Best PlacesKenmore, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kenmore, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Kenmore ranks 1,200th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Kenmore
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.
Kenmore's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kenmore ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$160,425 median, better than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
Where Kenmore ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,022 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 13% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 14% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Kenmore
A household needs to earn about $250,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kenmore home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $160,425, 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 Kenmore's effective rate of 0.80%, 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 Kenmore
Kenmore'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 Kenmore.
Who works in Kenmore, and how
Work in Kenmore centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 59%
- Work from home 32%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Kenmore
Kenmore has more parkland per resident than 91% of towns. The coast is about 12 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Kenmore and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Kenmore, month by month
Kenmore sees roughly 138 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 76 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 42° | 36° |
| April | 59° | 50° | 42° |
| July | 76° | 64° | 55° |
| October | 60° | 52° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Kenmore
The nearest airport, Seattle Paine Field International, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 21 miles away.
Kenmore 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 Kenmore against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Kenmore suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 94% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 32% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Kenmore
Is Kenmore a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kenmore ranks 1,200th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on population health, biking, and high incomes, 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 Kenmore expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $955,741. The overall cost of living runs about 28% above the national average. Set against a $160,425 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is Kenmore safe?
Kenmore is safer than 26% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $527 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Kenmore?
July highs average about 76 degrees, and January highs near 48 with lows near 36. That works out to about 138 pleasant days a year, more than 88% of towns.
Is Kenmore good for families?
Schools beat 75% of towns, crime safety beats 26%, and childcare runs $2,022 a month.
Compare Kenmore with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kenmore. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kenmore 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.
Kenmore detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kenmore: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kenmore: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kenmore: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kenmore: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kenmore 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.