Best PlacesEast Hill-Meridian, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around East Hill-Meridian, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
East Hill-Meridian ranks 948th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. Childcare costs pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on clean air.
The best neighborhoods in East Hill-Meridian
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.
East Hill-Meridian's strengths and weaknesses
Where East Hill-Meridian ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 88% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 87% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 83% of cities
- QuietBetter than 81% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 81% of cities
Where East Hill-Meridian ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,022 a month, better than only 3% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 13% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 16% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in East Hill-Meridian
A household needs to earn about $155,000 a year to comfortably buy the median East Hill-Meridian home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $113,477, 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 East Hill-Meridian's effective rate of 0.85%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in East Hill-Meridian
East Hill-Meridian's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 East Hill-Meridian.
Who works in East Hill-Meridian, and how
Work in East Hill-Meridian centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in East Hill-Meridian
East Hill-Meridian has more parkland per resident than 88% of cities. The coast is about 14 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of East Hill-Meridian and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in East Hill-Meridian, month by month
East Hill-Meridian sees roughly 141 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50° | 42° | 36° |
| April | 62° | 52° | 42° |
| July | 81° | 69° | 58° |
| October | 63° | 54° | 46° |
Flying in and out of East Hill-Meridian
Seattle-Tacoma International sits about 7 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.4 million passengers in 2025, with 172 nonstop destinations.
East Hill-Meridian 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 East Hill-Meridian against the other 2,097 cities.
Who East Hill-Meridian suits
Common questions about living in East Hill-Meridian
Is East Hill-Meridian a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, East Hill-Meridian ranks 948th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on clean air, population health, and low taxes, and lowest on childcare costs and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is East Hill-Meridian expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $588,566. The overall cost of living runs about 15% above the national average. Set against a $113,477 median income, cost of living beats 56% of cities.
Is East Hill-Meridian safe?
East Hill-Meridian is safer than 8% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $695 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in East Hill-Meridian?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 50 with lows near 36. That works out to about 141 pleasant days a year, more than 80% of cities.
Is East Hill-Meridian good for families?
Schools beat 61% of cities, crime safety beats 8%, and childcare runs $2,022 a month.
Compare East Hill-Meridian with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to East Hill-Meridian. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in East Hill-Meridian 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.
East Hill-Meridian detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for East Hill-Meridian: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in East Hill-Meridian: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of East Hill-Meridian: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in East Hill-Meridian: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
East Hill-Meridian 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.