Chelan County, WA

County Profile

80,172 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Chelan County, WA.

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.

56out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 30% of 1,225 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 20% of 1,255 counties71
GrowthTop 42% of 1,226 counties55
Housing affordability1041st of 1,255 counties72
Climate977th of 1,254 counties60
Physical resilience1129th of 1,255 counties23
Access1095th of 1,255 counties55
Economic stabilityTop 50% of 1,255 counties62
The quick read

Chelan County ranks in the top 20% of published profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.6% and median household income of $82,381.

Residential permitting has slowed: 515 units authorized over the past twelve months, 32% below the prior year.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by inland flooding, wildfire and earthquake.

At a glance

Population
80,172
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$82,381
Top 15% nationally
Density
27/sq mi
2921.2 sq mi of land
Median age
40.4
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Chelan County
Washington
Metro area
Wenatchee-East Wenatchee, WA
Nearest major airport
MWH
76 mi · Grant County Intl
Median home value
$490,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.6% is lower than 75% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Unemployment has been falling for 4 consecutive months, most recently 3.6%.

Employment grew 0.6% over the past year, to 41,381 employed residents.

31% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 79% of measured US locations.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$4,076$82,381Top 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,866$44,369Top 14%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate8.3%Bottom 13%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute21.7 minBottom 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher31.2%Top 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment41,381Bottom 49%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-1.7%Bottom 25%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.6%Top 22%June 2026
Labor force42,939Bottom 49%June 2026
Labor force participation59.6%Top 46%2024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.4%Top 32%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.6%Bottom 25%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/065.82.5
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.6% 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
202120222023202482k65k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $82,381 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 — Wenatchee-East Wenatchee, WA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers1,690$36,450
Retail Salespersons1,620$37,700
Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse1,610$40,680
Registered Nurses1,330$112,280
Cashiers1,240$36,550
Home Health and Personal Care Aides1,120$47,730

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.

There are 17.2 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
40
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
17.2
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Wenatchee High SchoolWenatchee School District2,06622.5
VALE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLCASHMERE SCHOOL DISTRICT63817.2
Abraham Lincoln ElementaryWenatchee School District60416.8
Foothills Middle SchoolWenatchee School District56719.6
Washington Elementary SchoolWenatchee School District55416.3
CASHMERE HIGH SCHOOLCASHMERE SCHOOL DISTRICT54318.7
CASHMERE MIDDLE SCHOOLCASHMERE SCHOOL DISTRICT49616.5
Pioneer Middle SchoolWenatchee School District48816.8
Mission View Elementary SchoolWenatchee School District48417.3
Morgen Owings Elementary SchoolLake Chelan School District47215.7
Chelan High SchoolLake Chelan School District43917.6
John Newbery ElementaryWenatchee School District43716.2

60.5% 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 $1,226 takes 18% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 5.9 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
17.9%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
5.9×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,226
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$490,100
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income5.95Top 4%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate64.6%Bottom 14%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±9238,677Top 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$74$1,226Top 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$12,630$490,100Top 4%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income17.9%Top 40%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate18.5%Top 32%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
55/ 100
Top 42% of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing — 2 consecutive years, measured from 2022 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 81,228 in 2024.

At 6.4 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
515
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
6.4
Top 20% nationally
Year over year
−32%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
35.9%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202481k79k
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
2022202320242025793315
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+26%).

Weather & climate

4 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 82°F and January a low of 21°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 27.2 inches, including 117.3 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 28, in the Good band, and about 5 days a year pass 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 PLAIN, 5.4 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.0"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index62.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation27.2"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall117.3"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low21°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high82°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months41991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10052024 calendar year
Median air quality index28.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing39°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
28
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
62
90th percentile index
Days above 100
5
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

23 / 100
Physical resilience

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

WildfireHigh
LandslideModerate
AvalancheElevated
Inland floodingHigh
Volcanic activityModerate
EarthquakeElevated
Heat waveModerate
HailModerate
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: lightning, winter weather, ice storm, drought, strong wind, tornado.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. 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.

Chelan County records 5.0 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 13.8 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 26.3 per 100,000 residents in Chelan County.

Homicide
5.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
13.8
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
26.3
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
21.3
per 100,000 residents

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 Chelan 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 Chelan County rather than Chelan County 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

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 76 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Grant County IntlMWH76 mi13,503 ft
Boeing Fld/King County IntlBFI82 mi10,007 ft
Seattle-Tacoma IntlSEA84 mi11,901 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
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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
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.

Cities in Chelan County, WA