Living in Rochester, WA
Rochester is a big small town of 5,834 people in Thurston County, Washington. It's about 17 miles from Olympia, WA and 65 miles from Seattle, WA, the nearest major city. Summer highs average 78°F and winter highs 46°F, with about 4 inches of snow a year. The typical home is valued around $445k and rent runs about $1k a month.
5,834people
$445kTypical home
$1,161/moRent
78° / 46°Summer / winter
4"Snow
169Sunny days
170Rain/snow days
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Size & setting
- Big small town of 5,834
- Its own small hub, not a suburb
- About 689 people per sq mi
- 65 mi to Seattle, WA
- 17 mi to Olympia, WA
- 8 mi to the nearest town of 10k+
Money
- Typical home $445k (≈$2,808/mo)
- Median rent $1,161/mo
- Median household income $99k
- Property tax about 0.8% of value
- 3.0% unemployment
Weather
- Summer highs around 78°F
- Winter highs around 46°F
- Comfortable summers (dew point 55°F)
- 169 sunny days a year (59 totally clear)
- 196 cloudy days a year
- 66 of 90 winter days are gray
- 170 days a year with rain or snow
- 4" of snow a year
- 1 days a year with 1"+ of snow
- Rarely hits 100°F
- Rarely drops below 10°F
- Usually calm
Safety
- Low violent crime (253 per 100k), county-wide
- Low property crime (1,319 per 100k), county-wide
People
- Median age 43
- 33% of households have kids
- 18% are 65 or older
- 19% have a college degree
- Mixed community
- 2% of residents are college students
Getting around & homes
- Average commute 34 min
- 1% walk or take transit to work
- 13 mi to OLM airport
- 56 mi to SEA (major hub)
- 17 mi to the nearest Amtrak station
- 63% single-family homes
- Typical home built around 1994
- 98% of homes have broadband
Outdoors
- Gently rolling terrain
- Elevation 154 ft
- 17 mi to the ocean
- 149 mi to a big lake
- 7 mi to the nearest trailhead
- 74 mi to the nearest ski area
- 7 mi to the nearest campground
- 17 golf courses within 25 mi
Things to do
- 235 sit-down restaurants within 25 mi
- 24 bars within 25 mi
- 130 coffee shops within 25 mi
- No music venues & clubs within 25 mi
- 20 museums within 25 mi
- 6 breweries & distilleries within 25 mi
- 17 mi to the nearest farmers market
Everyday
- Schools in the bottom 44% of Washington districts (reading)
- 2 mi to the nearest grocery store
- 9 mi to the nearest ER hospital
- 36 mi to a 4–5★ hospital
- Vet in town
- 8 mi to the nearest dog park
- 4 congregations per 10k people
- 17 mi to the nearest college
Politics
- Thurston County: D+20 in 2024
- Washington: D+18 in 2024
Natural hazards
- Very low hurricane risk
- Very low tornado risk
- Very low wildfire risk
- High earthquake risk
- Very low flood risk
- Very low drought risk
- Low winter storm risk
- Low heat wave risk
- High volcano risk