Best PlacesMaple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton ranks 707th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and walkability ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton
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.
Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
- QuietBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of neighborhoods
- Household income$156,004 median, better than 92% of neighborhoods
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 89% of neighborhoods
Where Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton ranks low
- WalkabilityBetter than only 1% of neighborhoods
- Cell coverageBetter than only 2% of neighborhoods
- Cheap childcare$2,022 a month, better than only 7% of neighborhoods
- State infrastructureBetter than only 7% of neighborhoods
- Short commute33.5 minutes each way, better than only 9% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton
A household needs to earn about $223,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $156,004, 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 Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton's effective rate of 0.91%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton
Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton runs older 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 Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton.
Who works in Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton, and how
Work in Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton centers on retail trade and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton
Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton has more parkland per resident than 98% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 19 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton, month by month
Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton sees roughly 148 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50° | 42° | 36° |
| April | 62° | 52° | 42° |
| July | 81° | 69° | 58° |
| October | 63° | 54° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton
Seattle-Tacoma International sits about 10 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.4 million passengers in 2025, with 172 nonstop destinations.
Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton 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 Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton
Is Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton ranks 707th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on tree cover, quiet, and clean air, and lowest on walkability and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $839,977. The overall cost of living runs about 19% above the national average. Set against a $156,004 median income, cost of living beats 89% of neighborhoods.
Is Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton safe?
Yes, Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton is safer than 77% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $410 per resident a year.
Compare Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton 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.
Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Maple Heights-Lake Desire, Renton 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.