Best PlacesKettle Falls, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kettle Falls, 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.
Kettle Falls ranks 26,563rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Kettle Falls
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.
Kettle Falls' strengths and weaknesses
Where Kettle Falls ranks high
- TransitBetter than 91% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 86% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 80% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 79% of towns
- BikingBetter than 77% of towns
Where Kettle Falls ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 13% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,077 a month, better than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Kettle Falls
A household needs to earn about $80,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kettle Falls home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $58,417, 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 Kettle Falls' effective rate of 0.58%, 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 Kettle Falls
Kettle Falls runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Kettle Falls.
Who works in Kettle Falls, and how
Work in Kettle Falls centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Kettle Falls
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Kettle Falls.
What the weather is like in Kettle Falls, month by month
Kettle Falls sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 29° | 21° |
| April | 61° | 46° | 31° |
| July | 89° | 70° | 48° |
| October | 61° | 45° | 31° |
Flying in and out of Kettle Falls
The nearest airport, Spokane International, is about 73 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 212 miles away.
Kettle Falls 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 Kettle Falls against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Kettle Falls
Is Kettle Falls a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kettle Falls ranks 26,563rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, low taxes, and walkability, and lowest on distance from a big city 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 Kettle Falls expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $315,879. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $58,417 median income, cost of living beats 20% of towns.
Is Kettle Falls safe?
Yes, Kettle Falls is safer than 76% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $300 per resident a year.
Compare Kettle Falls with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kettle Falls. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kettle Falls 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.
Kettle Falls detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kettle Falls: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kettle Falls: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kettle Falls: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kettle Falls: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kettle Falls 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.