Best PlacesLopez Island, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lopez Island, 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.
Lopez Island ranks 9,597th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lopez Island
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.
Lopez Island's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lopez Island ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- BikingBetter than 93% of towns
Where Lopez Island ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,516 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 10% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 12% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lopez Island
A household needs to earn about $176,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lopez Island home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $76,667, 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 Lopez Island's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 Lopez Island
Lopez Island 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 Lopez Island.
Who works in Lopez Island, and how
Work in Lopez Island centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Lopez Island
The coast is about 18 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Lopez Island, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lopez Island, month by month
Lopez Island sees roughly 149 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 | 60° | 49° | 40° |
| July | 76° | 61° | 50° |
| October | 61° | 52° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Lopez Island
The nearest airport, Friday Harbor, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 76 miles away.
Lopez Island 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 Lopez Island against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lopez Island
Is Lopez Island a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lopez Island ranks 9,597th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, quiet, and an educated workforce, and lowest on childcare costs and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lopez Island expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $695,500. The overall cost of living runs about 20% above the national average. Set against a $76,667 median income, cost of living beats 22% of towns.
Is Lopez Island safe?
Yes, Lopez Island is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $336 per resident a year.
Compare Lopez Island with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lopez Island. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lopez Island 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.
Lopez Island detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lopez Island: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lopez Island: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lopez Island: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lopez Island: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lopez Island 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.