Addressing System

The Clallam County Addressing System was designed by a committee of Emergency Service Responders and other service providers (Postal Service, Utilities, Local Government, etc.) in response to critical emergency service needs. The system is designed to uniquely and positively identify every address location in the County, provide the simplest, most effective way to locate an address in an emergency, and be the most convenient and understandable for general use. Most addresses outside of Port Angeles and the central portion of Sequim were converted to the new system over the period from 1991-94.

How Addresses in Clallam County Work

With a few minor exceptions, there are two kinds of addresses in Clallam County:

  • City Grid type addresses in and around Port Angeles, Sequim, Forks, and Neah Bay
  • Rural addresses in the rest of the county

Rather than extend the city grid addressing throughout the county, where roads do not follow a rectangular grid pattern, the rural system was applied there. In cooperation with each city, a permanent boundary was drawn around each city to separate the city addressing system from the rural addressing system. Unincorporated areas within that boundary are addressed with an extension of the city system. These boundaries were drawn to minimize the confusion when crossing between systems - in particular, to insure that no road would have a set of city-type addresses on one section and a set of incompatible rural addresses on another. By making these boundaries permanent (rather than following city limits) potential conflicts were resolved and prevented once and for all, and annexations will not force address changes.

Grid Boundary Maps

Rural System

The majority of the county is addressed using the rural system. Unlike city grid systems, numbers do not increase from fixed baselines. Numbering starts over at the beginning of each road and increases from there at a rate of 1000 per mile, measured to the driveway. Consequently addresses match odometer readings on each road. Even numbers are on the right, Odd on the left as you travel in the direction of increasing numbers. Generally a high last digit indicates the location is farther from the road. (e.g. 1342 Monroe Road would be 1.34 miles up Monroe Road from Highway 101 on the right side with a relatively short driveway. 739 Carlsborg Road would be 0.73 miles up Carlsborg Road from Highway 101, on the left side, with a relatively long driveway.)

If a road extends two directions from its origin, addresses are numbered both ways from that point with an E and W (or N and S) preceding the road name to designate which branch of the road the address is on.

If two or more addresses share a driveway, the lowest number indicates the first house, the highest number the last house, and the others in order in between (skipping numbers for vacant lots). There can be up to five addresses on a shared driveway before it must be named as a private road. (e.g. 451, 453 and 457 O'Brien Road are located on a driveway that begins 0.45 miles up O'Brien Road from Highway 101 on the left, with 451 closest to O'Brien Road, followed by 453, then 457.)

Addresses on Highways 101 and 112 are the same except that the "beginning" of the road is the point where State mileposts begin. Consequently addresses match mileposts. (e.g. 255342 Highway 101 is 0.34 miles east of milepost 255 on the right.)

Multi-unit addresses, like apartments or mobile home parks, can share a single address based on the main entrance to the complex, with unit numbers to identify each separate unit. (e.g. 342 Spath Road Number 22 would indicate space number 22 in a mobile park that is 0.34 miles up Spath road on the right.)

City Systems

Existing address systems in Port Angeles and Sequim have been extended to the newly defined grid boundaries. A grid system was created in Forks and Neah Bay, and implemented along with the countywide system. Maps are available to show grid boundaries around each city. Addresses increase by 100 per block away from each city's address baselines.

Port Angeles: On east-west streets, the 100 block begins at Laurel Street (the baseline) with 8 blocks per mile east and west from there. An E or W indicates which side of the baseline the address is on and in which direction the numbers increase. On north-south streets, the 100 block begins at First Street (the baseline) with 16 blocks per mile north and south from there, with an N or S before the street name as above. Since the streets in the townsite area are not parallel to the streets to the south, there is a jump in numbers at Park Avenue which begins on the south 2700 block. Even numbers are on the south and west sides of the street, odd on the north and east. Port Angeles Grid Boundary Map (PDF)

Sequim: On east-west streets, the 100 block begins at Sequim Avenue with 8 blocks per mile west and variable size blocks east from there. An E or W indicates which side of the baseline the address is on and in which direction the numbers increase. On north-south streets, the 100 block begins at Washington Street (Highway 101), except where it curves to the south on each edge of town, with variable size blocks north and south from there, and an N or S before the street name as above. Even numbers are on the north and east sides of the street, odd on the south and west. Sequim Grid Boundary Map (PDF)

Forks: On east-west streets, the "0" block begins at Forks Avenue (Highway 101), except on each edge of town where it curves to the west. On north-south streets, the "0" block begins at Division Street. Blocks are variable sizes in all directions. Directional indicators are used only on streets that cross a baseline. Even numbers are on the south and west sides of the street, odd on the north and east. Forks Grid Boundary Map (PDF)

Neah Bay: On north-south streets, the "0" block begins at Bayview Avenue with numbers increasing to the south. On east-west streets, the "0" block begins at the bluff at the west edge of town, with numbers increasing to the east. Even numbers are on the south and west sides of the street, odd on the north and east.