Best PlacesKelso, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kelso, 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.
Kelso ranks 1,516th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Kelso
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.
Kelso's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kelso ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 87% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 83% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 80% of cities
- Short commute22.0 minutes each way, better than 77% of cities
Where Kelso ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 12% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 12% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 13% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 16% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Kelso
A household needs to earn about $94,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kelso home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $80,447, 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 Kelso's effective rate of 0.82%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Kelso
Kelso's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Kelso.
Who works in Kelso, and how
Work in Kelso centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Kelso
Kelso has more parkland per resident than 82% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Kelso and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Kelso, month by month
Kelso sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 41° | 35° |
| April | 64° | 51° | 40° |
| July | 82° | 66° | 55° |
| October | 65° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Kelso
Portland International sits about 41 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 9.1 million passengers in 2025, with 117 nonstop destinations.
Kelso 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 Kelso against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Kelso suits
Families
Schools land around the 28th percentile and crime safety beats 66%.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Kelso
Is Kelso a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kelso ranks 1,516th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on clean air, few empty homes, and low taxes, and lowest on state infrastructure and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Kelso expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $359,079. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $80,447 median income, cost of living beats 26% of cities.
Is Kelso safe?
Yes, Kelso is safer than 66% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $388 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Kelso?
July highs average about 82 degrees, and January highs near 49 with lows near 35. That works out to about 87 pleasant days a year, more than 51% of cities.
Is Kelso good for families?
Schools beat 28% of cities, crime safety beats 66%, and childcare runs $1,375 a month.
Compare Kelso with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kelso. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kelso 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.
Kelso detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kelso: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kelso: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kelso: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kelso: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kelso 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.