Best PlacesLewis County, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Lewis County, 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.
Lewis County ranks 1,580th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lewis County
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.
The best areas in Lewis County
The parts of Lewis County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Chehalis & Napavine
More households have young kids, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Centralia
It is noisier and tree cover is thinner.
Winlock & Toledo
Biking is worse and prices have run up more.
Onalaska
Fewer adults hold degrees and more homes sit empty.
Mossyrock
Streets are more car-dependent and commutes are longer.
Scores across Lewis County run from about the 14th to the 82nd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Lewis County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lewis County ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 90% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 86% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 84% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 83% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 81% of counties
Where Lewis County ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,375 a month, better than only 4% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 11% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 15% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Lewis County
A household needs to earn about $100,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lewis County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $77,705, 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 Lewis County's effective rate of 0.69%, 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 Lewis County
Lewis County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lewis County.
Who works in Lewis County, and how
Work in Lewis County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Lewis County
Lewis County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 74% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lewis County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Lewis County growing, and who is moving in?
Lewis County has grown about 16% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Seattle, WA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Lewis County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Lewis County, month by month
Lewis County sees roughly 107 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 41° | 37° |
| April | 61° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 81° | 66° | 54° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Lewis County
Seattle-Tacoma International sits about 63 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.4 million passengers in 2025, with 172 nonstop destinations.
Lewis County 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 Lewis County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Lewis County suits
Families
Schools land around the 39th percentile and crime safety beats 86%.
Common questions about living in Lewis County
Is Lewis County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lewis County ranks 1,580th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on clean air, low crime, and big-city access, and lowest on an overheated housing market and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lewis County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $390,209. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $77,705 median income, cost of living beats 34% of counties.
Is Lewis County safe?
Yes, Lewis County is safer than 86% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $339 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lewis County?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 48 with lows near 37. That works out to about 107 pleasant days a year, more than 65% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Lewis County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Chehalis & Napavine, Centralia, and Winlock & Toledo. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Lewis County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lewis County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lewis County 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.
Lewis County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lewis County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lewis County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lewis County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lewis County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lewis County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.