Best PlacesHamilton, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hamilton, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Hamilton ranks 14,949th of 50,333 U.S. towns 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 Hamilton
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.
Hamilton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hamilton ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 89% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 86% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 84% of towns
Where Hamilton ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,516 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 13% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 29% of towns
- Short commute30.7 minutes each way, better than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hamilton
A household needs to earn about $123,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hamilton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $88,959, 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 Hamilton's effective rate of 0.73%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Hamilton
Hamilton runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hamilton.
Who works in Hamilton, and how
Work in Hamilton centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Hamilton
The coast is about 34 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Hamilton, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hamilton, month by month
Hamilton sees roughly 116 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 77 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 41° | 37° |
| April | 60° | 50° | 43° |
| July | 77° | 64° | 53° |
| October | 60° | 52° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Hamilton
The nearest airport, Bellingham International, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 76 miles away.
Hamilton 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 Hamilton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hamilton
Is Hamilton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hamilton ranks 14,949th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, quiet, and fast internet, and lowest on childcare costs and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hamilton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $473,797. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $88,959 median income, cost of living beats 50% of towns.
Is Hamilton safe?
Hamilton is safer than 31% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $496 per resident a year.
Compare Hamilton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hamilton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hamilton 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.
Hamilton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hamilton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hamilton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hamilton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hamilton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hamilton 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.