Graham, Washington

Area Profile

35,079 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Graham, in Pierce County.

Area Score unavailable

Missing required signals: opportunity, growth. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Housing affordability2427th of 4,223 published cities76
ClimateTop 35% of 4,223 published cities74
Physical resilience3102nd of 4,182 published cities33
Access3146th of 4,226 published cities83
Economic stabilityTop 22% of 4,226 published cities73
The quick read

Rent takes 22% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 4.4 times that income.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by earthquake, heat wave and avalanche.

A typical July reaches 76°F and a typical January falls to 36°F, on thirty-year normals.

At a glance

Population
35,079
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$116,862
Top 12% nationally
Density
822/sq mi
42.7 sq mi of land
Median age
35.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Pierce County
Washington
Metro area
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
Nearest major airport
SEA
29 mi · Seattle-Tacoma Intl
Median home value
$516,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Household income is higher than at least 88% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$5,411$116,862Top 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,567$41,701Top 29%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate5.9%Bottom 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute44.6 minTop 4%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher23.8%Top 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Labor force participation67.0%Top 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$91,790Top 8%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$72,610Top 4%2025 OEWS
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024117k95k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $116,862 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 — Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Software Developers92,770$167,280
Home Health and Personal Care Aides54,670$48,210
Fast Food and Counter Workers49,190$39,150
Retail Salespersons46,620$42,080
Registered Nurses39,900$128,260
Business Operations Specialists, All Other38,800$101,920

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 18.7 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
9
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
18.7
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Graham Kapowsin High SchoolBethel School District2,08724.3
Frontier Middle SchoolBethel School District62021.4
Cougar Mountain Middle SchoolBethel School District60520.9
Centennial ElementaryBethel School District54015.0
Nelson Elementary SchoolBethel School District49715.1
North Star ElementaryBethel School District44614.9
Rocky Ridge ElementaryBethel School District43015.4
Graham ElementaryBethel School District42815.3
Kapowsin ElementaryBethel School District32116.1

51.5% 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 $2,095 takes 22% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.4 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
21.5%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.4×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$2,095
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$516,700
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income4.42Top 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate82.2%Top 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±63211,541Top 5%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$221$2,095Top 7%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$29,557$516,700Top 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income21.5%Top 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate4.4%Bottom 26%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 →

No building-permit activity is published for this location by the Census Building Permits Survey.

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 76°F and January a low of 36°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 42.0 inches.

30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station TACOMA NARROWS AP, 21.4 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND7.2"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation42.0"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low36°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high76°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing24°F1991-2020 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

33 / 100
Physical resilience

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

EarthquakeHigh
Volcanic activityModerate
AvalancheModerate
Heat waveModerate
LandslideModerate

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

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 29 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Seattle-Tacoma IntlSEA29 mi11,901 ft
Boeing Fld/King County IntlBFI34 mi10,007 ft
Portland IntlPDX101 mi11,000 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 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
SeattleKing County754,19559vs Graham
TacomaPierce County222,75857vs Graham
BellevueKing County151,84760vs Graham
KentKing County135,60349vs Graham
EverettSnohomish County111,84554vs Graham
RentonKing County105,31751vs Graham
Federal WayKing County99,49349vs Graham
KirklandKing County92,62160vs Graham
AuburnKing County85,67652vs Graham
RedmondKing County77,35364vs Graham
MarysvilleSnohomish County73,00260vs Graham
South HillPierce County68,025vs Graham

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
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
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)
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

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 Graham

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
9833832,687$114,819