Best Places98665, WA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 98665, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

98665 ranks 9,813th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.

#9,813
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
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of 33,110 zip codes
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The best neighborhoods in 98665

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 98665 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

98665's strengths and weaknesses

Top 10%Clean air
Top 10%Few empty homes
Top 10%Cell coverage
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 98665 with other zip codes.

Where 98665 ranks high

  • Air qualityBetter than 94% of zip codes
  • Low vacancyBetter than 91% of zip codes
  • Cell coverageBetter than 91% of zip codes
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 84% of zip codes
  • BikingBetter than 84% of zip codes

Where 98665 ranks low

  • Cheap childcare$1,375 a month, better than only 11% of zip codes
  • State infrastructureBetter than only 11% of zip codes
  • Disaster safetyBetter than only 18% of zip codes
  • Healthcare accessBetter than only 22% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than only 22% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 98665

A household needs to earn about $120,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 98665 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $91,872, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$120,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$2,793
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $457,517 home
Median rent
$1,976
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$2,333
Property tax$308
Homeowners insurance$153

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 98665's effective rate of 0.81%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 98665

98665's age mix sits close to the national median.

Median age
39
about the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
16%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.5
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1820%
18 to 3426%
35 to 4920%
50 to 6419%
65 and older16%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 98665.


Who works in 98665, and how

Work in 98665 centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
17%
about the national average
Unemployment
6.8%
above the national average
Job growth
+4.1%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social12%
Manufacturing11%
Retail trade11%
Construction10%
Professional & technical9%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 78%
  • Work from home 17%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 5%

Life in 98665

98665 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of zip codes and more late-night spots per resident than 91% of zip codes. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of 98665 and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
155
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 53.5 per 10,000 residents, more than 72% of zip codes
Coffee shops
27
about 9.3 per 10,000 residents, more than 82% of zip codes
Parkland
74 acres
about 2.6 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 64% of zip codes
Open past 10pm
~61
food and drink venues open late, about 21.1 per 10,000 residents, more than 91% of zip codes

What the weather is like in 98665, month by month

98665 sees roughly 114 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January49°41°34°
April65°53°41°
July85°70°57°
October67°55°44°

Flying in and out of 98665

Portland International sits about 7 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 9.1 million passengers in 2025, with 117 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
PDX
Portland International, about 7 miles
Airport size
Medium hub
32nd-busiest in the US, 117 nonstop destinations
Average drive
10 min
from the area, with no traffic

98665 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 98665 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Who 98665 suits

Families

Schools land around the 37th percentile.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Internet is fast and widely advertised and 17% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

The weather beats 72% of zip codes.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in 98665

Is 98665 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 98665 ranks 9,813th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on clean air, few empty homes, and cell coverage, and lowest on childcare costs and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 98665 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $457,517. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $91,872 median income, cost of living beats 60% of zip codes.

Is 98665 safe?

98665 is safer than 50% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $446 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in 98665?

July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 49 with lows near 34. That works out to about 114 pleasant days a year, more than 72% of zip codes.

Is 98665 good for families?

Schools beat 37% of zip codes, crime safety beats 50%, and childcare runs $1,375 a month.


Compare 98665 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 98665. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 98665 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.

98665 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 98665: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 98665: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 98665: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 98665: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

98665 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.