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ZIP Code98505

Olympia, WA

Thurston County · Washington · United States
Home to 636 people across 0.288 square miles.

Pacific21 ZIPs in county

At a glance

98505 by the numbers

Every figure below comes from the 2019–2023 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, the Census Gazetteer, or is computed from those. Margins of error are shown where they matter.

Population
636
±46 · bottom 25% nationally
Median household income
US median $70,109 ·
Median home value
US median $207,500 ·
Median age
19.8
US median 42 years
Population density
2,208/mi²
top 25% most dense
Land area
0.288 mi²
negligible water area

Location

Where 98505 is

47.073195, -122.973645 · Census ZCTA internal pointOpen larger map →
Coordinates47.073195, -122.973645
Time zoneAmerica/Los_Angeles
CountyThurston County
StateWashington (WA)
Land area0.288 mi²
Coordinate sourceCensus ZCTA internal point

Local time

America/Los_Angeles

—:—:—

Current weather

Live from the National Weather Service

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Distance to major cities

Straight-line, computed from coordinates

Seattle, WA47.5 mi
San Francisco, CA643.1 mi
Los Angeles, CA932.8 mi
Denver, CO1031.7 mi

People

Who lives in 98505

636 residents in 0 households, averaging None people per household. The largest age group is 18-24 at 97.6% of residents.

Age distribution

Share of residents by age band

Under 180.6%
18-2497.6%
25-341.7%
35-440.0%
45-540.0%
55-640.0%
65+0.0%

Households

Composition and size

Total households0
Average household sizeNone
Family householdsNone%
Living aloneNone%
Median age19.8 years

Race & ethnicity

Census race categories. Hispanic or Latino origin is asked separately and overlaps these groups.

White57.4%
Black10.7%
Asian13.7%
Native American2.5%
Pacific Islander0.8%
Other5.2%
Two or more9.7%
Hispanic / Latino12.6%

Income & work

What people earn in 98505

Income data is suppressed for this ZIP code.

Compared to the US

This ZIP against the national median

Median household income
Median household income±—
Per capita income$8,629
Poverty rateNone%
Unemployment rate19.3%
Labor force participation48.0%

Household income distribution

Share of households in each bracket

Educational attainment among residents 25 and older: 45.5% hold a bachelor's degree or higher, 100.0% finished high school.

Housing

Homes and rent in 98505

Housing cost data is suppressed for this ZIP code.

Costs

Typical values

Median home value
Median gross rent—/mo
Median year built
Housing units0
Vacancy rateNone%

Own vs. rent

Of 0 occupied units

Owner-occupiedNone%
Renter-occupiedNone%
Owner households0
Renter households0

Building types

Units by structure size

Getting to work

How 98505 commutes

55.2% of workers walked, and the average one-way trip takes 17.6 minutes.

Mode of transport

Workers 16 and older

Drove alone13.4%
Carpooled3.3%
Public transit14.6%
Walked55.2%
Worked from home13.4%

Travel time

Mean commute 17.6 minutes

<10 min37.2%
10-1930.4%
20-2915.9%
30-449.2%
45-597.2%
60+0.0%

Overview

Understanding ZIP code 98505

ZIP code 98505 is assigned to Olympia, WA, and falls within Thurston County. Like every US postal code, it began as a mail-routing device rather than a geographic boundary — the US Postal Service groups delivery routes under a single code so carriers and sorting equipment can process mail efficiently. Today it also serves as a practical shorthand for the area itself: roughly 636 people live inside it.

At 2,208 residents per square mile spread over 0.288 square miles, 98505 reads as a suburban area. It is a sparsely populated postal code, and density shapes almost everything else on this page — how people get to work, whether they own or rent, and what housing costs.

Living here

What life in Olympia looks like

The population skews notably young, with a median age of 19.8 against 42 nationally.

Getting to work takes 17.6 minutes on average one way. The dominant mode is walked at 55.2% of workers, while 14.6% take public transit, 55.2% walk, 13.4% work from home. Commute patterns are one of the better proxies for how a place actually functions day to day.

Where to stay

Where to stay in Olympia, WA

Olympia is largely suburban in character. Accommodation here skews toward mid-range chain hotels and extended-stay properties positioned near highway junctions and business parks, which suits anyone driving in or visiting for work rather than sightseeing.

For reference, Seattle, WA is about 47.5 miles away in a straight line, which is worth factoring in if you are comparing a stay here against one closer to the city centre.

Availability and pricing change constantly, so the live search below will give you a more accurate picture than any figure we could publish here. It opens results for this area on Booking.com.

Book a Hotel →

Opens Booking.com in a new tab. We are not affiliated with Booking.com and receive nothing from this link.

Practical uses

What ZIP code 98505 is used for

Beyond addressing mail, 98505 does a lot of quiet administrative work. Retailers use it to calculate shipping and sales tax at checkout. Insurers use it to set premiums, since risk profiles vary geographically. Employers and marketers use it to define service areas. Government agencies use it to route benefits and organise reporting. If you have ever been asked for a postal code by a form that clearly does not intend to send you anything, this is why.

For anyone weighing a move, 98505 offers a compact profile of Olympia: 636 residents, 45.5% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher, and an unemployment rate of 19.3%. A handful of figures like these answer more relocation questions than most neighbourhood guides do.

One caution worth repeating: a postal code is not a neighbourhood. 98505 may cover parts of several distinct areas, and a single neighbourhood in Olympia may be split across more than one code. Boundaries also shift as USPS adjusts delivery routes. Treat the figures here as describing a delivery area, which is what they actually measure.

Nearby

ZIP codes near 98505

The eight closest postal codes by centroid distance, each with its own full profile. You can also browse every Washington ZIP code or use the ZIP Express Lookup to search by city, county or time zone.

Other ZIP codes in Olympia

Olympia is served by 11 postal codes.

More in Thurston County

Look up another

Search any ZIP code

Questions

Common questions about 98505

What city is ZIP code 98505 in?
98505 serves Olympia, Washington, in Thurston County, United States.
What is the population of 98505?
About 636 people live in ZIP code 98505, according to the US Census Bureau's 2019–2023 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. The margin of error on that figure is ±46. That works out to roughly 2,208 people per square mile.
Is 98505 a good place to live?
That depends on what you're looking for, but here are the facts: 45.5% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, the unemployment rate is 19.3%, and the median age is 19.8. The average commute is 17.6 minutes. We publish the numbers and let you weigh them.
What time zone is 98505 in?
98505 observes Pacific Time (America/Los_Angeles). This zone observes daylight saving time.
How big is ZIP code 98505?
ZIP code 98505 covers 0.288 square miles of land, per the US Census Bureau's 2023 Gazetteer files.
Is 98505 urban, suburban or rural?
By population density, 98505 reads as a suburban area. It holds 2,208 people per square mile across 0.288 square miles of land. For reference, densities above 10,000 per square mile generally indicate an urban core, 1,000–3,000 is typically suburban, and under 200 is rural. These are rules of thumb rather than official designations — the Census Bureau classifies urban and rural areas by census block, not by ZIP code.
What is the commute like from 98505?
The average one-way commute from 98505 takes about 17.6 minutes. The most common way to travel is walked, used by 55.2% of workers aged 16 and over. Commute figures cover people who were employed and working outside the home during the survey period.
How many people work in 98505?
About 246 residents of 98505 are employed. Labor force participation stands at 48.0% and the unemployment rate is 19.3%. Note this counts residents by where they live, not by where they work — a ZIP with many offices can have far more jobs than employed residents.
Where should I stay when visiting 98505?
Accommodation in and around Olympia, WA ranges with the character of the area. See the 'Where to stay' section on this page for local context, and use the live search there for current availability and pricing.
Does 98505 cover more than one city or county?
This page lists Olympia as the primary place and Thurston County as the county. ZIP codes follow mail delivery routes rather than municipal or county lines, so a single code can straddle boundaries, and USPS also recognises alternate acceptable city names for many codes. If you need the definitive answer for a specific street address, the USPS ZIP Code Lookup is the authority.
Can ZIP code 98505 change?
Yes. USPS adjusts ZIP codes as delivery volumes shift — codes are occasionally split, merged, retired or newly created, and boundaries move more often than most people assume. The Census Bureau's ZCTA definitions, which underpin the demographic figures on this page, are redrawn only once a decade, so the two can drift apart between censuses.

Methodology

Where this data comes from

  • Postal geography — GeoNames open postal code database (CC BY 4.0), cross-checked against the US Census Gazetteer.
  • Demographics, income, housing, commute — US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2019–2023 5-Year Estimates, ZIP Code Tabulation Area 98505. Tables B01001, B01002, B01003, B02001, B03003, B08301, B08303, B11001, B15003, B17001, B19001, B19013, B19301, B23025, B25002, B25003, B25024, B25035, B25064, B25077, B28002.
  • Land and water area — US Census Bureau 2023 Gazetteer Files.
  • Weather — NOAA National Weather Service, fetched live in your browser.
  • Map — OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
On accuracy. ACS figures are survey estimates, not counts. The margin of error shown alongside the population figure means the true value has a 90% chance of falling in that range. For small ZIP codes the error can be large relative to the estimate — treat the direction as more reliable than the exact number. This page reports data for ZCTA 98505, the Census approximation of the USPS delivery area.