menu
Data on this report is based on areas within the legal city boundary, outlined in black on the map. Any additional neighborhoods shown on the map are associated with the city by name and are included for reference only.

Burien, WA
Real Estate & Demographic Data






Burien profile


Living in Burien



Burien is a larger medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Washington. With a population of 50,806 people and 12 associated neighborhoods, Burien is the 25th largest community in Washington.

Burien home prices are not only among the most expensive in Washington, but Burien real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.

Also of interest is that Burien has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

A relatively large number of people in Burien telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 13.72% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

One of the nice things about Burien is that it is nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities.

For the size of the city, public transportation in Burien is quite heavily used. Mostly, people who use it for their daily commute are taking the bus. For Burien, the benefits are reduced air pollution and congestion on the highways.

In terms of college education, Burien is substantially better educated than the typical community in the nation, which has 21.84% of the adults holding a bachelor's degree or graduate degree: 29.90% of adults in Burien have a college degree.

The per capita income in Burien in 2018 was $46,834, which is upper middle income relative to Washington, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $187,336 for a family of four. However, Burien contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Burien is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Burien home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Burien residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Burien also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 21.89% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Burien include German, Irish, English, Italian, and Norwegian.

Foreign born people are also an important part of Burien's cultural character, accounting for 23.59% of the city’s population.

The most common language spoken in Burien is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Vietnamese.