Present

West Warwick is a small town with a big population, ranking 10th out of 39 cities and towns in Rhode Island. It has just under 8 square miles of land, which is mainly a valley carved out by the Pawtuxet river. Many mills developed along the river in the past and still exist today.

Most notably, there is the Original Bradford Soap Works, where soap is manufactured, including Dove, Lever, Zest and Ponds.

The West Warwick Industrial Park off of Route 2, Bald Hill Rd, a busy shopping area, houses a variety of businesses. The addition of an exit off of Route 95 in recent years exits commuters directly into the heart of the business area, making this location attractive to future business development.

The West Warwick school system is comprehensive including four elementary schools, middle school and high school.

For recreation there is Riverpoint park, which includes a riverwalk along the Pawtuxet river and an adjacent bike path.

Some facts:

Population:
April 1, 2000: 29,581
This represented a 1.07% increase (313 persons) from the 1990 population of 29,268.


Rank:
Year 2000: 10th among 39 cities and towns of RI


Median Age:
Year 2000: 36.4


Age Distribution:
2000: 77.6% or 22,949 18 years of age or older
21,835 were 21 and over
4,776 were 62 and over
4,165 were 65 and over


Population Density:
3,729 persons per square mile of land area.

West Warwick contains:
7.93 square miles of land area
(20,547,226 Sq. meters) (5,077.37 acres)
0.18 square miles of water area
(465,550 square meters)


Housing Units:
April 1, 2000:13,186.
This represented an increase of 698 units from the 12,488 housing units in 1990.

Of the 13,186 housing units 688 were vacant. 71 of the vacant units were for seasonal of recreational use.


Households:
2000:12,498 households in West Warwick with an average size of 2.35 persons.

Of these, 7,700 were family households with an average family size of 2.97 persons.


Race:
2000: Total Population of One Race: 29,025
White: 27,740
Black of African American: 328
American Indian and Alaska Native: 105
Asian: 420
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander: 7
Some Other Race: 425

Total Population of two or More Races: 556
Hispanic or Latino:
2000: 918 This represented 3.1% of the population.
An increase of 376 or 69.4% from the 1980 Hispanic population of 542.

Source: RI Economic Development Corporation