Best PlacesBainbridge Island, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bainbridge Island, 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.
Bainbridge Island ranks 427th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on high incomes by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bainbridge Island
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.
Bainbridge Island's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bainbridge Island ranks high
- Household income$182,336 median, better than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 97% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
Where Bainbridge Island ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,327 a month, better than only 8% of towns
- Short commute37.3 minutes each way, better than only 9% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 13% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bainbridge Island
A household needs to earn about $297,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bainbridge Island home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $182,336, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Bainbridge Island's effective rate of 0.69%, 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.
Who lives in Bainbridge Island
Bainbridge Island runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bainbridge Island.
Who works in Bainbridge Island, and how
Work in Bainbridge Island centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 40%
- Work from home 40%
- Transit, walk, or bike 21%
Life in Bainbridge Island
Bainbridge Island has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of towns and more parkland per resident than 87% of towns. The coast is about 3 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Bainbridge Island and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bainbridge Island, month by month
Bainbridge Island sees roughly 153 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 42° | 35° |
| April | 62° | 52° | 43° |
| July | 81° | 68° | 58° |
| October | 63° | 54° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Bainbridge Island
The nearest airport, Boeing Field/King County International, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 17 miles away.
Bainbridge Island 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 Bainbridge Island against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Bainbridge Island suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 97% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 40% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 93% of towns and health care access beats 94%.
Common questions about living in Bainbridge Island
Is Bainbridge Island a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bainbridge Island ranks 427th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on high incomes, an educated workforce, and biking, and lowest on childcare costs and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bainbridge Island expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,151,846. The overall cost of living runs about 30% above the national average. Set against a $182,336 median income, cost of living beats 97% of towns.
Is Bainbridge Island safe?
Bainbridge Island is safer than 39% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $459 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Bainbridge Island?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 49 with lows near 35. That works out to about 153 pleasant days a year, more than 93% of towns.
Is Bainbridge Island good for families?
Schools beat 88% of towns, crime safety beats 39%, and childcare runs $1,327 a month.
Compare Bainbridge Island with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bainbridge Island. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bainbridge Island 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.
Bainbridge Island detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bainbridge Island: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bainbridge Island: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bainbridge Island: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bainbridge Island: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bainbridge Island 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.