Best PlacesMountlake Terrace, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mountlake Terrace, 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.
Mountlake Terrace ranks 2,304th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Mountlake Terrace
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.
Mountlake Terrace's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mountlake Terrace ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of towns
Where Mountlake Terrace ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,517 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 10% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 13% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 21% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mountlake Terrace
A household needs to earn about $176,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mountlake Terrace home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $112,442, 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 Mountlake Terrace's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 Mountlake Terrace
Mountlake Terrace's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Mountlake Terrace.
Who works in Mountlake Terrace, and how
Work in Mountlake Terrace centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Mountlake Terrace
Mountlake Terrace has more restaurants and bars per resident than 69% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. The coast is about 8 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Mountlake Terrace and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Mountlake Terrace, month by month
Mountlake Terrace sees roughly 134 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 76 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 42° | 36° |
| April | 59° | 50° | 42° |
| July | 76° | 64° | 55° |
| October | 60° | 52° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Mountlake Terrace
The nearest airport, Seattle Paine Field International, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 24 miles away.
Mountlake Terrace 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 Mountlake Terrace against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Mountlake Terrace suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 72% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 22% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Mountlake Terrace
Is Mountlake Terrace a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mountlake Terrace ranks 2,304th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, biking, and walkability, and lowest on childcare costs and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mountlake Terrace expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $685,150. The overall cost of living runs about 19% above the national average. Set against a $112,442 median income, cost of living beats 72% of towns.
Is Mountlake Terrace safe?
Mountlake Terrace is safer than 55% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $396 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Mountlake Terrace?
July highs average about 76 degrees, and January highs near 48 with lows near 36. That works out to about 134 pleasant days a year, more than 87% of towns.
Is Mountlake Terrace good for families?
Schools beat 63% of towns, crime safety beats 55%, and childcare runs $1,517 a month.
Compare Mountlake Terrace with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mountlake Terrace. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mountlake Terrace 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.
Mountlake Terrace detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mountlake Terrace: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mountlake Terrace: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mountlake Terrace: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mountlake Terrace: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mountlake Terrace 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.