Discreet Biohazard Cleanup Near North Methow Methow, WA

Methow is a small unincorporated community and census-designated place in Okanogan County, Washington, pronounced "MET-how," and is not to be confused with the wider Methow Valley or the incorporated towns of Twisp and Winthrop farther upriver.

The community takes its name from the Methow people, an Interior Salish people of the area, and the name itself derives from the Okanagan placename meaning "sunflower seeds."

Methow was founded in 1899 by W. A. Bolinger, who moved his store there from the fading mining boomtown at Squaw Creek, about four miles to the south.

The historic Methow Store that Bolinger built stood closed for decades before reopening in 2024, and a large historic stone house and homestead built by the Bolinger family still stands across Washington State Route 153 from it.

Methow sits on the Methow River about 13 miles upriver from where the Methow meets the Columbia River, at roughly 1,150 feet of elevation in the foothills of the Cascade Range.

The community is one of the principal starting points for rafting trips on the Methow River.

Methow supports its own community center, post office, fire station, church, and water system, along with two parks, and one of its two old one-room schoolhouses now serves as the community center.

The Methow CDP first appeared in the 2010 census with 68 residents, and its population grew to 92 by the 2020 census.

Methow has a dry-summer humid continental climate, receiving about 12.7 inches of precipitation and roughly 40 inches of snow in an average year.

Children in the Methow area are served by the Pateros School District.