle | 28-day NASR cycle |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) | Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current) |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals | Every ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period) |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | June 2026 | Monthly |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics | 2025 OEWS | Annual (spring release) |
| Demographics | U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | July 1, 2024 estimate | Annual (vintage released each spring) |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 12 months ending July 2026 | Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month |
| Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year | Annual (5-year estimates released each December) |
| schools | U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments | 2024-25 school year | Directory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them |
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.