In this blog, we showcase a few of the indicators that have been recently updated.
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Trends Update List
in PEOPLE:
Is the population growth juggernaut in the two counties over?
As of April 1st, nearly 323,000 people called the greater Tri Cities their home. But the year over year growth rate, at 0.9%, was the lowest since 1996. In the decade prior, the annual growth rate averaged 1.6%. And for the first time in nearly a decade, the change in population here was below the growth rate of the state.
In recent years, there has been little difference in population growth rates between the two counties.
Net in-migration numbers for this year reflect the slowing population growth rate.
The estimated number of net newcomers to the Benton and Franklin Counties between April 1st of this and April 1st of last year was 879. That is the lowest number in a decade. Like nearly all Washington counties, the population of the greater Tri Cities increases largely through in-migrants and not the natural increase (births minus deaths).
Will this slowing trend continue?
in ECONOMIC VITALITY:
Median household income (MHI) here continues its strong advance.
In inflation-adjusted terms, MHI in the two counties climbed $6,500 in 2024 to $89,573. That represents a gain of nearly 8% compared to 2023, and over $28,000 since 2019.
Along with Spokane County, MHI in the greater Tri Cities is the one Eastern Washington metro area higher than the national median. However, the Washington median, at $99,400, is still far greater than MHI here or in Spokane.
Quarterly residential building permitted units year-to-date are running below prior years.
For the first half of this year, residential building permits total 1,160. A year ago, the count was 1,332 and in 2023, at 1,276. In light of slowing population growth, a diminished growth in supply of both apartment units and single-family residences makes sense.
On a per capita basis, however, Tri Cities builders continue to supply more product than their counterparts throughout the state. In the latest quarter (through July), 2.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents were recorded. That is twice as large as the Washington average.
in EDUCATION:
Share of entering kindergarteners meeting WaKIDS standards.
For nearly 15 years, public school kindergartens have administered an assessment of “readiness” to entering students in the fall. They assess over six domains: cognitive, language, literature, math, social/emotional physical. Ideally, a child is “ready” in all domains.
In the fall of 2024, the share of kindergartners entering public schools in the two counties deemed ready in all six domains was 43%. There has been very little change in the share since 2019, although these years mark an improvement over the preceding ones. The state average is much higher, most recently at 54%.
To simplify the graph, click on the item(s) in the legend you would like to hide.
In EDUCATION cont.:
On-time public high school graduation rate has slipped.
This measure follows a cohort of 9th graders, net of transfers, for four years and measures whether they graduate from high school within that interval. Graduation is both a personal and school district mark of student success.
For school year, 2023-2024, the average, on-time graduation rate from all the public districts in the two counties was approximately 79%. This is the lowest rate since 2017-2018 school year and continues a decline that began in 2020-2021. For the past decade, the local graduation rate has been below the state average.
in HEALTH:
Life expectancy at birth has recently increased but lies below pre-pandemic levels.
Life expectancy at birth calculates the likely lifespan of a newborn, assuming that current age-specific mortality rates do not change. The measure serves as a summary indicator of the state of public health in a community.
For 2023, the most recent year of available data, life expectancy of newborns in the two counties was 79.9 years. This level represented rebound from the trough experienced in the two prior years and was slightly higher than the Washington average. However, life expectancy here has yet to recover from the pandemic. It stood at 81.1 years in 2019.
in HOUSING:
Median home resale price is now increasing only slowly.
To avoid very high values impacting an average, this measure adopts the median (midpoint) for prices. And it considers only existing homes.
The most recent (Q2 of this year) median price of a single-family residence in the greater Tri Cities was $443,600. A year earlier, it was $434,300. And in the same quarter of 2023, the median was $433,600. Three years ago, however, the price hit a peak, at $446,000. This followed a strong run up during the pandemic, a rate of increase that has slowed markedly. The current state median resale prices is over $230,000 higher, at $675,600.
The metro area’s 1st-time buyer housing affordability index (HAI) continues to slide.
An HAI is a ratio of income over housing costs. In this version, it uses 25% of the income for those households whose income lies at 70% of the median. The denominator is the mortgage cost of a home that is 85% of the area median resale price.
The value of 100 indicates that this household has just enough income to spend 25% of it on a mortgage. A value below 100 indicates that this type of household does not meet that criterion and spends a higher share.
The housing market in the greater Tri Cities was last affordable for this household type in the 4th quarter of 2015. The HAI currently (second quarter of this year) sits at 56. This represents a long, steady decline since the start of the pandemic.
in PUBLIC SAFETY:
Area property crimes are falling again.
After peaking in 2022, property crimes receded in 2024. Last year, property crimes reported hit 7,339. These translated into a rate of 22.9 per 1,000 residents. Pre-pandemic levels and rates were considerably lower.
Since the start of the century, the property crime rate in the two counties has been below that of the state average every year. For many years, this has been true in a comparison to the U.S. average. Recently, however, the local rate has been considerably higher than the national property crime rate.
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list updated 10.28.2025