Best PlacesBonney Lake, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bonney Lake, 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.
Bonney Lake ranks 487th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bonney Lake
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.
Bonney Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bonney Lake ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 97% of cities
- QuietBetter than 93% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 91% of cities
- Household income$144,659 median, better than 90% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 88% of cities
Where Bonney Lake ranks low
- Short commute36.3 minutes each way, better than only 4% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 23% of cities
- BikingBetter than only 24% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Bonney Lake
A household needs to earn about $164,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bonney Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $144,659, 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 Bonney Lake's effective rate of 0.86%, 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 Bonney Lake
Bonney Lake runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bonney Lake.
Who works in Bonney Lake, and how
Work in Bonney Lake centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Bonney Lake
Bonney Lake has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of cities and more parkland per resident than 84% of cities. The coast is about 22 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Bonney Lake and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bonney Lake, month by month
Bonney Lake sees roughly 96 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 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° | 41° | 35° |
| April | 61° | 49° | 40° |
| July | 82° | 67° | 54° |
| October | 63° | 52° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Bonney Lake
Seattle-Tacoma International sits about 21 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.4 million passengers in 2025, with 172 nonstop destinations.
Bonney Lake 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 Bonney Lake against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Bonney Lake suits
Families
Schools land around the 55th percentile and crime safety beats 91%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 83% of cities and 18% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Bonney Lake
Is Bonney Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bonney Lake ranks 487th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on few empty homes, quiet, and low crime, and lowest on long commutes and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bonney Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $623,177. The overall cost of living runs about 11% above the national average. Set against a $144,659 median income, cost of living beats 83% of cities.
Is Bonney Lake safe?
Yes, Bonney Lake is safer than 91% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $267 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Bonney Lake?
July highs average about 82 degrees, and January highs near 49 with lows near 35. That works out to about 96 pleasant days a year, more than 58% of cities.
Is Bonney Lake good for families?
Schools beat 55% of cities, crime safety beats 91%, and childcare runs $1,327 a month.
Compare Bonney Lake with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bonney Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bonney Lake 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.
Bonney Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bonney Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bonney Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bonney Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bonney Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bonney Lake 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.