Fern PrairieWA
Home to 2,053 people, the town was settled in 1878.
Is Fern Prairie a good place to live?
The best of Fern Prairie’s subject grades are an A+ for schools and an A− for incomes and health; the weakest is a C for walkability. Among 286 Washington towns, just 5 have a lower share of working residents who work in town than Fern Prairie. No town in Washington scores lower than Fern Prairie on the outdoors. Fern Prairie has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
How Fern Prairie grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Washington), ordered by how far Fern Prairie is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
What makes Fern Prairie stand out
Where Fern Prairie beats most towns.
100% of working residents leave Fern Prairie for work
Where Fern Prairie’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Fern Prairie.
Fern Prairie is healthier than four in five U.S. towns
Fern Prairie: 28% of adults sleep under 7 hours. In Fern Prairie, 71% of adults had a checkup this year, close to Washington’s towns (71%) and below U.S. towns (79%).
| Fern Prairie | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 33% | 36% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 71% | 71% | 79% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 18% | 25% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 9.6% | 11% | 14% |
| What stands out | Fern Prairie | WA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 5.8% | 9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 6.7% | 10.2% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10% | 7.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Young adults are less common in Fern Prairie than in Washington
In Fern Prairie, 39% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more, above both the Washington town median (30%) and the median of U.S. towns (29%). Adults 18 to 34 are 7% of residents (24% statewide); children under 18 are 27% of residents (21% statewide). The town’s median age stands at 47.9 years.
| Fern Prairie | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 47.9 years | 38.5 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 22% | 16% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 39% | 30% | 29% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
48% women, 52% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±5 points. Across Washington, 49.6% of residents are women.
| Fern Prairie | WA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 6.8% | 11.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 20.6% | 9.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 4.4% | 8.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 2.6% | 15.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 9.1% | 14.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 18.9% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 15.8% | 12% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 14.1% | 10.1% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.8% | 6.5% | 7% |
| No diploma | 10.9% | 7.7% | 10.4% |
| High school | 30% | 21.6% | 26% |
| Some college | 12% | 21% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 8.5% | 10% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 23.6% | 24% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 15% | 15.6% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 2,100, single groups can be off by several points
With 0.2 jobs for every working resident, most of Fern Prairie’s workers commute out
Fern Prairie’s middle household income comes in at $116,000. It had 157 jobs in 2023, up 22 from 2013. 5.8% of residents live below the poverty line in the town. The median commute is under 13 miles.
| Fern Prairie | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $116,000 | $98,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 5.8% | 7.9% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expect four seasons and pleasant summers in Fern Prairie
The range runs from 36° on a January night to 80° on a July afternoon, with about 6 inches of snow a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Natural hazards: low risk in Fern Prairie, mostly inland flooding
FEMA expects less storm and flood damage in Fern Prairie than in 66% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
A home in Fern Prairie sells for about $865K at the median
The share of households in Fern Prairie who live in a home they own: 94%.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Fern Prairie
Mount Hood and 164 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Fern Prairie. Close and well known come first.
Big draw39 mi MountainMount Hood
14 mi WaterfallMultnomah Falls
15 mi Stadium & arenaModa Center
16 mi Stadium & arenaProvidence Park
22 mi DamBonneville Dam
30 mi Canyon & gorgeColumbia River GorgePhoto credits
Mount Hood: Oregon's Mt. Hood Territory., Public domain · Multnomah Falls: John Fowler from Placitas, NM, USA, CC BY 2.0 · Moda Center: Lugnuts, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Providence Park: Pdx.rollingthunder, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bonneville Dam: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Public domain · Columbia River Gorge: Hux, Public domain
Moving to Fern Prairie: who provides what
Fern Prairie is unincorporated, so Clark County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 30, 2026.
Colleges nearby
7 within 15 miles of the center of Fern Prairie
About 4 of every 100 Fern Prairie residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Washington.
Questions about Fern Prairie
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Fern Prairie, WA expensive?
The typical home is worth about $628,000, 7% above the Washington typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
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