Best PlacesGrays Harbor County, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Grays Harbor County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Grays Harbor County ranks 1,644th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Grays Harbor County
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.
The best areas in Grays Harbor County
The parts of Grays Harbor County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Montesano & Elma
Prices have run up less, more residents vote, and incomes run higher.
Oakville
Mccleary
More households have young kids and tree cover is thicker.
Westport & Markham
It is quieter, though more homes sit empty.
Aberdeen
Streets are more walkable, though local pay stretches less far.
Hoquiam & Ocean Shores
Crime runs higher and disaster risk is higher.
Scores across Grays Harbor County run from about the 12th to the 74th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Grays Harbor County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Grays Harbor County ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 93% of counties
- TransitBetter than 91% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of counties
- BikingBetter than 85% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 81% of counties
Where Grays Harbor County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,375 a month, better than only 4% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 11% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 21% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Grays Harbor County
A household needs to earn about $81,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Grays Harbor County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $69,047, 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 Grays Harbor County's effective rate of 0.75%, 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 Grays Harbor County
Grays Harbor County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Grays Harbor County.
Who works in Grays Harbor County, and how
Work in Grays Harbor County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Grays Harbor County
Grays Harbor County has less parkland per resident than most counties and more late-night spots per resident than 71% of counties. The coast is about 14 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Grays Harbor County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Grays Harbor County growing, and who is moving in?
Grays Harbor County has grown about 10% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Seattle, WA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Grays Harbor County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Grays Harbor County, month by month
Grays Harbor County sees roughly 110 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 70 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50° | 43° | 38° |
| April | 58° | 49° | 41° |
| July | 70° | 61° | 54° |
| October | 62° | 53° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Grays Harbor County
Seattle-Tacoma International sits about 75 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.4 million passengers in 2025, with 172 nonstop destinations.
Grays Harbor County 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 Grays Harbor County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Grays Harbor County suits
Common questions about living in Grays Harbor County
Is Grays Harbor County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Grays Harbor County ranks 1,644th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on clean air, transit, and walkability, and lowest on childcare costs and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Grays Harbor County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $310,453. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $69,047 median income, cost of living beats 37% of counties.
Is Grays Harbor County safe?
Grays Harbor County is safer than 40% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $514 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Grays Harbor County?
July highs average about 70 degrees, and January highs near 50 with lows near 38. That works out to about 110 pleasant days a year, more than 68% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Grays Harbor County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Montesano & Elma, Oakville, and Mccleary. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Grays Harbor County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Grays Harbor County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Grays Harbor County 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.
Grays Harbor County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Grays Harbor County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Grays Harbor County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Grays Harbor County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Grays Harbor County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Grays Harbor County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.