ChicoWA
A town of 3,336, settled in 1889.
Is Chico a good place to live?
Chico grades A− overall, 29th of 285 graded towns in Washington, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. The median household earns $140K and it is healthier than 90% of U.S. towns. On the other side, FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 78% of U.S. communities, with earthquakes at the top. Only 6 of the 285 Washington towns we compare have a lower share of residents below the poverty line than Chico. Chico's schools outperform 74% of the state's.
What makes Chico stand out
Where Chico beats most towns.
Chico has grown 21% from 2010 to 2020
2,259 counted in 2010 and 2,723 in 2020.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts
How Chico grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Washington), ordered by how far Chico is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Space Needle and 136 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Chico. Close and well known come first.
Big draw17 mi LookoutSpace Needle
Big draw17 mi Stadium & arenaClimate Pledge Arena
Big draw18 mi Stadium & arenaLumen Field
Big draw19 mi National ParkOlympic National Park3.6M visitors a year
18 mi Stadium & arenaT-Mobile Park
18 mi Ancient siteSeattle UndergroundPhoto 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 · Olympic National Park: Wsiegmund, CC BY 2.5 · T-Mobile Park: MyName (Cacophony), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Seattle Underground: Mark Hursh, CC BY-SA 3.0
Moving to Chico: who provides what
Chico 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 Chico.
Chico has cooler summers than nearly all U.S. towns, has less no health insurance than most of Washington and sends most of its workers to Silverdale and beyond.
Chico’s grade for health is an A
Its widest gap with Washington is no health insurance: 5.4% of those 18–64 have no health insurance, against 8.4% statewide. Against the 3,517 U.S. towns with household incomes like Chico’s, it is healthier than 65%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
15% of Chico adults get no exercise outside work, where Washington’s towns sit at 18% and U.S. towns at 25%. 9.1% of Chico adults smoke cigarettes. Chico beats the Washington average on 13 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 3.
| Chico | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 18% | 25% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 17% | 17% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 9.1% | 11% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 17% | 19% |
| What stands out | Chico | WA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 5.4% | 8.4% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 6.4% | 9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.4% | 7.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Most working residents commute out of Chico
Chico has 191 jobs for its 966 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
Most working residents leave Chico for work: only 1% work in town. Chico’s median household income is $141,000, above both Washington’s towns ($98,000) and U.S. towns ($80,000). Since 2013, Chico has added 64 jobs, to 191 in 2023.
| Chico | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $141,000 | $98,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.1% | 5% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 25 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
High risk in Chico, with earthquakes at the top
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
In Chico, expect mild winters and pleasant summers
July afternoons average 75.6°, cooler than in 98% of U.S. towns; January nights average 35.3°.
Chico has mild winters and cool summers, with plenty of rain. Chico’s July high is 76°F. About 3 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Chico | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 76°F | 77°F | 85°F |
| January low | 35°F | 35°F | 22°F |
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
3.3% of Chico is conserved land
0.6 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves. The trail density in Chico is 0.3 miles per square mile.
| Chico | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.8 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3.3% | 4% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Chico Creek Estuary | — | 4 |
| 2. Chico Creek Estuary Conservation Easement | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The median home in Chico sells for about $562K
85% of households own their home in Chico.
| Chico | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 85% | 70% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,610 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 Chico
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Chico
About 3 of every 100 Chico residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Washington.
99% of working residents leave Chico for work
Where Chico’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
About Chico
Unincorporated community in Washington, United States
Chico is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. Named in 1889 for a Suquamish head chief, Chico is located on the Dyes Inlet waterfront, south of Silverdale. At the 2020 census the community had a population of 2,723.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 2.3 sq mi
- Elevation
- 33 ft
- Area code
- 360
Chico’s neighbors
3 towns share a border with Chico.
| Town | WA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chico | #29 | A− | C | — | B+ | A |
| Kitsap Lake | — | — | C+ | — | B+ | B+ |
| Erlands Point | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Silverdale | #78 | B | D | — | B+ | A |
Kitsap Lake has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Chico, Kitsap Lake and Silverdale report no FBI crime data of their own. Erlands Point isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Chico with a neighbor →
Questions about Chico
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Chico, WA a good place to live?
By most measures, yes. Chico grades A− overall, better than 80% of U.S. towns and #29 of 285 in Washington. It grades A for health and B+ for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a C−.
Is Chico, WA expensive?
The typical home is worth about $673,000, 14% 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.