Rhode Island cities and towns

This directory lists every place the US Census Bureau tabulates in Rhode Island, ranked from the largest to the smallest by population. Incorporated cities, towns and villages appear alongside census-designated places (CDPs) — unincorporated communities that have no local government of their own but are counted separately because they have a recognised name and settled population. The suffix in each name ("city", "town", "village", "CDP") is the Census legal/statistical description, which is why you will see entries such as "Providence city".

The largest place in Rhode Island is Providence city with 190,214 residents, and the 36 places on this page hold 678,634 people between them. Median household income across the listed places runs from $45,921 to $131,006, and median home values range from $235,600 to $2,000,001 — a spread that shows how much local housing markets diverge inside a single state.

Every figure comes from the American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year five-year estimates, which average survey responses over sixty months. That averaging is what makes small towns measurable at all, but it also means the numbers describe the period as a whole rather than today. Blank cells are estimates the Census suppressed because the local sample was too small to publish reliably. Select any place to open its full profile with affordability ratios, poverty and homeownership rates, and links to nearby communities of similar size.

Population in Rhode Island is tightly clustered: the ten largest places carry 88% of the 678,634 residents counted across all 36. Providence city sets the pace and everything outside the top ten is genuinely small, so statewide averages describe the cluster rather than the state. The median row holds just 2,614 residents. At that scale margins of error widen sharply, and a single large household or seasonal population can shift a median.

On housing, Rhode Island tracks the national pattern closely: $362,700 median home value against $94,567 median income, a ratio of 3.8 versus 3.9 nationally. Rent stays modest against earnings — $1,243 a month, roughly 16% of median household income over a year. The statewide midpoint hides real variation, though — that is what the spread below is for.

Middle-of-the-road dispersion: $66,016 to $113,281 across the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band, a 1.72× spread. Cumberland Hill CDP tops the list at $131,006 and Central Falls city anchors the bottom at $45,921, but those two are not where most of this list sits.

About one row in 13 is incomplete — 3 of 36 places have a suppressed estimate, almost all of them at the small end. Five-year estimates average responses over sixty months, so what is published is a stable baseline rather than a reading of this month's market.

How many places does Rhode Island have? 36 appear in the current federal tabulation, counting incorporated cities, towns and villages together with census-designated places — unincorporated communities with no local government of their own. The legal suffix in each name is the Census description, which is how two communities can share a name.

Which Rhode Island row should I compare mine against? Not the state median — it is pulled by the Rhode Island core. Compare against places in the same population band, which for most of this list means the entries below the top ten.

How current is this? Every figure comes from the American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year release published by the US Census Bureau, ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimates. It reflects the full survey window rather than a single date, and it is the most recent vintage available for places this small.