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Orchards.

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29,438people live here $100,146median household income▲ 24% above US $1,784median rent per month▲ 26% above US $461,700median home value▲ 39% above US

Orchards is an unincorporated community in Clark County, WA. It has no city government: the county runs it, and the Census counts it as its own place.

What it's like to live in Orchards

Orchards is an unincorporated community in Washington with household incomes running above the national average and air quality that stays clean most of the year. Those factors carry real weight for anyone weighing where to move next.

The tradeoffs are worth naming plainly. Orchards deals with rent well above the national average, home prices well above the national average, larger class sizes than the national average, and a car-dependent commute, with few people using transit.

The good

Higher-than-average incomes
Clean air

The not so good

Rent well above the national average
High home prices
High student-teacher ratio
Car-dependent — few commuters use transit

How Orchards compares

Median household income

Orchards$100,146

Washington avg$98,141

US$80,734

Median rent (per month)

Orchards$1,784

Washington avg$1,760

US$1,413

Median home value

Orchards$461,700

Washington avg$564,600

US$332,700

What it takes to move to Orchards

Based on Orchards's median rent, home value and household income

To rent

$3,568

up front: first month plus a typical one-month deposit

Income to keep rent under 30%: $71,360 a year
46% of Orchards renters spend 30% or more of their income on rent

To buy

$92,340

a 20% down payment on the median home

With 10% down: $46,170
Homes cost 4.6× the typical local household income (US: 4.1×)

Moving costs, closing costs and taxes not included.

The details

Cost of living▲ 26% above US

$1,784/mo median rent

Rent runs on the higher side, at $1,784 a month median. Whether that premium makes sense usually comes down to the local job market and what it pays. Home prices run above average, with a median around $461,700. Buyers should expect to stretch their budget here.

Median home value $461,700 · 46% of renters cost-burdened

Job market

4.5% county unemployment

Unemployment in Clark County is 4.5%, close to the national average of 4.3%. That's the county-wide rate; BLS doesn't measure a place this size on its own.

Clark County (county-wide)

Safety

144 violent crimes per 100k, whole jurisdiction

Orchards doesn't have its own police department, so there's no crime rate for it alone. The figures shown are for the Clark County Sheriff's Office jurisdiction as a whole, which runs below the national average for violent crime and covers many communities. Individual neighborhoods can differ a lot from that overall rate.

Property crime 912/100k · Policed by Clark County Sheriff's Office (county-wide rate) · 2024 data

Getting aroundNear US average

26 min average commute

Commutes run about average, at 25.5 minutes. Fine day to day, but it adds up over a year, and where someone lives relative to where they work starts to matter. 8 in 10 workers drive to work; 15% work from home.

How workers get to work

Drive alone

73%

Work from home

15%

Carpool

9.1%

Other

2.0%

Walk

0.5%

Public transit

0.4%

Climate

Summers are comfortable, with highs around 76°F, and winters are cold, with lows around 32°F and snow a regular occurrence. Rainfall is regular throughout the year.

Average month

High °FLow °FPrecip (in)

30-year averages, 1991–2020

Education & workforce▼ 31% below US

25% bachelor's degree or higher

College degree attainment runs below average at 25%. That tends to reflect a more trade and working-class economy, which can be great or limiting depending on the industry.

Schools

3 public schools inside the boundary

There are 3 public schools inside the boundary and 1 private school. The student-to-teacher ratio is 19:1, slightly above the national average of 16:1.

Parks & recreation

The nearest national park or historic site is Fort Vancouver National Historic Site (8 miles away). There are 3 national parks and sites within a day's drive.

Bottom line

Orchards's strongest points are household incomes running above the national average and air quality that stays clean most of the year; the main tradeoffs are rent well above the national average and home prices well above the national average. A year of median rent ($1,784/mo) equals 21% of the median household income here, about the same as the 21% typical nationwide. It tends to suit remote workers (15% of workers here already work from home). It may be a harder fit for renters on a tight budget and anyone who doesn't drive.

See all the data for Orchards →·All Washington cities →