Best Places98439, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 98439, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
98439 ranks 28,833rd of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in 98439
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
98439's strengths and weaknesses
Where 98439 ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of zip codes
- TransitBetter than 86% of zip codes
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 84% of zip codes
- Short commute20.8 minutes each way, better than 82% of zip codes
- Cell coverageBetter than 79% of zip codes
Where 98439 ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of zip codes
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of zip codes
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of zip codes
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 5% of zip codes
- Crime safetyBetter than only 9% of zip codes
Who lives in 98439
98439 runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 98439.
Who works in 98439, and how
Work in 98439 centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in 98439
The coast is about 12 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across 98439, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 98439, month by month
98439 sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 40° | 32° |
| April | 62° | 49° | 37° |
| July | 81° | 67° | 51° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 40° |
Flying in and out of 98439
Seattle-Tacoma International sits about 24 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.4 million passengers in 2025, with 172 nonstop destinations.
98439 measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 98439 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 98439
Is 98439 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 98439 ranks 28,833rd of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on clean air, transit, and low taxes, and lowest on civic engagement and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 98439 safe?
98439 is safer than 9% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $852 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in 98439?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 49 with lows near 32. That works out to about 80 pleasant days a year, more than 44% of zip codes.
Compare 98439 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 98439. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 98439 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
98439 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 98439: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 98439: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 98439: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 98439: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
98439 detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.