Elk PlainWA
14,276 residents make their home in this town in Washington.
Is Elk Plain a good place to live?
Elk Plain grades low on several counts. At C− overall, Elk Plain ranks 231st of 285 in Washington. Set against the rest, it does better than 20% of U.S. towns. Its weakest is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $474K, 4.1 years of the Seattle metro’s $115K median household income. Walkability is weaker too. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 87% of U.S. towns. Where it does best is incomes — the median household earns $107K. The town’s mean commuting time is 37 minutes, above both Washington’s towns (27 minutes) and U.S. towns (25 minutes).
Figures: incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · home values, Zillow.
99% of working residents leave Elk Plain for work
Where Elk Plain’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Elk Plain grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Washington), ordered by how far Elk Plain is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Space Needle and 81 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Elk Plain. Close and well known come first.
Big draw40 mi LookoutSpace Needle
Big draw38 mi Stadium & arenaLumen Field
14 mi Stadium & arenaTacoma Dome
18 mi National ParkMount Rainier National Park1.6M visitors a year
38 mi Stadium & arenaT-Mobile Park
39 mi Ancient siteSeattle UndergroundPhoto credits
Space Needle: Another Believer, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Lumen Field: "Smart Destinations", GoSeattleCard.com, and Go Seattle Card Blog, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Tacoma Dome: Broran28, Public domain · Mount Rainier National Park: Ricardo Martins from Gent, Belgium, CC BY 2.0 · T-Mobile Park: MyName (Cacophony), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Seattle Underground: Mark Hursh, CC BY-SA 3.0
Moving to Elk Plain: who provides what
Elk Plain is unincorporated, so Pierce 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 Elk Plain.
Elk Plain has cooler summers than nearly all U.S. towns, sends most of its workers to Tacoma and beyond and is healthy by national standards but behind most towns in Washington.
Few of Elk Plain’s working residents work in town
Elk Plain has 1,018 jobs for its 6,250 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. The average commute takes 36.5 minutes, against 26.6 across Washington.
Most people who work leave Elk Plain to do it: just 1% work in town. Jobs in Elk Plain grew by 230 from 2013 to 2023, reaching 1,018. For half of commuters, work is under 16 miles away. The top destinations are Tacoma (15%), Seattle (9%) and Puyallup (5%).
| Elk Plain | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 37 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $107,000 | $98,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 1% | 5% | 8% |
| Work from home | 11% | 15% | 11% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Elk Plain’s public schools trail 57% of Washington districts
The Bethel School District runs its public schools. Two of the 7 schools are below, and why each made the list. The 6 public schools in Elk Plain teach 3,423 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bethel Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 661 | – |
| Bethel High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,688 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within WA on state tests and graduation
Protected land: 0.5% of Elk Plain
In 1 park or preserve, walkers have 6.0 miles of trail. Parks and preserves in Elk Plain: one, of 3 acres. The trail density here is 0.7 miles per square mile.
| Elk Plain | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.5% | 4% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.7 miles per square mile | 0.8 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Upper Muck Creek Protected Area | — | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Expect four seasons and pleasant summers in Elk Plain
July afternoons average 77.2°, cooler than in 97% of U.S. towns; January nights average 35.1°.
Elk Plain’s January low is 35°F. About 6 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Elk Plain | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 77°F | 77°F | 85°F |
| January low | 35°F | 35°F | 22°F |
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The biggest natural risk in Elk Plain is earthquakes, at a moderate overall level
The FEMA risk score for Elk Plain comes to 56 of 100. Of the losses FEMA expects locally, 56% come from earthquakes and 34% from inland flooding.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
On CDC estimates, Elk Plain is healthier than 50% of U.S. towns
Within Washington it is less healthy than 82% of the 285 graded towns: Washington sets a high bar. Against the 7,570 U.S. towns with household incomes like Elk Plain’s, it is less healthy than 79%: its national edge comes with its incomes.
Among adults in Elk Plain, 19% report frequent mental distress and 28% have been diagnosed with depression. For adults locally, the share who had a checkup this year is 70%.
| Elk Plain | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 70% | 71% | 79% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 17% | 17% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 26% | 23% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 33% | 36% |
| What stands out | Elk Plain | WA |
|---|---|---|
| More smokers | 13.5% | 10.1% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 6.5% | 5.1% |
| More adults with obesity | 38.6% | 30.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Homes in Elk Plain sell for about $515K
84% of Elk Plain households live in a home they own. For Elk Plain, the rent at the middle of the market is $2,172 a month. On the market here: a median 34 days to sell.
| Elk Plain | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,172 a month | $1,737 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 84% | 70% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Elk Plain
Colleges nearby
6 within 15 miles of the center of Elk Plain
About 4 of every 100 Elk Plain residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Washington.
Elk Plain’s neighbors
4 towns share a border with Elk Plain.
All 3 graded towns on its borders grade higher than its C−; Graham (C) is closest.
| Town | WA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elk Plain | #231 | C− | C− | — | C+ | B− |
| Graham | #194 | C | C− | — | C+ | B |
| South Creek | — | — | C+ | — | C+ | C+ |
| Spanaway | #180 | C | C | — | C+ | C+ |
| Frederickson | #178 | C | C− | — | C+ | B |
South Creek has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Elk Plain, Graham, South Creek, Spanaway and Frederickson report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Elk Plain with a neighbor →
Questions about Elk Plain
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Elk Plain, WA a good place to live?
Elk Plain grades C− overall, better than 20% of U.S. towns and #231 of 285 in Washington. It grades B− for health and C+ for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a D.
Is Elk Plain, WA expensive?
Yes. 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 C−.