Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A city of 65,258, settled in 1905.
Richland's standout: it has 86 miles of trail. Overall it grades B−, 109th of 285 graded towns in Washington. It is healthier than 86% of U.S. towns and its schools outperform 75% of the state's. Its weakest subject is safety: its crime rate is higher than 75% of U.S. towns, with 166 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. 41% of working residents work locally in Richland, above both the Washington town median (4.8%) and the median of U.S. towns (8%). Richland has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Gold Coast Historic District and Post Office and Federal Office Building. Richland is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns.
Where Richland beats most towns.
48,058 counted in 2010 and 60,560 in 2020; an estimated 65,258 in 2025.
Growth hasn’t slowed: 7.7% since 2020, after 26% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Washington), ordered by how far Richland is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 350 in 1910, a low of 208 in 1930, 60,560 in 2020. The archive holds 24 old photos and papers going back to 1917 and 3 maps from 1951 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Richland, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 30, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Richland.
Richland draws workers from Kennewick and beyond, fares better on crime within Washington than nationally and is one of Washington’s best towns for the outdoors.
Its A+ for the outdoors ranks #8 of 285 in Washington.
The trail density in Richland is 1.9 miles per square mile. Yakima Delta, at 690 acres with 6.9 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Chamna Natural Preserve | 14.6 mi | 444 |
| 2. Yakima Delta | 6.9 mi | 690 |
| 3. W. E. Johnson Park | 4.7 mi | 268 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its A− is the best School Grade on its borders; West Richland (B+) is next.
Its public schools are run by the Richland School District. Two of its 23 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carmichael Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 791 | – |
| Richland High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,218 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within WA on state tests and graduation
41,607 jobs are based in Richland, 1.5 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 20.4 minutes, against 26.6 across Washington.
Richland’s average trip to work is 20 minutes. Since 2013, Richland has added 7,786 jobs, to 41,607 in 2023. The top destinations are Kennewick (17%), Pasco (9%) and West Richland (4%).
| Richland | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 16% | 15% | 11% |
| Median household income | $96,000 | $98,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
30% of Richland adults sleep under 7 hours. Richland beats the Washington average on 5 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 9% of Richland adults smoke cigarettes.
| Richland | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 33% | 36% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 9% | 11% | 14% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 31% | 35% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 72% | 71% | 79% |
| What stands out | Richland | WA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 7.2% | 9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8.4% | 10.2% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9% | 7.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
At 31.8 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 60% of Washington’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 1,799 to 1,488 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Richland reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 75% report less.
| Richland | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 20.3 per 1,000 residents | 15 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.5 per 1,000 residents | 1.5 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The typical Richland home is worth about $463,000, about the same as a year ago, 21% below the Washington typical home. 39% of renter households spend 30% or more of their income on rent in Richland.
| Richland | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 39% | 51% | 48% |
| Households that own their home | 64% | 71% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,468 a month | $1,740 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Richland has mild winters and warm summers, with very little rain. Only 10 of the 285 Washington towns we compare have a higher July high than Richland.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Washington average. Richland has grown 7.7% since 2020, to 65,258 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 47% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 40% across Washington.
| Richland | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 47% | 30% | 29% |
| Median age | 36.4 years | 38.6 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 24% | 22% | 22% |
49% women, 51% men
About 105 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±1.1 points). Across Washington, 49.6% of residents are women. Median age: women 38.7, men 34.9.
| Richland | WA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12.8% | 11.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 11.3% | 9.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8.4% | 8.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 15.5% | 15.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13.4% | 14.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10.1% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 11.7% | 12% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9.4% | 10.1% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.6% | 6.5% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.5% | 7.7% | 10.4% |
| High school | 17.3% | 21.6% | 26% |
| Some college | 21.3% | 21% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 10.2% | 10% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 26.1% | 24% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 20.5% | 15.6% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 54% of U.S. communities. Since 1982, 15 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Richland.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
2 within 15 miles of the center of Richland
About 5 of every 100 Richland residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Washington.
21.4% of the town is conserved land, across 73 parks and preserves.
30 notable people were born in Richland.
City in Washington, United States
Richland () is a city in Benton County, Washington, United States. It is located in southeastern Washington at the confluence of the Yakima and the Columbia Rivers. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 60,560. Along with the nearby cities of Pasco and Kennewick, Richland forms the Tri-Cities metropolitan area. The townsite was established in 1905 and incorporated as Richland in 1910. The U.S. Army acquired the city and surrounding areas in 1943 for the establishment of the Hanford nuclear site, part of the Manhattan Project during World War II. Richland was transformed into a bedroom community for Hanford workers and grew to 25,000 residents by the end of the war. The city remai…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Richland.
| Town | WA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richland | #109 | B− | C | C | A− | A |
| Kennewick | #228 | C− | C+ | D | C+ | B |
| West Richland | #40 | B+ | C | B+ | B+ | A |
| Pasco | #255 | D | C+ | C− | C− | B− |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Richland grades B− overall, better than 54% of U.S. towns and #109 of 285 in Washington. It grades A for health, C for safety and A− for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a C.
That is 5.2 years of the area's median household income ($89,010 across the Kennewick-Richland, WA metro area).
30 notable people were born here, including Orson Scott Card and Hope Solo.
