Chelan, Washington.
Typical home $491,424 (-9.1% in a year), asking rent $1,775 . Wenatchee, WA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,018 (+65%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $49,292 -9%
- $540,716$491,424 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Down $68,946 -12%
- $560,370$491,424 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Chelan$2,579
- Washington$3,084
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, prices here aren't rising.
Typical home values in Chelan, WA fell 9.1% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Chelan, Chelan County, Washington
Chelan is a city of 4,222 people in Chelan County. 56% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 44% are rented. Unemployment in Chelan County was 4.0% in August 2026, and the county had 0.7% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then other services.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Chelan is a small city set beside Lake Chelan, with the Chelan River running through town. More homes here are lived in by their owners than by renters, though a good share of households do rent. Winters are cold and snowy, summers turn properly hot, and the year brings little rain compared with much of the country.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by other services, restaurants, hotels and entertainment, and shops. Lake Chelan Health and the Safeway supermarket are among the largest workplaces in town, along with the Forest Service. A fair number of people work from home, and a good many adults hold a four-year degree.
Things to do. Lake Chelan, a reservoir, lies in or beside town, and Lake Chelan State Park, a protected area, is a short drive away. Echo Valley Ski Area is also a short drive away for winter days on the snow. For a longer outing, Alta Lake State Park is a longer drive away.
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- 1,839households
- 28%of adults have a degree
- 8%below the poverty line
- 10%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Chelan County had 44,636 jobs in 2025, 0.7% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 34° and lows near 22°; warmest in August, with highs near 87° and lows near 58°. About 20 inches of snow and 12 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Chelan weather station, under a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Chelan
- AgriMACSFarm management services750
- Lake Chelan HealthGeneral medical and surgical hospitals246
- Lake Chelan Community HospitalCritical access hospital166FTE
- SafewaySupermarkets and other grocery stores87
- Lake Chelan HealthAdministrative management services42
- Forest ServiceFederal government · Department of Agriculture28
- The Dock companyBoat lift installation24
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 5 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 1,149 people in all. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and federal offices from OPM's federal workforce data (2026); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- WildfireVery high
- AvalanchesRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- HailRelatively moderate
- Winter weatherRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Chelan’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Chelan County and the Wenatchee, WA metro.
Chelan home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Chelan$491,424
- Washington$587,533
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Chelan listings — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Chelan24.09%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Chelan137
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Chelan15
Zip codes with a Chelan address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Chelan — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.