Best PlacesGrand Coulee, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Grand Coulee, 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.
Grand Coulee ranks 25,297th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Grand Coulee
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.
Grand Coulee's strengths and weaknesses
Where Grand Coulee ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute14.8 minutes each way, better than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 93% of towns
- BikingBetter than 90% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 138 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of towns
Where Grand Coulee ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 13% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 13% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,077 a month, better than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Grand Coulee
A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Grand Coulee home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,735, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Grand Coulee's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 Grand Coulee
Grand Coulee 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 Grand Coulee.
Who works in Grand Coulee, and how
Work in Grand Coulee centers on public administration and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Grand Coulee
Grand Coulee has more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Grand Coulee and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Grand Coulee, month by month
Grand Coulee sees roughly 138 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 28° | 23° |
| April | 65° | 51° | 35° |
| July | 94° | 77° | 58° |
| October | 64° | 50° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Grand Coulee
The nearest airport, Pangborn Memorial, is about 68 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 158 miles away.
Grand Coulee 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 Grand Coulee against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Grand Coulee
Is Grand Coulee a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Grand Coulee ranks 25,297th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, short commutes, and walkability, and lowest on tree cover and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Grand Coulee expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $225,630. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $62,735 median income, cost of living beats 35% of towns.
Is Grand Coulee safe?
Grand Coulee is safer than 23% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $543 per resident a year.
Compare Grand Coulee with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Grand Coulee. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Grand Coulee 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.
Grand Coulee detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Grand Coulee: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Grand Coulee: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Grand Coulee: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Grand Coulee: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Grand Coulee 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.