By Genaro Shaffer, Bellwether Real Estate · WA broker #27119 · updated June 2026

98225 is the Bellingham most postcards mean: the bay, downtown, the university, and the walkable pre-war neighborhoods stitched between them. If your picture of living here involves walking to coffee, water you can see from the street, and houses with porches, you are shopping in 98225.

What lives inside 98225

• Downtown — condos, lofts, and the city’s walk-everywhere core
• Fairhaven — the historic brick village on the south side
• South Hill + Edgemoor — view streets and the bay bluff
• Sehome, Happy Valley — the university’s walkable orbit
• Columbia, Lettered Streets, York — the craftsman grid north and west of downtown
• Birchwood — the value-minded northwest corner

Housing character + price reality

This is Bellingham’s oldest housing stock — craftsman and Victorian-era homes on grid streets, mixed with downtown condos and a thin band of premium view homes. Expect entry points in the condo and small-home range well under the citywide median, and a long tail up through $1M+ on South Hill and Edgemoor view streets. The neighborhood guides carry the honest block-by-block ranges. Older homes here mean older-home diligence: the fixer-upper guide covers oil tanks, knob-and-tube, and the rest.

Where the boundary gets fuzzy

The 98225/98226 line wanders along the north side — around Squalicum, Sunnyland’s north edge, and Cornwall Park, neighbors across one street can carry different ZIPs. Nothing about the neighborhood changes at that line; only the mail does.

FAQ

What does it cost to buy in 98225? Wider spread than any other local ZIP: downtown condos and compact pre-war homes start well below the citywide median ($710K, May 2026), while South Hill and Edgemoor view properties clear $1M routinely.

Which ZIP is my address actually in? ZIP lines cut through neighborhoods and even streets — the post office drew them for mail routes, not for real estate. Text me any address — (360) 389-6616 — and I will confirm the ZIP, the school assignment, and the neighborhood in one reply.

Is 98225 walkable? The most walkable ZIP in the county — downtown, Fairhaven, Sehome, and the Lettered Streets all score high, and the Interurban and Boulevard Park connect the waterfront on foot.

What about WWU rentals? Sehome, Happy Valley, and York carry real student-rental density. Great for investors, worth mapping street by street for owner-occupants — I will tell you which blocks are which.