Best PlacesMonitor, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Monitor, 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.
Monitor ranks 4,257th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Monitor
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.
Monitor's strengths and weaknesses
Where Monitor ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 177 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
- Household income$117,975 median, better than 92% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 91% of towns
Where Monitor ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 12% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 13% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,077 a month, better than only 20% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Monitor
A household needs to earn about $127,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Monitor home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $117,975; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Monitor's effective rate of 0.65%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Monitor
Monitor's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Monitor.
Who works in Monitor, and how
Work in Monitor centers on construction and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Monitor
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Monitor.
What the weather is like in Monitor, month by month
Monitor sees roughly 177 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 29° | 23° |
| April | 64° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 92° | 77° | 62° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Monitor
The nearest airport, Pangborn Memorial, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 88 miles away.
Monitor 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 Monitor against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Monitor
Is Monitor a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Monitor ranks 4,257th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, clean air, and transit, and lowest on thin health care access and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Monitor expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $497,594. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $117,975 median income, cost of living beats 88% of towns.
Is Monitor safe?
Yes, Monitor is safer than 70% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $323 per resident a year.
Compare Monitor with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Monitor. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Monitor 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.
Monitor detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Monitor: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Monitor: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Monitor: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Monitor: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Monitor 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.