Nuclear War Risk in WA: Where You’re Safer—and Where You’re Not

As a kid growing up in the 80s in Washington State was great except for one thing - the threat of nuclear war scared us all, especially because of the movie "The Day After".

Is Rural Eastern Washington a Safer Bet During Nuclear Conflict?

I'm from Clarkston, Washington, and even as a kid in a pretty isolated town in the Evergreen State, I still felt like anything was possible before the Cold War fell apart for Russia and the United States.

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Flash forward to 2025. I now live in Tri-Cities, Washington, with Hanford in my backyard.

It got me thinking. How safe are some areas, and how dangerous are some areas of Washington State if a nuclear bomb did go off in our state?

Why the Olympic Peninsula Might Not Be as Safe as You Think

As you guessed, Washington isn't the safest state because of the presence of critical military infrastructure, especially in western regions, but there are a few places that might be safer than others.

So, where are the best and worst places to be? I did a quick Google search and here is what I discovered:

The highest risk places include Naval Base Kitsap (Bangor/Bremerton area), Fairchild Air Force Base (near Spokane), Joint Base Lewis-McChord (near Tacoma), and Hanford Nuclear Site (near Tri-Cities).

I'm sure Hanford comes as no surprise. Even though there are no nuclear weapons at the site, it still has a ton of nuclear waste

Here are a few places that are considered the safest in Washington State in case of a nuclear war.

See if any of these places surprise you:

Rural Northeastern WA (e.g., Colville, Republic, Newport), Olympic Peninsula (away from Bangor), and Southeast WA (beyond Tri-Cities).

Places like Dayton and Pomeroy are considered safer than the Tri-Cities.

The #1 safest spot is the North Cascades.

It seems like something out of a movie, but if you had to go somewhere, you could see that there are a few options.

I'm sure it would be better to live in a state like Wyoming, where there is NOTHING for miles and miles, but we Washingtonians still love our state (Hanford and all).

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