Best PlacesJohnson, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Johnson, 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.
Johnson ranks 4,179th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Johnson
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.
Johnson's strengths and weaknesses
Where Johnson ranks high
- Short commute10.8 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of towns
Where Johnson ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 13% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 14% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Johnson
A household needs to earn about $121,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Johnson home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $76,853, 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 Johnson's effective rate of 0.88%, 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 Johnson
Johnson runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Johnson.
Who works in Johnson, and how
Work in Johnson centers on education and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Johnson
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Johnson.
What the weather is like in Johnson, month by month
Johnson sees roughly 101 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 32° | 26° |
| April | 59° | 46° | 35° |
| July | 87° | 70° | 50° |
| October | 62° | 49° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Johnson
The nearest airport, Pullman/Moscow Regional, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 225 miles away.
Johnson 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 Johnson against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Johnson
Is Johnson a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Johnson ranks 4,179th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, an educated workforce, and population health, and lowest on tree cover 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 Johnson expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $457,069. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $76,853 median income, cost of living beats 46% of towns.
Is Johnson safe?
Yes, Johnson is safer than 96% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $205 per resident a year.
Compare Johnson with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Johnson. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Johnson 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.
Johnson detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Johnson: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Johnson: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Johnson: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Johnson: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Johnson 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.