Best Places99036, WA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 99036, 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

99036 ranks 2,752nd of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.

#2,752
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 99036

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 99036 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.

99036's strengths and weaknesses

Top 3%Few empty homes
Top 5%What local pay buys
Top 5%Civic engagement
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 99036 with other zip codes.

Where 99036 ranks high

  • Low vacancyBetter than 98% of zip codes
  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of zip codes
  • Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of zip codes
  • Household income$125,535 median, better than 91% of zip codes
  • Disaster safetyBetter than 91% of zip codes

Where 99036 ranks low

  • Internet speedBetter than only 5% of zip codes
  • BikingBetter than only 11% of zip codes
  • State infrastructureBetter than only 11% of zip codes
  • WalkabilityBetter than only 12% of zip codes
  • Cheap childcare$1,197 a month, better than only 20% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 99036

A household needs to earn about $157,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 99036 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $125,535, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$157,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$3,657
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $607,709 home
Median rent
$1,433
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$3,099
Property tax$356
Homeowners insurance$203

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 99036's effective rate of 0.70%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. 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 99036

99036 runs older than the country.

Median age
53
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
25%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.4
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1816%
18 to 3415%
35 to 4920%
50 to 6424%
65 and older25%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 99036.


Who works in 99036, and how

Work in 99036 centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
23%
above the national average
Unemployment
1.4%
below the national average
Job growth
+2.0%
/y 2019-2023, near the national pace

Largest industries

Retail trade18%
Manufacturing14%
Health care & social12%
Wholesale trade10%
Education8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 72%
  • Work from home 23%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 5%

Life in 99036

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 99036.


What the weather is like in 99036, month by month

99036 sees roughly 104 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January39°32°26°
April62°49°36°
July91°74°56°
October63°49°38°

Flying in and out of 99036

The nearest airport, Spokane International, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 236 miles away.

Nearest airport
GEG
Spokane International, about 14 miles
Airport size
Small hub
73rd-busiest in the US, 54 nonstop destinations
Average drive
20 min
from the area, with no traffic

99036 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 99036 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 99036

Is 99036 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 99036 ranks 2,752nd of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on few empty homes, what local pay buys, and civic engagement, and lowest on internet speeds and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 99036 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $607,709. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $125,535 median income, cost of living beats 96% of zip codes.

Is 99036 safe?

Yes, 99036 is safer than 81% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $298 per resident a year.


Compare 99036 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 99036. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 99036 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.

99036 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 99036: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 99036: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 99036: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 99036: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

99036 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.