Sumas, Washington.
Typical home $487,890 (+4.8% in a year). Bellingham, WA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,343 (+110%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $22,228 +5%
- $465,662$487,890 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $43,405 +10%
- $444,484$487,890 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.
- Sumas$2,561
- Washington$3,084
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 37 years.
Typical home values in Sumas, WA rose 4.8% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Sumas, Whatcom County, Washington
Sumas is a city of 1,583 people in Whatcom County. Half its households earn more than $89,375 a year and half less, against $81,784 across Whatcom County; 10% of its people live below the poverty line. 67% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 33% are rented. Unemployment in Whatcom County was 4.5% in August 2026, and the county had 0.3% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in manufacturing, then schools and health care.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Sumas is a small city in Whatcom County, and most of its homes are lived in by their owners. Household incomes run higher than across the county, though a share of residents still live below the poverty line. Few adults hold a four-year degree, and winters are cool and wet, with some snow, while summers stay mild.
Work. Residents work mainly in manufacturing, in schools, hospitals and social care, in transport, warehouses and utilities, and in professional and business services. Across Whatcom County, the largest workplaces include St. Joseph Medical Center, Western Washington University and the Bellingham School District. Commutes are fairly long, and some residents work from home.
Things to do. Silver Lake is a lake a short drive away. Farther afield, Peace Arch Park is a protected area and Nooksack Falls is a waterfall, both a longer drive away. The Nooksack River is also a longer drive from town.
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- 539households
- 13%of adults have a degree
- 10%below the poverty line
- 29 mintypical commute
- 13%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Whatcom County had 93,720 jobs in 2025, 0.3% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in December, with highs near 43° and lows near 32°; warmest in August, with highs near 76° and lows near 50°. About 11 inches of snow and 50 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Clearbrook weather station, 3 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Whatcom County
- St. Joseph Medical CenterGeneral hospital2,356FTE
- Western Washington UniversityUniversity or college2,208
- Bellingham School DistrictSchool district1,325FTE
- BP Products North AmericaOil refineries893
- Lynden DoorDoor units, prehung, wood and covered wood, manufacturing629
- Ferndale School DistrictSchool district579FTE
- Whatcom Community CollegeUniversity or college497
- Costco WholesaleWholesale grocer422
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 194 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 22,187 people in all across the county; Sumas has two of its own. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023), colleges from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24) and school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); 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
- EarthquakesRelatively high
- AvalanchesRelatively high
- Ice stormsRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- Volcanic activityRelatively moderate
- Cold wavesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Sumas’ 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 Whatcom County and the Bellingham, WA metro.
Sumas home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Sumas$487,890
- Washington$587,533
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
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
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Sumas18
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Zip codes with a Sumas address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Sumas — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.