Raymond is a city in Pacific County, Washington, set on the Willapa River where it flows toward Willapa Bay in the southwestern corner of the state. It is the largest municipality in Pacific County, with a population of roughly 2,900, and it anchors the northern half of the county along State Route 101, the region's coastal highway. The city is surrounded by timber country, winding waterways, and the forested Willapa Hills, giving it a distinctly rural, maritime Pacific Northwest character. Raymond grew up as a lumber town. In the early 1900s, mills lined the river, freshly cut logs filled the rail yards, and ships carried lumber out of Willapa Harbor, and by 1913 the town claimed a population of around 6,000. City promoters styled it the "Empire City of Willapa Harbor," and many of the community's older homes and public buildings date from that boom era. Timber and the working waterfront still shape local identity, even as the industry has consolidated over the decades. Today Raymond's economy is more diversified. The Port of Willapa Harbor operates the Willapa Harbor Airport, an industrial park, and marine facilities, and the surrounding county has added agricultural and manufacturing jobs to its traditional timber base. The city remains a service center for the northern Willapa Bay region, offering schools, shops, and civic services to a spread-out rural population. Recreation and the outdoors are central to life in Raymond. The Willapa Hills State Park Trail reaches the city's edge, and riverfront parks such as the L.V. and Stella Raymond Memorial Park and Willapa Landing Park provide boat launches, fishing piers, ball fields, and picnic areas along the water. For residents who value small-town living, working landscapes, and year-round access to forests and waterways, Raymond offers a setting that is increasingly hard to find elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest.