Best PlacesEllensburg, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ellensburg, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ellensburg ranks 817th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ellensburg
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.
Ellensburg's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ellensburg ranks high
- Short commute18.8 minutes each way, better than 91% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 158 pleasant days a year, better than 85% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 84% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 83% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 81% of cities
Where Ellensburg ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 1% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 15% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 16% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than only 19% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Ellensburg
A household needs to earn about $112,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ellensburg home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $75,916, 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 Ellensburg's effective rate of 0.78%, 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 Ellensburg
Ellensburg runs younger 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 Ellensburg.
Who works in Ellensburg, and how
Work in Ellensburg centers on hospitality & food and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Ellensburg
Ellensburg has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of cities and more parkland per resident than 95% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Ellensburg and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ellensburg, month by month
Ellensburg sees roughly 158 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 30° | 23° |
| April | 64° | 49° | 35° |
| July | 91° | 73° | 56° |
| October | 65° | 49° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Ellensburg
The nearest airport, Yakima Air Trml/McAllister Field, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 89 miles away.
Ellensburg 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 Ellensburg against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Ellensburg suits
Common questions about living in Ellensburg
Is Ellensburg a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ellensburg ranks 817th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on short commutes, the weather, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on internet speeds and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ellensburg expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $428,588. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $75,916 median income, cost of living beats 28% of cities.
Is Ellensburg safe?
Yes, Ellensburg is safer than 74% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $376 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Ellensburg?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 38 with lows near 23. That works out to about 158 pleasant days a year, more than 85% of cities.
Is Ellensburg good for families?
Schools beat 75% of cities, crime safety beats 74%, and childcare runs $1,102 a month.
Compare Ellensburg with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ellensburg. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ellensburg 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.
Ellensburg detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ellensburg: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ellensburg: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ellensburg: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ellensburg: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ellensburg 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.