LivingCostFacts / county

Cowlitz County, WA: cost of living

Compare HUD rent benchmarks with household income in Cowlitz County, Washington. These figures describe area-wide conditions rather than a personal budget.

Longview-Kelso, WA metro RPP: 97.5 (BEA 2024; U.S. = 100). Regional context, not a county-specific price estimate.

BEA 2024 · HUD FY2027 · ACS 2020–2024 · CPI through 2026-10

$1,398
2BR monthly rent

HUD FY2027

21.9%
Rent / household income

Annual 2BR FMR ÷ ACS median income

$76,531
Median household income

ACS 2020–2024

$397,500
Median home value

Owner-occupied homes, ACS 2020–2024

Read the local picture

Fair Market Rent (FMR) is HUD’s estimate of the 40th percentile gross rent for standard-quality rental homes occupied by recent movers. It includes rent and most tenant-paid utilities. A household’s actual rent can differ substantially by neighborhood, lease and property.

2BR rent: county vs state vs US

HUD FY2027 monthly gross FMR. State and U.S. values are population-weighted county means. Dollars per month.

  1. Cowlitz County$1,398
  2. Washington$2,044
  3. United States$1,761
0$2,044

Put the benchmark in context

The rent-to-income comparison uses 12 months of the 2BR FMR divided by median household income. It compares different vintages and all household types; it is not the share of renter households that are cost burdened.

Annual income vs annual 2BR rent

ACS 2020–2024 median household income and 12 × HUD FY2027 2BR FMR. Dollars per year; separate vintages and household groups.

  1. Median household income$76,531
  2. Annual 2BR rent$16,776
0$76,531

Income remaining after this rent benchmark is $59,755 per year, before taxes, food, transport, health care and other expenses.

This county or equivalent belongs to the Longview-Kelso, WA metro area. Its 2024 metro-wide all-items RPP is 97.5. A metro RPP is not a county-specific price estimate.

A matching metro wage page is unavailable on JobPayFacts; the wage link provides state context instead.

The data in view

Monthly rent by bedroom

HUD FY2027 gross monthly FMR; includes most tenant-paid utilities. Dollars per month.

  1. Studio$974
  2. 1 bedroom$1,124
  3. 2 bedrooms$1,398
  4. 3 bedrooms$1,936
  5. 4 bedrooms$2,337
0$2,337

Longview-Kelso, WA: RPP components

BEA 2024 regional context; each category is compared with its own U.S. = 100 benchmark. These are not county price estimates or spending shares.

  1. All items97.5
  2. Goods105.0
  3. Housing rents82.5
  4. Utilities98.5
  5. Other services99.5
0105.0

Black marker: U.S. benchmark = 100 in each row.

Monthly Fair Market Rent by bedroom

HUD 40th percentile gross rent for standard-quality units; includes tenant-paid utilities except telephone, cable and internet. These are benchmarks, not asking-rent medians.

Home sizeFY2027 monthly gross rent
Studio$974
1 bedroom$1,124
2 bedrooms$1,398
3 bedrooms$1,936
4 bedrooms$2,337

Homeownership and population

Property taxes are for owner-occupied homes, not a renter charge. A + marks a Census top-coded estimate.

MeasureValue
Median annual real estate taxes paid$3,245
Population used for weighting (HUD pop2024)112,360

Compare rent and income

State and U.S. rents are population-weighted means of available county benchmarks; income is the published ACS median.

Area2BR rent / monthMedian household income
Cowlitz County$1,398$76,531
Washington$2,044$98,141
United States$1,761$80,734