Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Union Gap earns a D−, 281st of 285 graded towns in Washington, mostly because of safety and schools. It reports more crime per resident than 98% of U.S. towns, including 7 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. Its schools rank behind 85% of the state's. What it does well: 5% of its land is conserved. Union Gap’s property crime rate is 61.5 per 1,000 residents, where Washington’s towns sit at 15 and U.S. towns at 9.9. On health, just 19 of Washington’s 397 towns do worse. Union Gap has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Elizabeth Loudon Carmichael House and Alexander McAllister House.
Where Union Gap beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Where Union Gap’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Washington), ordered by how far Union Gap is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 267 in 1880, 6,568 in 2020. The archive holds 9 old photos and papers going back to 1900 and 4 maps from 1941 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Union Gap, 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 Union Gap.
Union Gap draws workers from Yakima and beyond and has milder winter nights than most of the country, though not than most of Washington; it also reports property crime at 3 times the Washington rate.
Property crime runs at 61.5 per 1,000 residents, 3 times the Washington rate, most of it theft. Reported crimes fell from 457 to 412 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Union Gap reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 98% report less.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Its public schools are run by the Union Gap School District. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Union Gap SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–8 | Grades PK–8 | 558 | – |
| La Salle High School PrivateLargest high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 203 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within WA on state tests and graduation
4,979 jobs are based in Union Gap, 2 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 16.2 minutes, against 26.6 across Washington.
Most working residents leave Union Gap for work: only 9% work in town. The average trip to work in Union Gap is 16 minutes. Jobs based in Union Gap grew to 4,979 in 2023, 361 more than in 2013.
| Union Gap | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 16 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $60,000 | $98,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 14% | 7.9% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 8.6% | 4.8% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The median property tax bill is $1,777, against $4,556 across Washington, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
The typical Union Gap home is worth about $259,000, about the same as a year ago, 56% below the Washington typical home. Union Gap’s median rent is $1,133 a month.
| Union Gap | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 62% | 71% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,133 a month | $1,740 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
28% of Union Gap adults say their health is fair or poor. Union Gap beats the Washington average on 1 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 21. 16% of Union Gap adults report frequent physical distress.
| Union Gap | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 67% | 71% | 79% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 7.8% | 8.1% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 17% | 19% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 10% | 14% |
| What stands out | Union Gap | WA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 6.2% | 7.9% |
| More uninsured adults | 21.6% | 8.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
January nights average 25.3°: milder than most of the country, but colder than 77% of Washington places with climate records; July afternoons average 89.6°.
Union Gap has chilly winters and warm summers, with very little rain. About 20 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Union Gap | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 90°F | 77°F | 85°F |
| January low | 25°F | 35°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 58% of U.S. communities. Since 1996, 3 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Union Gap.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
1.5 miles of trail in 5 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Ahtanum Youth Activities Park, at 70 acres.
| Union Gap | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.8 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 5.4% | 4% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Reservation Park | 1.3 mi | 43 |
| 2. Ahtanum Youth Activities Park | 0.1 mi | 70 |
| 3. Fullbright Park | 0.1 mi | 52 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Union Gap. Close and well known come first.
3 mi MuseumYakima Electric Railway Museum
37 mi National Historical ParkManhattan Project National Historical Park56K visitors a year
36 mi State parkGinkgo Petrified Forest State Park
3 mi TheatreCapitol Theatre
2 mi GardenYakima Area ArboretumYakima Electric Railway Museum: Steve Morgan, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Manhattan Project National Historical Park: Unknown, Public domain · Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park: No machine-readable author provided. Justinleif~commonswiki assumed (based on co, Public domain · Capitol Theatre: User:Cacophony, CC BY 2.5 · Yakima Area Arboretum: Bobjgalindo, CC BY-SA 3.0
4 within 15 miles of the center of Union Gap
About 4 of every 100 Union Gap residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Washington.
2 places in Union Gap on the National Register of Historic Places.
City in Washington, United States
Union Gap is a city in Yakima County, Washington, United States. The population was 6,568 at the 2020 census. Union Gap has become the retail hub for the entire Yakima Valley as a result of Valley Mall and other thriving businesses being located here. Part of the city is within the Yakama Nation.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Union Gap.
Ahtanum reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Union Gap with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Union Gap grades D− overall, in the bottom 2% of U.S. towns and #281 of 285 in Washington. It grades C− for health, D− for safety and C− for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a D−.
That is 3.7 years of the area's median household income ($70,656 across the Yakima, WA metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
