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City Guide
Living in Silverdale. The center of the county.
Silverdale, WA sits at the head of Dyes Inlet, right in the middle of the Kitsap Peninsula, and it has quietly become the county's center of gravity: the mall, the hospital, the big-box corridor, and the closest full-service town to Naval Base Kitsap Bangor. It is still unincorporated, which surprises people, because it functions like the county seat of everyday life.
Living here
Old Town is the original Silverdale: a small grid of streets sloping down to Waterfront Park, the boardwalk, and the pier on Dyes Inlet, with older ramblers and cottages within walking distance of the water. Every July it hosts Whaling Days, the community festival that has run since 1974. Up the hill, Ridgetop is the family engine of the area: sidewalk neighborhoods from the 1990s onward, townhomes, pocket parks, and its own middle school. Out toward Island Lake you find one-level homes and bigger lots around the county park, where summer means swimming and fishing minutes from the mall.
The commercial core is the part everyone knows: Kitsap Mall, The Trails at Silverdale, and the retail corridor along Silverdale Way. It is also the county's medical hub now that St. Michael Medical Center, the region's main hospital, operates its large campus here. Threading through all of it is the Clear Creek Trail, roughly seven miles of boardwalk and forest path through wetlands where locals walk year-round and watch salmon return in the fall.
Who it fits
Navy families stationed at Bangor land here first: the base gate is minutes away and the housing stock has grown up around that demand. Living in Silverdale also fits buyers who want errands, medical care, and schools in one tight radius. Hospital and shipyard workers use it as a central point between Bremerton and Poulsbo, and anyone who wants newer suburban housing on the Kitsap Peninsula gets it here without committing to a long two-leg commute every day.
Kitsap Mall · Photo: Evvekk · Public domain (CC0)
Getting around
Highway 3 runs right through Silverdale, putting the Bangor gate about ten minutes north and Bremerton about fifteen to twenty minutes south. SR 303 across Waaga Way is the direct link to East Bremerton. Seattle is a two-leg trip: drive or ride Kitsap Transit from the Silverdale Transit Center to Bremerton, then take the roughly half-hour fast ferry to downtown, or head north through Poulsbo to the Bainbridge Island ferry, a 35 minute crossing. The Kingston to Edmonds ferry covers trips to the north end of the Seattle area. Driving all the way around through Tacoma takes an hour and a half or more, so most commuters build their life around the boats.
Schools
Silverdale schools run through the Central Kitsap School District. Independent ratings linked, with deeper data on the state's OSPI report card.
- Central Kitsap High SchoolHigh · Central Kitsap School District
- Klahowya Secondary SchoolGrades 6 to 12 · Central Kitsap School District
- Ridgetop Middle SchoolMiddle · Central Kitsap School District
- Central Kitsap Middle SchoolMiddle · Central Kitsap School District
- Silverdale Elementary SchoolElementary · Central Kitsap School District
- Silver Ridge Elementary SchoolElementary · Central Kitsap School District
- Central Kitsap School DistrictDistrictRatings on GreatSchools →
School assignment depends on the exact address. We check boundaries for any home you're considering, before you write an offer.
Photo: SeaTraff · CC BY-SA 4.0
Common questions
Straight answers to what buyers ask us about Silverdale most.
Is Silverdale a good place to live?
Silverdale is Kitsap's center of gravity: the mall, the hospital, the big-box corridor, and the closest full-service town to Naval Base Kitsap Bangor, all at the head of Dyes Inlet in the middle of the peninsula.
How far is Silverdale from the Bangor base?
About 10 minutes north up Highway 3. Bremerton runs about 15 to 20 minutes south, and SR 303 across Waaga Way is the direct link to East Bremerton.
How do you get from Silverdale to Seattle?
It is a two-leg trip: drive or ride Kitsap Transit to Bremerton for the roughly half-hour fast ferry, or head north through Poulsbo to the Bainbridge Island ferry, a 35 minute crossing.
What school district serves Silverdale?
The Central Kitsap School District: Central Kitsap High, Klahowya Secondary for grades 6 to 12, and the Silverdale and Silver Ridge elementaries.
Nearby guides: Bremerton Port Orchard Kingston
Photo: Jonathan Miske · CC BY-SA 2.0
Thinking about landing in the middle of Kitsap?
One call gets you a straight answer on what your budget buys in Silverdale, from Old Town to Ridgetop, from a Windermere team that works these streets every week.