Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Forks earns a D, ranked 246th of 285 in Washington, mostly because of schools and incomes. Its schools rank behind 93% of the state's. The median household income is $60K, and 20% of residents live below the poverty line. In its favor, it is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns. 48% of working residents work locally in Forks, above both the Washington town median (4.8%) and the median of U.S. towns (8%). On health, just 16 of Washington’s 397 towns do worse. FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 82% of U.S. communities, with earthquakes at the top.
Where Forks beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Forks Elementary School | K–4 | 368 |
| Forks Middle School | 5–8 | 237 |
| Forks High School | 9–12 | 264 |
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Washington), ordered by how far Forks is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 95% of comparable towns) to D for schools (better than 7%), so the D overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,120 in 1950, 3,335 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1917 and 3 maps from 1939 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Forks. Close and well known come first.
Big draw7 mi National ParkOlympic National Park3.6M visitors a year
19 mi Park & preserveOlympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary
23 mi Park & preserveHoh Rainforest
33 mi MountainMount Olympus
27 mi LakeLake Crescent
12 mi BeachLa Push BeachOlympic National Park: Wsiegmund, CC BY 2.5 · Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary: Ed Bowlby, NOAA/Olympic Coast NMS; NOAA/OAR/Office of Ocean Exploration., Public domain · Hoh Rainforest: User:Doug Dolde, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Mount Olympus: R6, State & Private Forestry, Forest Health Protection, Public domain · Lake Crescent: Kashyap Hosdurga, CC BY 2.0 · La Push Beach: Pascal WEBER from Paris, France, CC BY-SA 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Forks, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 30, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Forks.
Forks has cooler summers than nearly all U.S. towns and has commutes shorter than most of Washington, but it has poverty well above the Washington rate.
Its public schools are run by the Quillayute Valley School District. Two of its 5 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Insight School of Washington, with 2,841 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forks Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–4 | Grades K–4 | 368 | – |
| Forks High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 264 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within WA on state tests and graduation
The median property tax bill is $1,515, against $4,556 across Washington, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
Forks’ median rent is $921 a month. The typical Forks home is worth about $331,000, about the same as a year ago, 44% below the Washington typical home. 52% of Forks households own their home.
| Forks | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 52% | 71% | 73% |
| Median rent | $921 a month | $1,740 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
One flood insurance claim has been paid in Forks since 2021.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
18% of adults report frequent physical distress in Forks. Forks beats the Washington average on 0 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 23. 26% of adults say their health is fair or poor in Forks.
| Forks | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 66% | 71% | 79% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 13% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 17% | 19% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 11% | 14% |
| What stands out | Forks | WA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults facing food insecurity | 18.6% | 10.2% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 9% | 5.1% |
| More smokers | 17.8% | 10.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
| Forks | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.7 miles per square mile | 0.8 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3.8% | 4% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Tilicum Park | 0.1 mi | 18 |
| 2. Calawah River Park | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
July afternoons average 70°, cooler than in 99% of U.S. towns; January nights average 35.3°.
Forks has mild winters and cool summers, with plenty of rain. The July high in Forks is 70°F. About 8 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Forks | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 70°F | 77°F | 85°F |
| January low | 35°F | 35°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The average commute for its 1,119 working residents takes 16.4 minutes, against 26.6 across Washington.
Since 2013, Forks has added 222 jobs, to 1,293 in 2023. The top destinations are Port Angeles (4%), Monroe (3%) and Seattle (3%). Half commute less than 2 miles.
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
19.5% of residents live below the poverty line, against 9.9% across Washington, which weighs on its C− for jobs and income.
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Washington average. Forks has grown 2.8% since 2020, to 3,488 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 31% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 40% across Washington.
| Forks | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 38.3 years | 38.6 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 31% | 30% | 29% |
54% women, 46% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±6.3 points. Across Washington, 49.6% of residents are women.
| Forks | WA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 15.2% | 11.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 6.7% | 9.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8.3% | 8.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 16.9% | 15.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 16.5% | 14.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 9.1% | 12% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 10.8% | 10.1% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 5.6% | 6.5% | 7% |
| No diploma | 10.1% | 7.7% | 10.4% |
| High school | 21.8% | 21.6% | 26% |
| Some college | 25.6% | 21% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 11.2% | 10% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 18.4% | 24% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 12.9% | 15.6% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 3,500, single groups can be off by several points
None within 15 miles of Forks; the nearest are
About 2 of every 100 Forks residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Washington.
City in Washington, United States
Forks, also previously known as the unincorporated town of Quillayute, is a town in southwest Clallam County, Washington, United States. The population was 3,335 at the 2020 census. It is named after the forks in the nearby Bogachiel, Calawah, and Sol Duc rivers which join to form the Quillayute River. For much of the 20th century, the city's economy was fueled by the local timber industry. Forks later became a tourism destination for visitors to Olympic National Park, recreational sport fishing in nearby rivers, and fans of the novel series Twilight and films, which are set in Forks. The town is also near the Clallam Bay Corrections Center and Olympic Corrections Center.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Forks grades D overall, better than 14% of U.S. towns and #246 of 285 in Washington. It grades C− for health and D for schools. Schools is its weak spot, with a D.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B+.
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