Best PlacesMazama, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mazama, 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.
Mazama ranks 17,851st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Mazama
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.
Mazama's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mazama ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 86% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 85% of towns
Where Mazama ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mazama
A household needs to earn about $174,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mazama home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $98,835, 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 Mazama's effective rate of 0.62%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Mazama
Mazama 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 Mazama.
Who works in Mazama, and how
Work in Mazama centers on professional & technical and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 55%
- Work from home 35%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Mazama
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mazama.
What the weather is like in Mazama, month by month
Mazama sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 36° | 32° |
| April | 61° | 47° | 39° |
| July | 81° | 65° | 53° |
| October | 59° | 49° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Mazama
The nearest airport, Pangborn Memorial, is about 84 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 117 miles away.
Mazama 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 Mazama against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mazama
Is Mazama a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mazama ranks 17,851st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, quiet, and clean air, and lowest on internet speeds and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mazama expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $684,150. The overall cost of living runs about 9% above the national average. Set against a $98,835 median income, cost of living beats 70% of towns.
Is Mazama safe?
Mazama is safer than 48% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $397 per resident a year.
Compare Mazama with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mazama. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mazama 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.
Mazama detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mazama: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mazama: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mazama: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mazama: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mazama 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.