Best PlacesLooking Glass, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Looking Glass, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Looking Glass ranks 42,504th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Looking Glass
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.
Looking Glass' strengths and weaknesses
Where Looking Glass ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 89% of towns
- Short commute22.8 minutes each way, better than 76% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 74% of towns
- QuietBetter than 66% of towns
Where Looking Glass ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 5% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 9% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Looking Glass
A household needs to earn about $134,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Looking Glass home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $60,093, 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 Looking Glass' effective rate of 0.53%, 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 Looking Glass
Looking Glass 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 Looking Glass.
Who works in Looking Glass, and how
Work in Looking Glass centers on construction and admin & support services. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 63%
- Work from home 34%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Looking Glass
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Looking Glass.
What the weather is like in Looking Glass, month by month
Looking Glass sees roughly 94 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 33° | 25° |
| April | 62° | 47° | 33° |
| July | 91° | 72° | 51° |
| October | 64° | 49° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Looking Glass
The nearest airport, Walla Walla Regional, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 167 miles away.
The best schools in and around Looking Glass
Schools across Looking Glass average a D+, better than 10% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Wallowa Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Stella Mayfield Elementary SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Wallowa High SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Elgin High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Looking Glass school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Looking Glass 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 Looking Glass against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Looking Glass
Is Looking Glass a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Looking Glass ranks 42,504th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, clean air, and short commutes, and lowest on biking and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Looking Glass expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $533,449. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $60,093 median income, cost of living beats 20% of towns.
Is Looking Glass safe?
Looking Glass is safer than 28% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $473 per resident a year.
Compare Looking Glass with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Looking Glass. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Looking Glass 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.
Looking Glass detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Looking Glass: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Looking Glass: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Looking Glass: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Looking Glass: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Looking Glass 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.