Sequim is pronounced as one syllable: "skwim".

The population is estimated to be 5,951 as of 2007, not including the approximately 20,000 residents. In the Dungeness Valley immediately surrounding the city limits. Sequim is located along the Dungeness River near the base of the Olympic Mountains. The city has been increasing in population dramatically in recent years due to the influx of retirees from the Puget Sound region and California. Recent approximations show a population growth of about 34% since the year 2000.

Sequim lies within the rainshadow of the Olympic Mountains and receives an average of less than 15 inches of rain per year, nearly qualifying it as a desert. Fogs and cool breezes from the Juan de Fuca Strait make Sequim's environment more humid than would be expected from the low average annual precipitation.
Some places have surprisingly luxuriant forests dominated by Douglas-fir and western red cedar.
Black cottonwood, red alder, bigleaf maple, Pacific madrone, lodgepole pine and Garry oak can also be large.

Incorporation

Sequim was officially incorporated on October 31, 1913. For many decades small farms, mostly dairy farms, dotted the area around the small town. Near the end of World War I, Sequim became a stop for a railway which passed through from Port Angeles to Port Townsend, built primarily to carry wood products from the forests of the western Olympic Peninsula.

Sequim is home to a herd of Roosevelt elk, one attraction to the area. Sequim holds a Lavender Festival during the summer of every year, usually around July, which attracts tens of thousands of people.[citation needed]

The Museum and Arts Center features

Both natural and cultural exhibits including a mastodon mural mounted with the remaining
mastodons bones, artifacts, and a video on the excavation. The Olympic Game Farm allows visitors to get a close look at many large game animals.

The Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge is located just north of the city, near the mouth of the
Dungeness River. It includes Dungeness Spit and a five mile hike to the New Dungeness Lighthouse[7] at the end of the spit.

To the east along Highway 101 is Sequim Bay, a 4 mile long inlet from the Straits of Juan de Fuca.
Along the western stretch is the Sequim Bay State Park and the John Wayne Marina. The land for the latter was bequeathed by the movie actor John Wayne. The inlet is a popular bird watching area.