Best PlacesLake Stevens, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lake Stevens, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Lake Stevens ranks 450th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lake Stevens
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.
Lake Stevens' strengths and weaknesses
Where Lake Stevens ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 93% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 83% of cities
- QuietBetter than 83% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 82% of cities
Where Lake Stevens ranks low
- Short commute35.0 minutes each way, better than only 6% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,516 a month, better than only 13% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 24% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Lake Stevens
A household needs to earn about $170,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lake Stevens home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $123,147, 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 Lake Stevens' effective rate of 0.78%, 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 Lake Stevens
Lake Stevens runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lake Stevens.
Who works in Lake Stevens, and how
Work in Lake Stevens centers on manufacturing 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 75%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Lake Stevens
The coast is about 11 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Lake Stevens, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lake Stevens, month by month
Lake Stevens sees roughly 124 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 Lake Stevens
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 40 miles away.
Lake Stevens 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 Lake Stevens against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Lake Stevens suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 20% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Lake Stevens
Is Lake Stevens a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lake Stevens ranks 450th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on clean air, low crime, and low taxes, and lowest on long commutes and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lake Stevens expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $650,808. The overall cost of living runs about 14% above the national average. Set against a $123,147 median income, cost of living beats 65% of cities.
Is Lake Stevens safe?
Yes, Lake Stevens is safer than 93% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $257 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lake Stevens?
July highs average about 76 degrees, and January highs near 48 with lows near 36. That works out to about 124 pleasant days a year, more than 71% of cities.
Is Lake Stevens good for families?
Schools beat 66% of cities, crime safety beats 93%, and childcare runs $1,516 a month.
Compare Lake Stevens with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lake Stevens. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lake Stevens 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.
Lake Stevens detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lake Stevens: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lake Stevens: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lake Stevens: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lake Stevens: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lake Stevens 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.