Skamokawa Valley, Washington

Skamokawa Valley is a census-designated place (CDP) in Wahkiakum County, Washington, north of the town of Cathlamet. The population was 401 as of the 2010 census. The CDP includes the Sleepy Hollow community. The Skamokawa Valley community is part of the Wahkiakum School District, a K-12 school district of about 430 students. The unincorporated community of Skamokawa lies directly to the south.

The name of the CDP comes from Wahkiakum Chief Skamokawa who met with Meriwether Lewis and William Clark while their expedition spent the winter of 1805–06 at Fort Clatsop. His name, Skamokawa, is a Chinook word meaning “smoke over the water,” a reference to the area's foggy climate.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the Skamokawa Valley CDP has a total area of 28.41 mi2, of which, 28.19 mi2 of it is land and 0.22 mi2 of it (0.76%) is water.

2020 census
As of the 2020 census, there were 487 people, 217 housing units, and 150 families. There were 416 White people, 3 African Americans, 14 Native Americans, 3 Asians, 0 Pacific Islanders, 15 people from some other race, and 36 from two or more races. 25 people were of Hispanic or Latino origin.

The ancestry of Skamokawa Valley was 29.7% German, 15.7% Irish, 9.6% Scottish, 9.2% English, 4.0% French, and 2.0% Norwegian.

The median age was 64.1 years old. 32.9% of the population were older than 65 years old, with 6.4% being between the ages of 65 to 74, 23.7% being between the ages of 75 to 84, and 2.8% being older than 85.

The median household income was $16,934, with families having a median income of $27,917. 50.2% of the population were in poverty, with 74.9% of people between the ages of 18 and 64 in poverty.

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 401 people, 159 households, and 104 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 14.1 /mi2. There were 200 housing units at an average density of 7.0 /mi2. The racial makeup of the CDP was 93.8% White, 0.0% African American, 1.0% Native American, 0.2% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 1.5% from other races, and 3.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.5% of the population.

There were 159 households, out of which 26.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.2% were married couples living together, 5.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.6% were non-families. 30.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.11.

In the CDP, the age distribution of the population shows 25.7% under the age of 18, 4.0% from 18 to 24, 20.9% from 25 to 44, 33.7% from 45 to 64, and 15.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.7 males.