Best PlacesFerndale, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ferndale, 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.
Ferndale ranks 860th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ferndale
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.
Ferndale's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ferndale ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 88% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 83% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 82% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 82% of cities
Where Ferndale ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 6% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 11% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,516 a month, better than only 13% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Ferndale
A household needs to earn about $147,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ferndale home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $96,945, 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 Ferndale's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 Ferndale
Ferndale's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ferndale.
Who works in Ferndale, and how
Work in Ferndale centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Ferndale
Ferndale has more parkland per resident than 96% of cities. The coast is about 10 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Ferndale and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ferndale, month by month
Ferndale sees roughly 124 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 76 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 40° | 33° |
| April | 60° | 50° | 40° |
| July | 76° | 65° | 54° |
| October | 61° | 51° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Ferndale
The nearest airport, Bellingham International, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 98 miles away.
Ferndale 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 Ferndale against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Ferndale suits
Families
Schools land around the 46th percentile and crime safety beats 82%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 16% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Ferndale
Is Ferndale a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ferndale ranks 860th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on clean air, heat safety, and low taxes, and lowest on an overheated housing market and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ferndale expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $573,412. The overall cost of living runs about 9% above the national average. Set against a $96,945 median income, cost of living beats 44% of cities.
Is Ferndale safe?
Yes, Ferndale is safer than 82% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $308 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Ferndale?
July highs average about 76 degrees, and January highs near 48 with lows near 33. That works out to about 124 pleasant days a year, more than 71% of cities.
Is Ferndale good for families?
Schools beat 46% of cities, crime safety beats 82%, and childcare runs $1,516 a month.
Compare Ferndale with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ferndale. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ferndale 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.
Ferndale detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ferndale: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ferndale: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ferndale: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ferndale: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ferndale 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.