West Richland & Benton City See Biggest Population Gains in Tri-Cities Area

Washington’s Office of Financial Management recently released its annual population estimates (PDF) for the state, and the entire Tri-Cities area is growing…but the fastest growth is happening in West Richland and Benton City.

Both of those cities have seen population rise 9.5% between the 2020 federal census and this year’s OFM estimate. It makes sense since they have the smallest population bases of the five local cities in OFM’s report. Kennewick, the local city with the highest population, saw the smallest growth rate at 3%. Here’s how it looks for the Tri-Cities, plus West Richland, Prosser, and Benton City:

• West Richland: up 9.5% (16,295 to 17,840)
• Benton City: up 9.5% 3,479 to 3,810)
• Prosser: up 6.3% (6,062 to 6,445)
• Pasco: up 5.4% (77,108 to 81,280)
• Richland: up 4.6% (60,560 to 63,320)
• Kennewick: up 3% (83,921 to 86,470)

If you want to compare our growth to a couple of our distant neighbors, Yakima’s population is up 1.7% in this same timeframe and Walla Walla’s is up just 0.7%. You can see the OFM’s full city-by-city breakdown in this PDF.

At the county level, Benton County’s population estimate is up 4.7% from the 2020 census, while Franklin County’s is up 4.5%. The overall estimated population in both counties sits at 316,600.