{"id":7343,"date":"2023-08-30T09:34:10","date_gmt":"2023-08-30T09:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/?p=7343"},"modified":"2026-08-07T18:59:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T18:59:42","slug":"kent-county-rhode-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/kent-county-rhode-island\/","title":{"rendered":"Kent County, Rhode Island"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Kent County is a county in Rhode Island, United States, about 13 miles south of downtown<br \/>\nProvidence on the west shore of Narragansett Bay. It had a population of 170,363 at the 2020<br \/>\ncensus, an estimated 173,495 by 2025, and covers 188 square miles (490 km2) centred near<br \/>\n41\u00b041\u2032N 71\u00b035\u2032W.<\/p>\n<p>East Greenwich is the county seat; its postal code is 02818. The county holds 1 city and 4<br \/>\ntowns &mdash; Warwick, Coventry, East Greenwich, West Greenwich and West Warwick &mdash; and it<br \/>\nruns on Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 44003.<\/p>\n<h2>Towns &amp; Villages in Kent County<\/h2>\n<p>Kent County has six named places on record: its five municipalities (one city and four towns)<br \/>\nand one census-designated place. CDP stands for census designated place, an unincorporated<br \/>\ncommunity the Census Bureau maps for statistical purposes; Rhode Island towns hold no separate<br \/>\nincorporated villages beneath them, so every other named locality in the county is an informal<br \/>\nneighborhood, not a distinct governmental or Census unit.<\/p>\n<div class=\"tv-table-scroll\">\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Place<\/th>\n<th>Type<\/th>\n<th>Pop.<\/th>\n<th>ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Warwick<\/td>\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>82,823<\/td>\n<td>02886&ndash;02889<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Coventry<\/td>\n<td>Town<\/td>\n<td>35,688<\/td>\n<td>02816<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>West Warwick<\/td>\n<td>Town<\/td>\n<td>31,012<\/td>\n<td>02893<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>East Greenwich<\/td>\n<td>Town &middot; seat<\/td>\n<td>14,312<\/td>\n<td>02818<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>West Greenwich<\/td>\n<td>Town<\/td>\n<td>6,528<\/td>\n<td>02817<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Greene<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>914<\/td>\n<td>02827<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>Greene sits entirely inside Coventry&#8217;s southwest corner, a former Hartford, Providence and<br \/>\nFishkill Railroad depot village that keeps its own ZIP code and Census designation despite having<br \/>\nno government of its own. Warwick&#8217;s named neighborhoods &mdash; Apponaug, Buttonwoods,<br \/>\nCowesett, Governor Francis Farms, Greenwood, Hillsgrove, Lakewood, Oakland Beach, Pontiac,<br \/>\nPotowomut and Warwick Neck among some 34 in all &mdash; and West Warwick&#8217;s mill villages of<br \/>\nArctic, Centerville, Crompton, Lippitt, Natick, Phenix and River Point are historic mill and<br \/>\nshore communities, not Census-tracked places, so no reliable separate population or ZIP figure<br \/>\nexists for any of them.<\/p>\n<h2>ZIP Codes<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>02886&ndash;02889 &mdash; Warwick (four ZIPs cover the city&#8217;s east, west, north and PO<br \/>\nbox ranges)<\/li>\n<li>02816 &mdash; Coventry<\/li>\n<li>02818 &mdash; East Greenwich<\/li>\n<li>02817 &mdash; West Greenwich<\/li>\n<li>02893 &mdash; West Warwick<\/li>\n<li>02827 &mdash; Greene<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>None of Warwick&#8217;s or West Warwick&#8217;s historic mill villages &mdash; Apponaug,<br \/>\nNatick, Phenix, Crompton and the rest &mdash; carry a ZIP of their own; mail there is delivered<br \/>\nunder the parent town&#8217;s code.<\/p>\n<h2>Geography<\/h2>\n<p>Kent County sits in Rhode Island&#8217;s central lowland, a belt of gently rolling terrain<br \/>\nbetween the Narragansett Bay shoreline and the hillier Appalachian upland to the west. Of its 188<br \/>\nsquare miles, 169 are land and 20 are water, about 11 percent &mdash; high for an inland county,<br \/>\ndriven by Warwick&#8217;s long shoreline on Narragansett Bay and Greenwich Bay. The Pawtuxet River<br \/>\ncrosses the county west to east through Coventry, West Warwick and Warwick before reaching the<br \/>\nbay, and its mill-town villages grew up along the river&#8217;s falls. The Flat River Reservoir,<br \/>\nknown locally as Johnson&#8217;s Pond, in Coventry is the county&#8217;s largest inland body of<br \/>\nwater.<\/p>\n<p>Providence County lies to the north, Washington County to the south, Narragansett Bay and<br \/>\nNewport County to the east, and Connecticut to the west. <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/providence-county\/\">Providence County<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/washington-county-rhode-island\/\">Washington County<\/a> and <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/newport-county\/\">Newport County<\/a> all border Kent County<br \/>\ndirectly.<\/p>\n<h2>Demographics<\/h2>\n<p>Kent County had a population of 170,363 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts the<br \/>\ncounty near 173,495 residents. Warwick and Coventry are by far the two largest communities,<br \/>\ntogether holding more than two-thirds of the county&#8217;s population. Median household income<br \/>\nvaries sharply by town: East Greenwich&#8217;s $149,577 is the highest of any municipality in<br \/>\nRhode Island, while West Warwick&#8217;s $73,903 sits below the statewide figure of $84,972<br \/>\n(2023 ACS). Countywide, median household income runs $94,345, above the state figure. Population<br \/>\ndensity works out to roughly 1,008 people per square mile of land, among the densest counties in<br \/>\nRhode Island, reflecting Warwick and West Warwick&#8217;s built-up, largely suburban footprint.<\/p>\n<h2>Economy &amp; Local Life<\/h2>\n<p>Health care and social assistance employs the most workers in the county, about 14,388 people,<br \/>\nfollowed by retail trade at 13,176 and manufacturing at 10,343. Kent Hospital in Warwick and the<br \/>\nNew England Institute of Technology&#8217;s main campus in East Greenwich are among the<br \/>\ncounty&#8217;s largest employers outside retail. Warwick is also home to Rhode Island T. F. Green<br \/>\nInternational Airport, a Citizens Bank call center, UPS and Leviton Manufacturing operations, and<br \/>\nthe Community College of Rhode Island&#8217;s Warwick campus. West Warwick&#8217;s Pawtuxet River<br \/>\nmill villages, including the Lippitt Mill, trace back to some of the earliest textile mills in the<br \/>\ncountry. The county&#8217;s biggest annual event is Warwick&#8217;s Gaspee Days each June, a<br \/>\nweeks-long commemoration of the 1772 burning of the British schooner Gaspee.<\/p>\n<h2>History<\/h2>\n<p>The Rhode Island General Assembly formed Kent County in 1750, carving it from the southern<br \/>\nthird of Providence County and naming it after Kent, England. East Greenwich, chartered in 1677,<br \/>\nbecame the county seat and served as one of Rhode Island&#8217;s five rotating state capitals<br \/>\nuntil 1854. Like every Rhode Island county, Kent County has had no county government since 1846;<br \/>\nits towns and city run their own affairs, and the county today exists only as a court-and-records<br \/>\nboundary.<\/p>\n<p>In June 1772, Warwick colonists rowed out into Narragansett Bay and burned the grounded<br \/>\nBritish revenue schooner Gaspee, an act widely cited as the first armed rebellion against British<br \/>\nrule, more than a year before the Boston Tea Party. More than a century later, the Pawtuxet River<br \/>\nvalley towns of West Warwick and Coventry built their economy on textile milling, drawing French<br \/>\nCanadian and Irish immigrant labor through the early 1900s; West Warwick split off from Warwick in<br \/>\n1913 as the industrial, Democratic-leaning half of the old town. In February 2003, a fire at The<br \/>\nStation nightclub in West Warwick killed 100 people during a concert, one of the deadliest<br \/>\nnightclub fires in US history; the site is now a permanent memorial.<\/p>\n<h2>Getting There<\/h2>\n<p>Interstate 95 crosses the county&#8217;s northwest corner through Warwick, and Interstate 295<br \/>\nruns along the county&#8217;s northern edge. US 1 and US 1A, along with state routes 2, 3, 4, 5,<br \/>\n102 and 117, connect the county&#8217;s towns.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Providence &mdash; about 13 miles north<\/li>\n<li>Cranston &mdash; about 6 miles north<\/li>\n<li>North Kingstown &mdash; about 8 miles south<\/li>\n<li>Newport &mdash; about 20 miles southeast, across Narragansett Bay<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport sits inside the county in Warwick, making Kent<br \/>\nCounty one of the few in New England with its own major commercial airport. Amtrak&#8217;s<br \/>\nNortheast Corridor stops directly at the airport&#8217;s Wickford Junction-adjacent T. F. Green<br \/>\nAirport Station, with service to Providence, Boston and New York.<\/p>\n<h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Where is Kent County located?<\/strong><br \/>\nIt sits in central Rhode Island on the west shore of Narragansett Bay, about 13 miles south of<br \/>\nProvidence, bordered by Providence, Washington and Newport counties and Connecticut.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the population of Kent County?<\/strong><br \/>\n170,363 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 173,495, making it Rhode Island&#8217;s<br \/>\nsecond-most populous county.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How big is Kent County?<\/strong><br \/>\n188 square miles (490 km2), of which 169 square miles are land.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the county seat of Kent County?<\/strong><br \/>\nEast Greenwich, chartered in 1677, is the county seat, though Rhode Island counties have had no<br \/>\ncounty government since 1846.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How many towns and cities are in Kent County?<\/strong><br \/>\nFive municipalities &mdash; the city of Warwick and the towns of Coventry, East Greenwich, West<br \/>\nGreenwich and West Warwick &mdash; plus the census-designated place of Greene inside Coventry.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What ZIP codes does Kent County use?<\/strong><br \/>\n02886&ndash;02889 for Warwick, 02816 for Coventry, 02818 for East Greenwich, 02817 for West<br \/>\nGreenwich, 02893 for West Warwick and 02827 for Greene.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is Kent County known for?<\/strong><br \/>\nThe 1772 Gaspee Affair in Warwick, Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport, and the<br \/>\nPawtuxet River mill villages of West Warwick and Coventry.<\/p>\n<p>More counties in this state: <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/category\/rhode-island\/\">Towns and villages in Rhode Island<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kent County is a county in Rhode Island, United States, about 13 miles south of downtown Providence on the west shore of Narragansett Bay. It had a population of 170,363 at the 2020 census, an estimated 173,495 by 2025, and covers 188 square miles (490 km2) centred near 41\u00b041\u2032N 71\u00b035\u2032W. East Greenwich is the county [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"Towns & Villages in Kent County, Rhode Island","_seopress_titles_desc":"All 5 towns and cities in Kent County, Rhode Island plus Greene CDP - population, ZIP codes, Gaspee Days and Pawtuxet River mill history.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-7343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-rhode-island","tag-towns-and-cities","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7343"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9454,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7343\/revisions\/9454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}