Best Places98811, WA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 98811, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

98811 ranks 18,967th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.

#18,967
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 98811

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 98811 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
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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.

98811's strengths and weaknesses

Top 3%Clean air
Top 3%Quiet
Top 10%The weather
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 98811 with other zip codes.

Where 98811 ranks high

  • Air qualityBetter than 98% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than 97% of zip codes
  • Nice weatherabout 174 pleasant days a year, better than 95% of zip codes
  • Household income$109,432 median, better than 86% of zip codes
  • Low property taxBetter than 85% of zip codes

Where 98811 ranks low

  • Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of zip codes
  • Voter turnoutBetter than only 3% of zip codes
  • WalkabilityBetter than only 5% of zip codes
  • Low vacancyBetter than only 8% of zip codes
  • Disaster safetyBetter than only 10% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 98811

A household needs to earn about $111,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 98811 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $109,432; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.

Income to buy the median home
$111,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$2,583
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $443,700 home

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$2,262
Property tax$173
Homeowners insurance$148

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 98811's effective rate of 0.47%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.


Who lives in 98811

98811 runs older than the country.

Median age
47
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
32%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.5
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1816%
18 to 3417%
35 to 4918%
50 to 6418%
65 and older32%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 98811.


Who works in 98811, and how

Work in 98811 centers on construction and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.

Work from home
13%
below the national average
Unemployment
2.8%
below the national average
Job growth
−14.8%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Construction22%
Professional & technical15%
Utilities11%
Education8%
Hospitality & food8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 75%
  • Work from home 13%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 12%

Life in 98811

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 98811.


What the weather is like in 98811, month by month

98811 sees roughly 174 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January35°29°23°
April64°51°39°
July92°77°62°
October63°51°40°

Flying in and out of 98811

The nearest airport, Pangborn Memorial, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 93 miles away.

Nearest airport
EAT
Pangborn Memorial, about 25 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
283rd-busiest in the US, 1 nonstop destinations
Average drive
35 min
from the area, with no traffic

98811 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 98811 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 98811

Is 98811 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 98811 ranks 18,967th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on clean air, quiet, and the weather, and lowest on cell coverage and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 98811 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $443,700. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $109,432 median income, cost of living beats 76% of zip codes.

Is 98811 safe?

98811 is safer than 24% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $568 per resident a year.


Compare 98811 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 98811. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 98811 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.

98811 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 98811: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 98811: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 98811: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 98811: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

98811 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.