Washington County
Rhode Island · County seat: South Kingstown · Independent city (not a county)
FIPS code 44009 is Washington County, Rhode Island. With a population of 129,998 (2022 ACS estimate), it ranks #3 in Rhode Island and #493 nationally. Washington County is part of the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA. The state FIPS code for Rhode Island is 44. This code is used in Census Bureau, BLS, EPA, HUD, and USDA federal datasets to identify this county.
County FIPS
44009
Population
129,998
2022 ACS · #493 nationally
Density
394.8/mi²
people per sq mile
Land Area
329
sq miles
Urban/Rural
Metro — 1M+ population
RUCC 1
How This FIPS Code Works
The 5-digit FIPS code 44009 is formed by combining the 2-digit state identifier 44 (Rhode Island) with the 3-digit county identifier 009. Together they uniquely identify Washington County in every US federal dataset. No two counties share the same 5-digit FIPS code.
Census ACS Data for FIPS 44009
From the 2022 ACS 5-year estimates — the same values you'd retrieve by querying the Census API with county FIPS 44009.
Median Household Income
$99,510
ACS B19013_001E
Poverty Rate
7.9%
ACS B17001 (below poverty level)
Median Age
44.9
ACS B01002_001E
Metropolitan Area
Adjacent Counties (4)
Counties that share a border with Washington County. Useful for regional analysis — these are the geographies you'd typically include when studying labor markets, commuting zones, or environmental spillovers around FIPS 44009.
Federal Datasets Using Code 44009
FIPS code 44009 appears as the county identifier in the following federal datasets. Analysts joining data across these sources use this code as the common geographic key.
Using FIPS Code 44009 in Code
Common patterns for querying federal datasets by this county's FIPS code. The leading zeros are significant — always treat FIPS codes as strings, not integers.
import requests
url = "https://api.census.gov/data/2022/acs/acs5"
params = {
"get": "NAME,B19013_001E,B01003_001E",
"for": "county:009",
"in": "state:44",
"key": "YOUR_CENSUS_API_KEY",
}
r = requests.get(url, params=params)
data = r.json() # [[header...], [Washington County, Rhode Island, income, pop, ...]
-- 5-digit combined FIPS (state + county)
SELECT * FROM your_table WHERE county_fips = '44009';
-- Some datasets store state and county separately
SELECT * FROM your_table
WHERE state_fips = '44'
AND county_fips = '009';
-- ⚠ Never cast to integer — leading zeros are lost:
-- county_fips = 44009 is WRONG for this county
library(tidycensus)
get_acs(
geography = "county",
variables = c(income = "B19013_001E", pop = "B01003_001E"),
state = "44",
county = "009",
year = 2022
)
ZIP Codes in Washington County
ZIP codes do not align perfectly with county boundaries — a single ZIP code can span multiple counties, and a county can contain parts of many ZIP codes. The ratios below (from the Census 2020 ZCTA relationship file) show the land area share of each ZCTA that falls within Washington County. Why FIPS ≠ ZIP →
| ZIP Code | % in county |
|---|---|
| 02804 | 100.0% |
| 02807 | 100.0% |
| 02808 | 100.0% |
| 02812 | 100.0% |
| 02813 | 100.0% |
| 02822 | 100.0% |
| 02832 | 100.0% |
| 02833 | 100.0% |
| 02836 | 100.0% |
| 02852 | 100.0% |
| 02873 | 100.0% |
| 02874 | 100.0% |
| 02875 | 100.0% |
| 02879 | 100.0% |
| 02881 | 100.0% |
| 02882 | 100.0% |
| 02891 | 100.0% |
| 02892 | 100.0% |
| 02894 | 100.0% |
| 02898 | 100.0% |