Welcome to Olympia ...

The coastal city of Olympia is located on the Olympic Peninsula.

Olympia is located in Thurston County<1>. It is the County Seat and the capital of Washington.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Olympia, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1850.

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Olympia has a population of 52,734 people<2> (see below for details).

The community of Olympia is near sea level<3>.

Time Zone: Olympia lies in the Pacific Time Zone (PST/PDT) and observes daylight saving time

Olympia lies within the (360) area code.

The ZIP code for Olympia: 98504<4>

Websites for Olympia ...

Official Website:   www.ci.olympia.wa.us/

Junior League:   www.jlolympia.org/

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Olympia had an population of 52,734 people. This is an increase of 13.46% since the 2010 Census (or an increase of 24.04% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Olympia had a population of 46,478 people (or 18.42% of the total population of Thurston County). This makes Olympia the county's most populous community.

The population of Olympia represents 0.69% of the population of Washington (which has 6,724,540 people), making it the state's 22nd most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 46,478 people, the population of Olympia increased 9.32% from the 2000 Census (with a count of 42,514 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Olympia.

Communities Also Named Olympia ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are two Washington communities named Olympia: This one is located in Thurston County and the other is located in King County.

Beyond Washington, there are 11 communities that are also named Olympia - they are located in California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Virginia.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Olympia.

Communities near Olympia ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Olympia.

• Shelton
  (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shelton
  • Shelton is located in Mason County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,955 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Shelton <5>
• DuPont
  (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for DuPont
  • DuPont is located in Pierce County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,594 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for DuPont <5>
• Yelm
  (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yelm
  • Yelm is located in Thurston County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,591 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Yelm <5>
• Steilacoom
  (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Steilacoom
  • Steilacoom is located in Pierce County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,416 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Steilacoom <5>
• Rainier
  (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rainier
  • Rainier is located in Thurston County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,350 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rainier <5>
• Tenino
  (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tenino
  • Tenino is located in Thurston County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,867 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tenino <5>
• McCleary
  (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McCleary
  • McCleary is located in Grays Harbor County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,830 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for McCleary <5>
• Roy
  (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roy
  • Roy is located in Pierce County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 823 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Roy <5>
• Bucoda
  (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bucoda
  • Bucoda is located in Thurston County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 591 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bucoda <5>
• East Olympia
  (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Olympia
  • East Olympia is located in Thurston County
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for East Olympia <5>

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Olympia. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Olympia.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Olympia. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Olympia.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Olympia. Our list includes 87 papers. See our Newspapers Page for Olympia.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Olympia ...

Looking for more information about Olympia? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

In addition to the Tourism page for Olympia, there are neighboring communities that also have Tourism pages. More information about those communities can be found on our TripAdvisor Page for Olympia.

Adding Olympia to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Olympia in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Olympia was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<6>

From that list, the Olympia post office opened in 1850.

We also found Olympia in the book titled List of Post Offices in the United States (1870).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Olympia.

Off-the-Road Links ...

The official website for Olympia: www.ci.olympia.wa.us/

The official website for Thurston County: www.co.thurston.wa.us/

The official website for State of Washington: https://access.wa.gov/