Cle Elum, WA 98922: The Numbers That Disagree, and Why

What the ZIP Code Covers

98922 is not a synonym for “the city of Cle Elum.” Census-linked ZIP data puts the code at roughly 447 square miles, touching Cle Elum, South Cle Elum, and outlying rural parcels toward Easton, well beyond the city’s own 4.5 square miles. South Cle Elum is its own incorporated town, with its own mayor and council, about a mile south across the Yakima River. Roslyn, the town most visitors associate with the area’s mining past, uses a separate ZIP code, 98941. A 98922 mailing address could sit inside Cle Elum’s city limits, in South Cle Elum, or on unincorporated county land, three different tax and governance situations behind one ZIP.

Is 98922 the same as the Cle Elum city limits?
No. The ZIP covers city, town, and unincorporated county parcels; an address search against the actual city boundary, not the ZIP alone, confirms which government and tax jurisdiction applies.

Home Prices: Why the Published Numbers Disagree

The single biggest source of confusion for anyone researching this ZIP is that four legitimate “home price” numbers for the same place can differ by close to $800,000, because they measure different things.

The 143-day-versus-13-day swing in the Redfin row is the real story here: Cle Elum’s home market is thin, three closed sales in the most recent tracked month, so a single luxury sale or a single slow month moves the “median” by tens of thousands of dollars. The $1.21 million list-price figure doesn’t contradict the lower numbers; it describes what’s currently for sale, which skews toward newer, larger, or resort-adjacent construction, not what typically closes.

Why do home price estimates vary so much for Cle Elum?
Because assessed value, modeled value, median sale price, and median list price are four different measurements from four different datasets and time windows. None is wrong; they answer different questions.

Income and Poverty, Reconciled

Census ACS 2024 5-year estimates put Cle Elum’s median household income at $63,973, per capita income at $40,961, and the poverty rate at 9.76%, close to the broader Ellensburg micro-area and well below the Washington state median of $98,141.

The Suncadia Effect

A large share of the upper-end real estate tied to “Cle Elum” doesn’t sit inside city limits at all. Suncadia, the roughly 6,400-acre resort community between Cle Elum and Roslyn, has built out only about 2,000 of its residential units and draws buyers from a different market segment than the historic downtown core. Because Suncadia carries a Cle Elum mailing address and gets folded into “Cle Elum” real-estate coverage, its resort-tier pricing pulls broader averages upward without describing what a downtown bungalow costs.

Schools

Cle Elum falls under the Cle Elum-Roslyn School District, not Ellensburg, a mix-up that appears on at least one other guide. The high school reports 311 students at a 21.01 student-teacher ratio; the elementary school reports 489 students at 17.29, for the 2024-2025 year.

Getting to Seattle: the Real Drive

Cle Elum sits about 84 miles from Seattle, and nearly every published guide stops there. What they skip: the route crosses Snoqualmie Pass, where studded tires are legal only from November 1 through March 31 and posted chain requirements carry a $500 fine for noncompliance. WSDOT does not publish a simple average-days-closed-per-winter figure in an easily citable form, so treat any such number elsewhere as unverified. What’s verifiable: winter travel here means checking real-time pass conditions, not assuming a flat commute time holds year-round.

How reliable is the winter commute over Snoqualmie Pass?
Reliable enough for daily use most winters, but expect periodic chain-up requirements and occasional storm closures; check WSDOT’s real-time pass report rather than a fixed mileage estimate.

Risk Factors Standard Listings Skip

Wildfire and Flood Exposure

Property-level hazard data for the Cle Elum ZIP shows all tracked properties carrying some 30-year wildfire risk, rated extreme, with 1,572 properties showing measurable exposure, and 47% of properties carrying a moderate, severe 30-year flood risk affecting 423 properties. These aren’t abstract model outputs. The Red Bridge Fire, which broke out east of Cle Elum on June 9, 2025, burned 53 acres, destroyed two structures, and triggered evacuations before crews contained it. In 2012, the Taylor Bridge Fire burned homes in the corridor between Cle Elum and Ellensburg. Defensible-space landscaping and an evacuation plan belong on the standard due-diligence list here, not the optional one.

The 2025 Municipal Bankruptcy

In November 2024 an arbitrator awarded City Heights Holdings, the developer behind the long-delayed Ederra housing project, $22.2 million in damages after finding Cle Elum had repeatedly violated a 2011 development agreement. With 12% interest and legal costs, the judgment grew past $25 million, several times the city’s roughly $5 million annual general-fund budget. After garnishments tied up city bank accounts in May 2025, the City Council filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection on June 24, 2025, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Washington. A judge allowed the case to proceed later that year, and the reorganization plan has continued moving through the court since. The dispute traces back to a 2011 agreement most of the current council had no part in signing.

Does the bankruptcy affect property taxes or city services right now?
The city has continued providing police, fire, and utility services through the case; Chapter 9 restructures the debt owed to the developer, it doesn’t automatically change resident tax bills, though the eventual repayment plan could affect future city budgets and service levels.

Outdoor Recreation, Briefly

• Cle Elum Ranger District trails and Cle Elum River: hiking, fishing, and paddling close to town.
• Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail (Iron Horse): the former rail corridor through South Cle Elum.
• Suncadia’s golf and trail network: open to guests and members, not the general public.
• Cle Elum and Kachess Lakes: boating and summer recreation.

Cle Elum vs. South Cle Elum vs. Roslyn

The price spread across three towns eight miles apart is the clearest evidence that “Cle Elum area home prices” is not one market.