Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 2,495, settled in 1890. Public schools that outperform most of Washington.
Rainier’s best subject grades are an A− for schools and a B+ for civic life; its weakest is a D for walkability. Rainier’s average trip to work is 38 minutes, above both Washington’s towns (27 minutes) and U.S. towns (25 minutes). Only 19 of Washington’s 396 towns score lower on walkability. Rainier School is on the National Register of Historic Places. Rainier has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Rainier beats most towns.
1,794 counted in 2010 and 2,369 in 2020; an estimated 2,495 in 2025.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Washington), ordered by how far Rainier is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 331 in 1950, 2,369 in 2020. The archive holds 10 old photos and papers going back to 1890 and 4 maps from 1944 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Rainier, 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 Rainier.
Its public schools are run by the Rainier School District. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rainier Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 493 | – |
| Rainier Senior High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 283 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within WA on state tests and graduation
Most working residents leave Rainier for work: only 4% work in town. 15% of residents live below the poverty line in Rainier, above both the Washington town median (7.9%) and the median of U.S. towns (9.6%). Jobs based in Rainier grew to 268 in 2023, 28 more than in 2013.
| Rainier | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 15% | 7.9% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $106,000 | $98,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 4% | 4.9% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Rainier beats the Washington average on 0 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 12. 66% of adults had a checkup this year in Rainier. Among 286 Washington towns, just 7 have a higher share of adults who have been diagnosed with depression than Rainier.
| Rainier | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 66% | 71% | 79% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 26% | 23% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 17% | 17% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 18% | 25% |
| What stands out | Rainier | WA |
|---|---|---|
| More smokers | 12.7% | 10.1% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 6.1% | 5.1% |
| More adults with depression | 30% | 25.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Rainier has mild winters and pleasant summers. The July high in Rainier is 77°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 66% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The typical Rainier home is worth about $510,000, up 0.8% in a year, 13% below the Washington typical home. 86% of Rainier households own their home.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
| Rainier | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 0.8 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 4.7% | 4% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Wilkowski Park | — | 10 |
| 2. Bus Kern Memorial Park | — | 5 |
| 3. Gehrke Park | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Rainier. Close and well known come first.
28 mi National ParkMount Rainier National Park1.6M visitors a year
27 mi Stadium & arenaTacoma Dome
32 mi Theme parkWild Waves Theme Park
26 mi Stadium & arenaCheney Stadium
30 mi GardenPoint Defiance Park
30 mi Zoo & aquariumPoint Defiance Zoo & AquariumMount Rainier National Park: Ricardo Martins from Gent, Belgium, CC BY 2.0 · Tacoma Dome: Broran28, Public domain · Wild Waves Theme Park: Jessica Spengler from Hove, United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0 · Cheney Stadium: Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Point Defiance Park: Crash Dalco, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium: Takinzinnia, CC0
2 within 15 miles of the center of Rainier
About 2 of every 100 Rainier residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Washington.
Where Rainier’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
City in Thurston County, Washington
Rainier ( ray-NEER) is a city in Thurston County, Washington, United States. Beginning as a train stop in the 1870s, Rainier was first settled in 1890 and would become known as a logging town. The city was officially incorporated in 1947. As of the 2020 census, Rainier had a population of 2,369.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Public schools that outperform most of Washington.
That is 5.3 years of the area's median household income ($96,563 across the Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA metro 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−.
