Best PlacesMaple Valley, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Maple Valley, 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 Valley ranks 138th 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 Maple Valley
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 Valley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Maple Valley ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 94% of cities
- Household income$158,747 median, better than 93% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than 93% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 92% of cities
Where Maple Valley ranks low
- Short commute37.4 minutes each way, better than only 3% of cities
- Cheap childcare$2,022 a month, better than only 3% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 23% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 24% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Maple Valley
A household needs to earn about $194,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Maple Valley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $158,747, 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 Valley's effective rate of 0.84%, 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 Maple Valley
Maple Valley 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 Maple Valley.
Who works in Maple Valley, and how
Work in Maple Valley 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 73%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Maple Valley
Maple Valley has more parkland per resident than 92% of cities. The coast is about 21 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Maple Valley and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Maple Valley, month by month
Maple Valley 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 Valley
Seattle-Tacoma International sits about 14 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.4 million passengers in 2025, with 172 nonstop destinations.
Maple Valley 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 Valley against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Maple Valley suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 86% of cities and 24% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Maple Valley
Is Maple Valley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Maple Valley ranks 138th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on clean air, population health, and high incomes, and lowest on long commutes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Maple Valley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $736,447. The overall cost of living runs about 18% above the national average. Set against a $158,747 median income, cost of living beats 86% of cities.
Is Maple Valley safe?
Yes, Maple Valley is safer than 88% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $271 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Maple Valley?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 50 with lows near 36. That works out to about 148 pleasant days a year, more than 82% of cities.
Is Maple Valley good for families?
Schools beat 89% of cities, crime safety beats 88%, and childcare runs $2,022 a month.
Compare Maple Valley with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Maple Valley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Maple Valley 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 Valley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Maple Valley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Maple Valley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Maple Valley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Maple Valley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Maple Valley 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.