Rhode Island Population and Demographics
Are you tired of spending 10+ hours searching for demographic and population data for Rhode Island? We have all of the data you need by state, county, city, and zip code that will save you many hours of research!
In this article, we'll explore most of the 190+ data points we have for Rhode Island, covering popular demographics statistics like household income, race, age and gender, educational attainment, poverty, housing, and transportation.
The data on this page is from the 2022 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year survey from the US Census Bureau.
Richest Zip Codes in Rhode Island
In the table below, we've ranked the richest zip codes in Rhode Island based on the average (or mean) household income. To do this, we only look at zip codes that have a population of at least 500 people and a reasonable margin of error for the data.
If the margin of error for the mean income is greater than 50% of the estimate, we don't use it. This is to try and make the data less likely to be skewed by outliers with very small population areas or estimates that are not very accurate.
To view details demographics data for a specific zip code, click on the link in the table above. You can also read our article here on the richest zip codes in Rhode Island.
Richest Cities in Rhode Island
We can also find the same information for the richest cities in Rhode Island. The table below ranks the top 10 cities in Rhode Island by average household income by using the same criteria as we did with the zip codes.
To view details demographics data for a specific city, click on the link in the table above. You can also read our article here on the richest cities in Rhode Island.
Median Household Income
According to the latest ACS 5-year survey in 2022, the median household income in Rhode Island is $81,370.00.
The chart below shows the average household income by age in Rhode Island.
Average Household Income
A very commonly asked question is "what is the average household income in Rhode Island?". The official term for the average household income is the mean household income. The mean household income is the total income of all households divided by the number of households.
The average (or mean) household income in Rhode Island is $106,511.00.
11.31% of households in Rhode Island are classed as high income households (making $200,000+ per year).
The difference between a median and an average income
The difference between a median and mean household income is that the median income is the middle point of the set of numbers whereas the mean income is an average of all numbers.
Both metrics are important when looking at the income statistics for Rhode Island but because the median value doesn't depend on other numbers in the dataset, it doesn't change as much when some of the values are extremely low or extremely high.
Household Income Tiers for Rhode Island
We can also look at the household income tiers. This lets you see how many households fall into each of the earnings brackets and what percentage that bracket is of the total number of households.
The chart below shows the household income brackets to see which age groups have the highest median income. The actual data is more granular than these brackets, but we've simplified them into bigger categories to make reviewing the data for Rhode Island easier to view.
You can purchase the raw data above, which will have the full income tiers with smaller jumps in household income.
Per Capita Income
The per capita income is the average income of all people in Rhode Island. This is calculated by dividing the total income of all people in Rhode Island by the total number of people in Rhode Island.
It differs from the average or mean household income because it includes all people in Rhode Island and not just the people who earn an income (i.e. children, retirees, unemployed, etc.).
The per capita income in Rhode Island is $43,324.00.
Population in Rhode Island by Race and Ethnicity
The total population in Rhode Island is currently 1,094,250 people.
The race and ethnicity of the population in Rhode Island can be very important for social research, economics, and marketing to a multi-culturial society.
Whether you want to target products or services to a particular race or ethnicity, or provide housing and new businesses to improve areas with a larger ethnic minority population, this data is very valuable for discovering suitable areas.
The chart below breaks down the population and percentage for each race and ethnicity in Rhode Island.
Population of Rhode Island by Age and Gender
Another very important demographics statistic for Rhode Island is the age and gender of the population. The age and gender of the population can be used to track trends in population growth or decline, and for businesses, the data can be used to identify people important to you and your business need.
In the table below, we show age groups at a 10 year granularity for ease of use. The raw data, which can be purchased above, includes age and gender at a 5 year granularity.
Education Levels
Educational attainment is a very useful statistic that can give insights into other data such as the average household income, unemployment levels, and literacy.
What this means is that it is likely for areas that have higher levels of education to have higher average household incomes, lower unemployment rates, and higher literacy rates.
The chart below shows the educational attainment of the population in Rhode Island.
Unemployment Rates
The unemployment rate is the percentage of the population that is actively looking for work but is unable to find a job. The unemployment rate is a very important statistic for Rhode Island because it can show how many people are actively looking for work and how many people are unable to find a job.
Lower levels of unemployment is generally seen as a positive sign for the economy. It also makes the government in Rhode Island look good because it shows that they are doing a good job of creating jobs, working to capacity, being efficient, and keeping the economy strong.
The unemployment rate is calculated using the total population in Rhode Island that are over the age of 16.
The current population in Rhode Island that are over the age of 16 is 912,516 people.
The unemployment rate in Rhode Island is 5.90%, which means 34,616 people are unemployed.
Median Age in Rhode Island
The median age is an interesting metric because it gives us an idea of the age distribution of people in Rhode Island. You know when you see a median age that it is the age where half of the population is older and half is younger than it.
For demographic studies, this can be used to infer and compare date to things such as birth rates, the age of parents, and so on.
An increasing median age can be a sign of an aging population, which can be a sign of a declining population. This is because older people tend to have fewer children and die more often than younger people.
The median age in Rhode Island is 40.1 years old.
We can also look at the median age by gender to compare the see how each group compares to the total median age:
Median age by gender in Rhode Island
40.1
Total
38.6
Male
41.5
Female
Households and Families
There are a total of 432,219 households in Rhode Island, and the average household size is 2.43 people.
For families, the total number is 265,601, and the average family size is 3.05 people.
7.20% of those families in Rhode Island are living below the poverty line.
The table below shows the poverty thresholds for Rhode Island in .
Please note that the poverty thresholds shown above are from , while the latest demographics data we have is from 2022.
Households and Families by Marital Status
There are four types of household and family, as defined by the Census Bureau:
- Married-couple
- Male householder, no spouse present
- Female householder, no spouse present
- Nonfamily household
In the table below, you can see the total households and families in Rhode Island for each type, as well as the average sizes.
Housing Data in Rhode Island
There are total of 483,053 housing units in Rhode Island. Of those units, 432,219 (89.48%) are occupied, and 50,834 (10.52%) are vacant.
Rental Rates
Of the 483,053 housing units in Rhode Island, 154,949 (32.08%) are occupied by renters. The median rent paid by renters is $1,195.00.
Owner occupied housing units make up the remaining 56.09% of housing units, with 270,950 housing units in total.
The table below breaks down how much rent is paid by renters in Rhode Island.
Property Values
The median value of a property in Rhode Island is $343,100.00.
The table below breaks down the range of valuations for all properties in Rhode Island.
Property Age
We can also look at the number of properties built in a given year to see the spread of property age in Rhode Island.
Vehicles Available per Household
Finally, we have data on how many vehicles each household in Rhode Island has. The table below breaks down the number of vehicles available per household.
Commuting to Work in Rhode Island
The time and means of commuting to work are useful metrics to look at because they can be correlated against other data such as income and education level.
Does a longer commuting time indicate a higher average income? If so, has the huge increase in home working during the pandemic changed this?
Using these metrics, we can get a better understanding of the demographics of Rhode Island, how they commute, and how that correlates to other data points.
The average travel time is 25.3 minutes, and the chart below covers the range of travel times across the population of Rhode Island.
We can also look at the means of transport in Rhode Island to see which modes of transport people are using to commute to work.
Conclusion
Hopefully this article has given you the demographics data you were looking for in Rhode Island.
If you need more demographics data, or you need the data listed above in spreadsheet form with more granular grouping, head back to the top of this page where you can purchase the complete demographics data for Rhode Island.