Living On & Around Bainbridge Island
Where We Live
Grace Church parishioners live in Kitsap County, Washington State. About 70% of us reside on Bainbridge Island, while 30% make their homes “across the bridge” in the nearby towns of Poulsbo, Suquamish, Indianola, Kingston, and Hansville. The following current home values are drawn from www.realtor.com.
Bainbridge Island
Once an idyllic summer place for well-to-do Seattleites, Bainbridge Island is now a small city located 35 minutes from downtown Seattle by ferry. Hourly ferry departures serve residents who commute to Seattle for work or play. Bainbridge is connected to a variety of small towns on the Kitsap Peninsula by the Agate Pass Bridge at the north end of the island.
Bainbridge is home to about 24,900 residents, and more than 90% of residents self-identify as white. The median age is 50, and 73% of residents are college-educated. In a 2008 survey, 93.5 percent rated our quality of life as good or excellent. Along with all Kitsap County towns, we enjoy mountain views – the Olympics to the west, the Cascades to the east – dense forests, rocky Puget Sound shorelines, and small-town life.
Our Island is home to the 150-acre internationally renowned Bloedel Reserve, the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial, two farmers’ markets, numerous parks, three golf courses, a vibrant arts community, and the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art. With several natural harbors, the island has a strong boating community with several marinas and moorage facilities.
Currently, the median listing home price on Bainbridge Island is $1.3 million with more than 80% of homes on Bainbridge owner-occupied. In 2020, the median family income was $125,900.
The highly-rated Bainbridge Island School District has an enrollment of approximately 3,500.
Suquamish
The small hamlet of Suquamish, with a population of about 4,300, is the closest off-island community to Bainbridge, less than a 10-minute drive from Grace Church. Part of the largely rural Port Madison Reservation, Suquamish is home to Chief Seattle's grave, a fine tribal museum, Old Man House Park, and the “House of Awakened Culture,” a large modern community center built like a traditional tribal longhouse. Only about 10% of Suquamish residents are tribal members, while 67% identify as Caucasian and the remaining 23% are represented by a diverse mix of Asians, Hispanics, Pacific Islanders, and African Americans.
Annual events include the Chief Seattle Days pow-wow in August, and the Canoe Journeys gathering, where more than 80 hand-carved oceangoing canoes and their crews land at the Suquamish waterfront on the way to their final destination. The median listing home price is $549,000. Median family income: $64,500. Median age: 47.
Poulsbo
With its setting on fiord-like Liberty Bay, Poulsbo attracted many Scandinavian settlers in the 19th century and remains a stronghold of their Norwegian, Swedish, and Finnish descendants to this day. A Scandinavian-themed main street, a large traditional Lutheran church overlooking the harbor, a Sons of Norway Hall, a Marine Science Center, and several downtown marinas add to the ambiance and make Poulsbo a destination for tourists arriving by either car or boat.
Poulsbo (pronounced pawls-bo) has a population of about 10,900 and is the closest major shopping area to Grace Church. The median listing home price is $632,500. The median family income is $72,800 Median age is 44.
Indianola, Kingston, Hansville
These three small communities are north of Bainbridge, on the Kitsap Peninsula but within driving distance of the Agate Pass Bridge to Grace Church.
Indianola, on the Puget Sound shore of the North Port Madison Reservation, is home to about 3,500 people. The Indianola dock, store, and community center are the heart of a strongly bonded small town. The median listing home price is $487,500. Median family income: $75,600. Median age: 44.
The waterfront town of Kingston, on scenic Appletree Cove, is home to about 2,800 people and a Washington State Ferries terminal that serves the crossing to Edmonds from the North Kitsap and Olympic Peninsulas. The median listing home price in Kingston is $722,500. Median family income: $64,400. Median age: 52
Hansville is located at the extreme northern tip of the Kitsap Peninsula. The population is about 3,400, of whom about 30% are summer residents. Foulweather Bluff is a windswept sandy beach destination, as is the Point No Point Lighthouse and Park. The median listing home price is $1.1M. Median family income: $71,100. Median age: 61.
Note: All median family income and median age figures are pulled from the 2019 census from www.datausa.io/census.
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