Please tell me about Montesano and Yelm (Tacoma, Olympia: rent, house)

[Mr_Dove]

My wife has job opportunities in each of these towns. We currently live in Colorado and haven't had a chance to visit either of these towns.

We're interested in smaller towns in rural communities. We would look for a home outside of town with a few acres of land where we can have large gardens, chickens and perhaps other animals. We like agricultural communities where where we can make friends with farmers.

Both of them look like fine towns although Yelm is a bit too close to sprawl of the nearby megacities.

Can anyone tell me about these two towns, perhaps comparing and contrasting?

[Andy]

There are a lot of differences between the two. Weather being one of the biggest. Yelm is warmer most of the year, sunnier, drier, but colder in the winter.

Yelm is larger and faster growing due to its proximity and Olympia and Tacoma. It is large enough to have most amenities and is close enough to Olympia and Tacoma for the rest. If Yelm is too large, live south of town in the Bald Hills area or towards Vail. There are also some lakes out that way if you like the water. Plenty of acreage out there. The Yelm/McKenna area is one of the area's bigger agricultural areas. The Pierce County side of the river also has many farms and acreage.

Montesano is smaller and has less housing options (but cheaper) as much of the surrounding land is tree farm. Montesano has cooler, more cloudy weather and more rain. More timber than farming community. For many amenities you will have to go 10 miles away to Aberdeen, which itself is Washington's rustbelt. For everything else, you'll have to head to Olympia.

[nwcountrygal]

Lets see I currently rent a house in Yelm. Lived there. Hung out around Montesano years ago and have camped fished in the area. As an outsider (and a insider) the biggest worst general label I could give is in Montesano you will see banjos in Yelm you will see mullets. With that said and I don't have problem with either. More rain Montesano. More property for your $. Longer drive to say Costco or town stores. Yelm closer to Olympia (where my house is ) still 45 minutes without traffic to Tacoma 30 to Olympia. Rodeo is still fun. Team penning horse events. Rural space that will give you what your are aksing for. More people. Prices have fallen so still affordable. Yelm has a Safeway now and a few fast food places with mixed resturaunts movie theater Les Shwab tires Wallmart etc. The other just has local places and less. Montesano is very pretty however. But I still wouldn't say no to Yelm area for not being rural.

[kanhawk]

I would choose Montesano over Yelm if I was interested in a rural community. Montesano has less sprawl and strip malls and seems to have more community pride than most western Washington small towns. It has more of an old fashioned and cleaner look to it IMO. However it is isolated. If you want a rural atmosphere but still be close to big city amenities Yelm would be a better choice.

[yelm_blogger]

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