Ordered by what stands out in Olympia. Another town gets a different order.
Schools
Olympia’s public schools outperform 94% of Washington districts
The public schools Olympia’s kids attend, from kindergarten through graduation, outperform 94% of Washington’s districts on state tests and graduation. Among towns with similar incomes, they rank near the top.
NCES · EDFacts · graded within WA on state tests and graduationAll 22 schools →
Work & commute
About one in three working residents works right in Olympia
About one in 3 of Olympia’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Lacey (11%), Tumwater (10%) and Seattle (6%). Half commute less than 5 miles.
Olympia has mild winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. A typical July afternoon reaches 78°, a January night drops to 34°, and about 4 inches of snow falls in a normal winter.
Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 55,605 at the 2020 census, while the Olympia metropolitan statistical area has an estimated 300,000 residents. Olympia is the county seat of Thurston County and anchors the South Puget Sound region of western Washington, 50 miles (80 km) southwest of Seattle. The Squaxin and other Coast Salish peoples inhabited the southern Puget Sound region prior to the arrival of European and American settlers in the 19th century. The Treaty of Medicine Creek was signed in 1854 and followed by the Treaty of Olympia in 1856; these two treaties forced the Squaxin to relocate to an Indian reservation. Olympia was declared the ca…
