After reading the other comments I’d like to add on that yes, it is conservative, but in the same way most more rural places in Washington are. And you notice the conservatives more than the sizable liberal population (Shelton too has lawyers, doctors, teachers, etc.)

It does have a sizable Guatemalan population that brings a lot of life to the town! And great food! It’s really not a “cesspool” or anything. It’s economically depressed. A lot of people in the PNW harbor a semi-secret hatred for poor people, and poor migrants. Often under the guise of disliking conservatives. I think a lot of Mason county’s harshest critics are guilty of that.

For the record, I also think the real estate is valuable enough there that the town will likely become less impoverished in the next couple decades. It’s already less rough around the edges than when I was a kid, from what I know.

I grew up in the area. Don’t ask people from Olympia. Tbh I think a lot of it comes from classism, it was considered a poor area most of my life, but they are extra critical. If you have kids, I’d reconsider because unless they’ve changed anything, the schools there kind of suck. But besides that, it’s really not that unsafe or anything. Lock your car, don’t be an idiot, don’t do meth, and you have nothing to worry about. And for what it’s worth, I think it’s a truly gorgeous area of the state.

People who think it’s all that dangerous have never lived anywhere worth worrying about, I think.