Best Places98588, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 98588, 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.
98588 ranks 22,939th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in 98588
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.
98588's strengths and weaknesses
Where 98588 ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of zip codes
- Tree shadeBetter than 89% of zip codes
- QuietBetter than 88% of zip codes
- Local economyBetter than 85% of zip codes
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 84% of zip codes
Where 98588 ranks low
- Short commute48.8 minutes each way, better than only 1% of zip codes
- Cell coverageBetter than only 3% of zip codes
- WalkabilityBetter than only 5% of zip codes
- Low vacancyBetter than only 8% of zip codes
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 98588
A household needs to earn about $90,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 98588 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $88,887; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 98588's effective rate of 0.60%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in 98588
98588 runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 98588.
Who works in 98588, and how
Work in 98588 centers on health care & social and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in 98588
The coast is about 43 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across 98588, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 98588, month by month
98588 sees roughly 97 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 40° | 33° |
| April | 61° | 48° | 37° |
| July | 81° | 65° | 50° |
| October | 62° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of 98588
Seattle-Tacoma International sits about 32 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.4 million passengers in 2025, with 172 nonstop destinations.
98588 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 98588 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 98588
Is 98588 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 98588 ranks 22,939th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on clean air, tree cover, and quiet, and lowest on long commutes and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 98588 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $353,075. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $88,887 median income, cost of living beats 54% of zip codes.
Is 98588 safe?
98588 is safer than 51% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $407 per resident a year.
Compare 98588 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 98588. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 98588 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.
98588 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 98588: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 98588: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 98588: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 98588: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
98588 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.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- 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.