Chain LakeWA
The town, home to 4,950 people, lies in Washington.
Is Chain Lake a good place to live?
A well-rated place to live, with prices to match. Health is its strong suit (A): CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 93% of the country. Chain Lake grades A− overall, better than 78% of U.S. towns, and ranks 34th of 285 in Washington. Add incomes to its strengths: the median household earns $161K. The drawback is cost of living — the typical home is worth about $873K, 7.6 years of the Seattle metro’s $115K median household income. It also trails on hazard risk: FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than just over four fifths of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top. The town’s typical journey to work is 38 minutes, above both Washington’s towns (27 minutes) and U.S. towns (25 minutes).
Figures: health, CDC PLACES · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · home values, Zillow · FEMA National Risk Index.
What makes Chain Lake stand out
Where Chain Lake beats most towns.
Chain Lake has grown 29% from 2010 to 2020
3,741 counted in 2010 and 4,806 in 2020.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts
How Chain Lake grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Washington), ordered by how far Chain Lake is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Space Needle and 119 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Chain Lake. Close and well known come first.
Big draw26 mi LookoutSpace Needle
Big draw26 mi Stadium & arenaClimate Pledge Arena
Big draw27 mi Stadium & arenaLumen Field
27 mi Stadium & arenaT-Mobile Park
26 mi Ancient siteSeattle Underground
23 mi Stadium & arenaHusky StadiumPhoto 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 · Husky Stadium: Atomic Taco, CC BY-SA 2.0
Moving to Chain Lake: who provides what
Chain Lake is unincorporated, so Snohomish 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 Chain Lake.
Chain Lake has fewer 90° days than nearly all U.S. towns and has less tooth loss than most of Washington, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of Washington.
Chain Lake earns an A for health
Its widest gap with Washington is tooth loss: 5.4% of those 65+ have lost all their teeth, against 9% statewide. Against the 2,092 U.S. towns with household incomes like Chain Lake’s, it is healthier than 56%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
Chain Lake: 17% of adults binge drink. CDC measures, 31 in all: Chain Lake beats Washington on 14 and trails on 1. Among adults locally, 13% say their health is fair or poor and 8.2% have diabetes.
| Chain Lake | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 18% | 25% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 17% | 19% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 8.2% | 9.8% | 12% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 9.1% | 11% | 14% |
| What stands out | Chain Lake | WA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 5.4% | 9% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 5.4% | 8.4% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.1% | 7.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Chain Lake’s schools rank ahead of 80% of Washington districts
Public schools: the Monroe School District. One of its 2 schools is below, with the reason it’s listed. The 2 public schools in Chain Lake teach 950 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salem Woods Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 516 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within WA on state tests and graduation
Very high risk in Chain Lake, with inland flooding at the top
Of the losses FEMA expects in Chain Lake, 56% come from inland flooding and 37% from earthquakes. Since 1982, Chain Lake has seen 87 flood insurance claims paid out.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Most of Chain Lake’s workers leave town for work
Chain Lake has 290 jobs for its 2,408 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. The average commute takes 38.4 minutes, against 26.6 across Washington.
The share of working residents in Chain Lake who work locally: 0.5%. Jobs in Chain Lake grew by 121 from 2013 to 2023, reaching 290. For half of commuters, work is under 17 miles away. The top destinations are Seattle (14%), Everett (13%) and Redmond (7%).
| Chain Lake | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 38 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $161,000 | $98,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 28% | 15% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 2.7% | 7.9% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Fewer adults under 35 in Chain Lake than across Washington
The median household earns $161,286, against $98,141 across Washington, one input to its A for jobs and income.
Chain Lake’s age of the median resident stands at 43.3 years. Adults 18 to 34 are just over one in ten residents (24% statewide); adults 35 to 64 are 48% of residents (38% statewide). 41% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more locally.
| Chain Lake | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 41% | 30% | 29% |
| Median age | 43.3 years | 38.5 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 23% | 22% | 22% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.2 points. Across Washington, 49.6% of residents are women.
| Chain Lake | WA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12.7% | 11.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.5% | 9.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 5.4% | 8.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 5.3% | 15.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 18.8% | 14.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 18.1% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 11.5% | 12% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 12.9% | 10.1% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 4.8% | 6.5% | 7% |
| No diploma | 3.7% | 7.7% | 10.4% |
| High school | 23.6% | 21.6% | 26% |
| Some college | 20.2% | 21% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 11.2% | 10% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 29.3% | 24% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 12% | 15.6% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 5,000, single groups can be off by several points
Chain Lake has mild winters and pleasant summers
The Monroe weather station records that about 2 days a year reach 90°, fewer than in 96% of U.S. towns. July afternoons average 74.4°, cooler than in 98% of U.S. towns; January nights average 34.8°.
Its typical July afternoon high comes in at 74°F. About 3 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Chain Lake | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 74°F | 77°F | 85°F |
| January low | 35°F | 35°F | 22°F |
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Protected land: 0.6% of Chain Lake
1.0 miles of trail. In Chain Lake, the density of trails is 0.1 miles per square mile.
| Chain Lake | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.8 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 0.6% | 4% | 4.3% |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
A home in Chain Lake sells for about $1.01M at the median
At 7.6 years of the Seattle metro’s $115K median household income, the typical home costs more against local pay than in 81% of Washington towns; that ratio is one input to its C for cost of living.
In Chain Lake, nearly nine in ten households live in a home they own. Chain Lake’s typical rent is $1,755 a month. On the market locally: a median 20 days to sell.
| Chain Lake | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 89% | 70% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,755 a month | $1,737 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Chain Lake
Colleges nearby
3 within 15 miles of the center of Chain Lake
About 3 of every 100 Chain Lake residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Washington.
100% of working residents leave Chain Lake for work
Where Chain Lake’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
About Chain Lake
CDP in Washington, United States
Chain Lake is a census-designated place (CDP) in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. As of the 2020 census, Chain Lake had a population of 4,806.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 11 sq mi
- Elevation
- 338 ft
- Area code
- 360
Chain Lake’s neighbors
4 towns share a border with Chain Lake.
It grades higher overall than all 3 graded towns on its borders; Three Lakes (B) comes closest.
| Town | WA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chain Lake | #34 | A− | C | — | A− | A |
| Three Lakes | #96 | B | C− | — | A− | A− |
| Monroe North | — | — | C | — | A− | A |
| Woods Creek | #165 | C+ | D | — | B | A− |
| Monroe | #153 | C+ | D | C | B | A− |
Monroe North has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Chain Lake, Three Lakes, Monroe North and Woods Creek report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Chain Lake with a neighbor →
Questions about Chain Lake
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Chain Lake, WA a good place to live?
By most measures, yes. Chain Lake grades A− overall, better than 78% of U.S. towns and #34 of 285 in Washington. It grades A for health and A− for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a C−.
Is Chain Lake, WA expensive?
The typical home is worth about $873,000, 49% above 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 C.