Best PlacesChewelah, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Chewelah, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Chewelah ranks 25,572nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Chewelah
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.
Chewelah's strengths and weaknesses
Where Chewelah ranks high
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 86% of towns
- Short commute21.1 minutes each way, better than 84% of towns
- BikingBetter than 83% of towns
Where Chewelah ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 10% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 13% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,077 a month, better than only 20% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Chewelah
A household needs to earn about $80,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Chewelah home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $65,884, 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 Chewelah's effective rate of 0.63%, 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 Chewelah
Chewelah runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Chewelah.
Who works in Chewelah, and how
Work in Chewelah centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Chewelah
Chewelah has more restaurants and bars per resident than 77% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Chewelah and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Chewelah, month by month
Chewelah sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 29° | 21° |
| April | 61° | 46° | 31° |
| July | 89° | 70° | 48° |
| October | 61° | 45° | 31° |
Flying in and out of Chewelah
The nearest airport, Spokane International, is about 47 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 220 miles away.
Chewelah 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 Chewelah against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Chewelah
Is Chewelah a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Chewelah ranks 25,572nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, walkability, and low taxes, and lowest on a weak job market and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Chewelah expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $314,999. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $65,884 median income, cost of living beats 35% of towns.
Is Chewelah safe?
Chewelah is safer than 37% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $460 per resident a year.
Compare Chewelah with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Chewelah. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Chewelah 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.
Chewelah detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Chewelah: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Chewelah: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Chewelah: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Chewelah: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Chewelah 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.