BethelWA
Home to 4,394 people, this town lies in Washington.
Is Bethel a good place to live?
Health is its strong suit (A−): CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 78% of the country. Bethel’s overall B puts it 83rd of 285 in Washington. That leaves it better than 61% of U.S. towns. Schools are a strength too: its public schools beat 68% of Washington towns on state tests and graduation. What holds it back is incomes: the median household income is $80K, and 16% of residents live below the poverty line. It also trails on hazard risk: FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than nearly three quarters of U.S. communities, with earthquakes at the top. At about $474K, a typical home costs 4.5 years of the Bremerton metro’s $104K median household income. On the outdoors, just 23 of Washington’s 397 towns do worse.
Figures: health, CDC PLACES · schools, state test and graduation results · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · FEMA National Risk Index · home values, Zillow · USGS PAD-US.
98% of working residents leave Bethel for work
Where Bethel’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Bethel grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Washington), ordered by how far Bethel is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Space Needle and 135 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Bethel. Close and well known come first.
Big draw16 mi LookoutSpace Needle
Big draw15 mi Stadium & arenaClimate Pledge Arena
Big draw15 mi Stadium & arenaLumen Field
15 mi Stadium & arenaT-Mobile Park
15 mi Ancient siteSeattle Underground
Big draw27 mi National ParkOlympic National Park3.6M visitors a yearPhoto credits
Space Needle: Another Believer, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Climate Pledge Arena: Sea Cow, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Lumen Field: "Smart Destinations", GoSeattleCard.com, and Go Seattle Card Blog, CC BY-SA 2.0 · T-Mobile Park: MyName (Cacophony), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Seattle Underground: Mark Hursh, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Olympic National Park: Wsiegmund, CC BY 2.5
Moving to Bethel: who provides what
Bethel is unincorporated, so Kitsap County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 30, 2026.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Bethel.
Bethel has cooler summers than nearly all U.S. towns and sends most of its workers to Seattle and beyond.
For health, Bethel earns an A−
Among adults in Bethel, 26% have been diagnosed with depression, near the Washington town median (26%) and above the median of U.S. towns (23%). In Bethel, 17% of adults get no exercise outside work. CDC measures, 31 in all: Bethel beats Washington on 1 and trails on 3.
| Bethel | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 72% | 71% | 79% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 18% | 25% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 17% | 16% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 26% | 23% |
| What stands out | Bethel | WA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 6% | 9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9% | 7.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
For schools, Bethel earns a B+
Its one school is below. The public schools here belong to the South Kitsap School District. 439 students attend Bethel’s public school.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hidden Creek Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 439 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within WA on state tests and graduation
Most people working in Bethel commute elsewhere
Bethel has 319 jobs for its 1,473 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
Among residents in Bethel, 16% live below the poverty line, against 7.9% in Washington’s towns and 9.6% across U.S. towns. Most people who work leave Bethel to do it: just 2% work in town. Since 2013, Bethel has added 61 jobs, to 319 in 2023. Half the trips to work are shorter than 14 miles.
| Bethel | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 16% | 7.9% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.6% | 5% | 8% |
| Median household income | $80,000 | $98,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Top of a high hazard risk in Bethel: earthquakes
FEMA expects more storm and flood damage in Bethel than in 74% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Bethel has mild winters and pleasant summers
July afternoons average 76.4°, cooler than in 97% of U.S. towns; January nights average 35.9°.
About 3 inches of snow falls in a winter. The July high in Bethel is 76°F.
| Bethel | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 76°F | 77°F | 85°F |
| January low | 36°F | 35°F | 22°F |
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The median home in Bethel sells for about $523K
Bethel’s going rate for rent stands at $1,170 a month. For households here, the share who live in a home they own is 88%.
| Bethel | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 88% | 70% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,170 a month | $1,740 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Bethel
Colleges nearby
3 within 15 miles of the center of Bethel
About 6 of every 100 Bethel residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Washington.
About Bethel
Census-designated place in Washington, United States
Bethel is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. Located a few miles south of the city of Port Orchard, Bethel is a wooded residential area. Most residents commute to Port Orchard or nearby cities. It was first designated a place by the Census Bureau in the 2010 census, at which time its population was 3,713. By the 2020 census, the population increased to 4,073.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 3.2 sq mi
- Elevation
- 315 ft
- Area code
- 360
Bethel’s neighbors
One town shares a border with Bethel.
| Town | WA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bethel | #83 | B | B | — | B+ | A− |
| Port Orchard | #181 | C | D | C− | B+ | B+ |
Bethel reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Bethel with a neighbor →
Questions about Bethel
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Bethel, WA a good place to live?
By most measures, yes. Bethel grades B overall, better than 61% of U.S. towns and #83 of 285 in Washington. It grades A− for health and B+ for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a C−.
Is Bethel, WA expensive?
The typical home is worth about $474,000, 19% below the Washington typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.