Best PlacesOdessa, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Odessa, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Odessa ranks 17,733rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Odessa
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.
Odessa's strengths and weaknesses
Where Odessa ranks high
- Short commute14.3 minutes each way, better than 98% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 165 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of towns
- TransitBetter than 89% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 86% of towns
Where Odessa ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 2% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 7% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 13% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,077 a month, better than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Odessa
A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Odessa home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $60,529; 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 Odessa's effective rate of 0.52%, 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 Odessa
Odessa 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 Odessa.
Who works in Odessa, and how
Work in Odessa centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 19%
Life in Odessa
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Odessa.
What the weather is like in Odessa, month by month
Odessa sees roughly 165 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 31° | 24° |
| April | 67° | 52° | 36° |
| July | 93° | 77° | 57° |
| October | 66° | 51° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Odessa
The nearest airport, Spokane International, is about 58 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 170 miles away.
Odessa 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 Odessa against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Odessa
Is Odessa a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Odessa ranks 17,733rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, the weather, and transit, and lowest on internet speeds and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Odessa expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $249,577. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $60,529 median income, cost of living beats 34% of towns.
Is Odessa safe?
Yes, Odessa is safer than 74% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $306 per resident a year.
Compare Odessa with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Odessa. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Odessa 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.
Odessa detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Odessa: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Odessa: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Odessa: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Odessa: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Odessa 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.