Kelso is a somewhat small coastal city (ie. on the ocean or tidally-influenced rivers) located in the state of Washington. With a population of 12,034 people and six constituent neighborhoods, Kelso is the 75th largest community in Washington.

Kelso is neither predominently blue-collar or white-collar, instead having a mixed workforce of both blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Overall, Kelso is a city of service providers, sales and office workers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Kelso who work in office and administrative support jobs (12.94%), sales jobs (9.67%), and food service (7.08%).

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

Residents of the city have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 18.70 minutes getting to work every day.

Kelso Information and Demographics

In Kelso, just 10.27% of people have at least a bachelor's degree, which is quite a bit lower than the national average for cities and towns of 14.96%.

The per capita income in Kelso in 2000 was $15,162, which is lower middle income relative to Washington and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $60,648 for a family of four.

The people who call Kelso home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Kelso is White, followed by Native American. Important ancestries of people in Kelso include German, Irish, English, Norwegian, French, Swedish, and Scottish.

The most common language spoken in Kelso is English. Some people also speak Spanish.