Best PlacesGig Harbor, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gig Harbor, 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.
Gig Harbor ranks 507th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Gig Harbor
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.
Gig Harbor's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gig Harbor ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 97% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than 93% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 83% of cities
- Household income$130,140 median, better than 82% of cities
Where Gig Harbor ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 10% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 19% of cities
- Short commute30.6 minutes each way, better than only 21% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Gig Harbor
A household needs to earn about $193,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gig Harbor home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $130,140, 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 Gig Harbor's effective rate of 0.74%, 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 Gig Harbor
Gig Harbor runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Gig Harbor.
Who works in Gig Harbor, and how
Work in Gig Harbor centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Gig Harbor
Gig Harbor has more restaurants and bars per resident than 71% of cities and more parkland per resident than 85% of cities. The coast is about 16 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Gig Harbor and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Gig Harbor, month by month
Gig Harbor sees roughly 125 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 42° | 36° |
| April | 60° | 49° | 41° |
| July | 79° | 65° | 54° |
| October | 61° | 52° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Gig Harbor
Seattle-Tacoma International sits about 16 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.4 million passengers in 2025, with 172 nonstop destinations.
Gig Harbor 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 Gig Harbor against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Gig Harbor suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 75% of cities and 22% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 72% of cities, health care access beats 72%, and it is quieter than 80%.
Common questions about living in Gig Harbor
Is Gig Harbor a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gig Harbor ranks 507th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on tree cover, clean air, and civic engagement, and lowest on cell coverage and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gig Harbor expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $744,975. The overall cost of living runs about 15% above the national average. Set against a $130,140 median income, cost of living beats 75% of cities.
Is Gig Harbor safe?
Yes, Gig Harbor is safer than 78% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $318 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Gig Harbor?
July highs average about 79 degrees, and January highs near 48 with lows near 36. That works out to about 125 pleasant days a year, more than 72% of cities.
Is Gig Harbor good for families?
Schools beat 64% of cities, crime safety beats 78%, and childcare runs $1,327 a month.
Compare Gig Harbor with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gig Harbor. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gig Harbor 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.
Gig Harbor detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gig Harbor: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gig Harbor: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gig Harbor: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gig Harbor: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gig Harbor 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.