Best PlacesLacey, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lacey, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Lacey ranks 979th 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 Lacey
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.
Lacey's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lacey ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of cities
- TransitBetter than 94% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 83% of cities
- BikingBetter than 81% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 75% of cities
Where Lacey ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 21% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 22% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,375 a month, better than only 24% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 28% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Lacey
A household needs to earn about $119,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lacey home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $96,464, 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 Lacey's effective rate of 0.79%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lacey
Lacey'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 Lacey.
Who works in Lacey, and how
Work in Lacey centers on public administration and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Lacey
Lacey has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of cities and more parkland per resident than 86% of cities. The coast is about 28 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lacey and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lacey, month by month
Lacey sees roughly 93 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 41° | 33° |
| April | 62° | 49° | 36° |
| July | 82° | 65° | 50° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Lacey
Seattle-Tacoma International sits about 37 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.4 million passengers in 2025, with 172 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Lacey
Schools across Lacey average a C+, better than 35% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Wa He Lut Indian SchoolF · 5% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lacey school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lacey 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 Lacey against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Lacey suits
Common questions about living in Lacey
Is Lacey a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lacey ranks 979th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on clean air, transit, and low taxes, and lowest on state infrastructure and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lacey expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $456,786. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $96,464 median income, cost of living beats 48% of cities.
Is Lacey safe?
Lacey is safer than 50% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $421 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lacey?
July highs average about 82 degrees, and January highs near 49 with lows near 33. That works out to about 93 pleasant days a year, more than 56% of cities.
Is Lacey good for families?
Schools beat 35% of cities, crime safety beats 50%, and childcare runs $1,375 a month.
Compare Lacey with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lacey. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lacey 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.
Lacey detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lacey: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lacey: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lacey: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lacey: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lacey 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.