Best PlacesMica, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mica, 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.
Mica ranks 1,670th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Mica
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.
Mica's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mica ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 97% of towns
- Household income$143,259 median, better than 97% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 96% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 95% of towns
Where Mica ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 9% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 13% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,197 a month, better than only 14% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mica
A household needs to earn about $208,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mica home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $143,259, 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 Mica's effective rate of 0.70%, 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 Mica
Mica 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 Mica.
Who works in Mica, and how
Work in Mica centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 28%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Mica
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mica.
What the weather is like in Mica, month by month
Mica sees roughly 101 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 32° | 26° |
| April | 62° | 49° | 36° |
| July | 91° | 74° | 56° |
| October | 63° | 49° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Mica
The nearest airport, Spokane International, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 240 miles away.
Mica 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 Mica against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mica
Is Mica a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mica ranks 1,670th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, what local pay buys, and high incomes, and lowest on internet speeds and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mica expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $806,012. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $143,259 median income, cost of living beats 97% of towns.
Is Mica safe?
Yes, Mica is safer than 95% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $208 per resident a year.
Compare Mica with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mica. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mica 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.
Mica detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mica: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mica: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mica: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mica: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mica 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.