Orchards was originally known as Fourth Plain. Several theories exist as to the etymology of the name, but one account states that in 1846, Dugald McTavish, an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company, surveyed land near the fur trading post, Fort Vancouver. McTavish described four plains in the area of thick woods and officials at the trading post numbered the plains accordingly thus providing the name of the community. Wanting a more unique name, residents voted in 1904 to change the name to Orchards, after the many fruit trees in the area.^[5]

Orchards is located in southern Clark County. The community is bordered to the northeast by Hockinson, to the north by Brush Prairie, to the west by Five Corners, and to the south by the city limits of Vancouver. The neighborhood of Sifton is in the southern part of the CDP.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the Orchards CDP has a total area of 5.4 square miles (14.0 km²), all of it land.^[4]

As of the census^[2] of 2000, there were 17,852 people, 5,918 households, and 4,704 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 2,601.4 people per square mile (1,004.8/km²). There were 6,175 housing units at an average density of 899.8/sq mi (347.5/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 87.39% White, 1.75% African American, 0.88% Native American, 4.11% Asian, 0.59% Pacific Islander, 1.84% from other races, and 3.44% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.53% of the population. 19.9% were of German, 9.3% Irish, 8.8% American and 6.6% English ancestry according to Census 2000.

There were 5,918 households, out of which 49.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.4% were married couples living together, 11.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.5% were non-families. 14.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 2.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.02 and the average family size was 3.34.

In the CDP, the age distribution of the population shows 34.2% under the age of 18, 8.3% from 18 to 24, 36.9% from 25 to 44, 16.5% from 45 to 64, and 4.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.2 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $49,216, and the median income for a family was $50,330. Males had a median income of $37,716 versus $26,576 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $17,866. About 4.6% of families and 6.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.1% of those under the age of 18 and 6.9% of those age 65 or over.