Demographics of Rainier Valley
Population
Race
As of the 2010 Census, the population of Rainier Valley was nearly 84,000. Rainier Valley has only grown 0.8% in the last ten years, while the City of Seattle has grown in size by 8%. The Rainier Valley has a marginally larger proportion of women (51%) than men (49%).
Historically, the Rainier Valley has been populated largely by minority groups from a wide variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. From 1960 to 1970 the white population in the Rainier Valley dropped by 20%, while the percentage of blacks — including both African Americans and African immigrants —increased to 29% of the total. By 2000, the percentage of white residents in the Rainier Valley had fallen to 20% and the percentage of blacks had fallen to 23%. This is explained by the huge influx of Asian residents, who made up 38% of the population by 2000. Between 2000 and 2010, the percentage of white residents increased by 5%, most drastically in the census tracts that include NewHolly and Othello. In this same time period, the proportion of Asians has decreased 3% and the proportion of blacks has decreased 1%.
Although the region is very diverse overall, there are clusters of racial groups within particular parts of Rainier Valley. For instance, according to 2010 Census data:
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34% of Rainier Valley’s white population lives in the three northeastern-most census tracts along the shore of Lake Washington;
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33% of Rainier Valley’s African American population lived in the three southern-most census tracts; and
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32% of Rainier Valley’s Asian population could be found in three census tracts west of Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Way on either side of Graham Street running up Beacon Hill.
Housing Characteristics
The makeup and ownership of housing differs significantly between the City of Seattle and the southeast district. The average household size of owner-occupied units in Rainier Valley is 2.78, with renter-occupied units housing 2.68 persons, or an average family between 2 and 4. The family size across Seattle is smaller, with typical owner occupied units housing 2.35 persons and renter-occupied units housing 1.85 persons, or between 1-3. 57% of Rainier Valley residents own their own homes. This compares to a home ownership rate of 47% across the entire City of Seattle.
Educational Achievement
The average education level in the Rainier Valley falls far behind that of the rest of Seattle, as shown in the figure below. As a district, only 81% of Rainier Valley residents over the age of 25 have graduated from high school as compared to 94% of the entire City of Seattle. Also, the Rainier Valley's rate of bachelor degree attainment (37%) is much lower than the City of Seattle’s rate (60%)
Neighborhood Representation
In 2013, voters of Seattle passed a measure to change the City charter to elect 7 of the 9 city councilmembers on a district basis. The first election with this new district system was November 2015. Prior to this measure, all City Council seats were elected city-wide. The goal of moving to district boundaries is that the city council would be more responsive to neighborhood concerns. This is especially important for neighborhoods in the south of Seattle with lower incomes, lower educational attainment, and lower voting participation rates.