Elma, Washington.
Typical home $362,960 (-0.9% in a year). Aberdeen, WA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$939 (+97%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $3,349 -1%
- $366,309$362,960 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Down $2,552 -1%
- $365,512$362,960 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.
- Elma$1,905
- Washington$3,084
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, prices here aren't rising.
Typical home values in Elma, WA fell 0.9% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Elma, Grays Harbor County, Washington
Elma is a city of 3,438 people in Grays Harbor County. Unemployment in Grays Harbor County was 5.4% in August 2026, and the county had 0.1% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Grays Harbor County work in schools and health care, then shops.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Elma is a small city in Grays Harbor County, in western Washington. Household incomes in the county run below the typical American level, and homes here are priced in a way that many longtime owners will recognize from the surrounding area. Winters are cool and wet, with the coldest weather in December, and summers are mild and warm, peaking in August. Rain and melted snow add up to a good deal over the year.
Work. Most residents who hold jobs work in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, in restaurants, hotels and entertainment, or in government. Summit Pacific Medical Center and Girard Wood Products Elma are among the larger workplaces in town, and UPS is another. Across the county, unemployment has edged down slightly from a year earlier, while the number of jobs has stayed close to flat. Commutes tend to be on the long side, and few people work from home.
Things to do. Schafer State Park and Lake Sylvia State Park are both a short drive away, offering protected woodland and open space close to town. Capitol State Forest, also a protected area, is a longer drive. The Chehalis River, a longer drive from town, is a good choice for those who like to be near moving water.
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- 1,245households
- 21%of adults have a degree
- 31 mintypical commute
- 8%work from home
What people in Grays Harbor County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Grays Harbor County had 23,790 jobs in 2025, 0.1% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in December, with highs near 47° and lows near 34°; warmest in August, with highs near 80° and lows near 52°. About 72 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Elma weather station, under a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Elma
- Summit Pacific Medical CenterCritical access hospital265FTE
- Summit Pacific Medical CenterSubstance abuse facilities, residential167
- Girard Wood Products ElmaPallets, wood or wood and metal combination, manufacturing85
- UPSCouriers and express delivery services85
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 4 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 568 people in all. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); 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
- EarthquakesVery high
- Ice stormsRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- Heat wavesRelatively 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 Elma’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively 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 Grays Harbor County and the Aberdeen, WA metro.
Elma home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Elma$362,960
- Washington$587,533
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Elma 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.
- Elma32.58%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Elma37
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Elma10
Zip codes with a Elma address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Elma — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.