Best PlacesOkanogan County, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Okanogan County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Okanogan County ranks 1,624th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Disaster risk pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on quiet.
The best neighborhoods in Okanogan County
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.
The best areas in Okanogan County
The parts of Okanogan County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Winthrop
More adults hold degrees, health care is easier to reach, and tree cover is thicker.
Omak
More households have young kids, though it is noisier.
Okanogan
Fewer homes sit empty and prices have run up less.
Brewster
Homes cost more and crime runs higher.
Oroville
Local pay stretches less far and incomes run lower.
Scores across Okanogan County run from about the 11th to the 78th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Okanogan County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Okanogan County ranks high
- QuietBetter than 89% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 89% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 138 pleasant days a year, better than 87% of counties
- Short commute18.4 minutes each way, better than 86% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 81% of counties
Where Okanogan County ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 9% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 11% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,077 a month, better than only 13% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 15% of counties
- School gradeC−, better than only 24% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Okanogan County
A household needs to earn about $82,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Okanogan County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $66,493, 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 Okanogan County's effective rate of 0.66%, 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 Okanogan County
Okanogan County 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 Okanogan County.
Who works in Okanogan County, and how
Work in Okanogan County centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Okanogan County
Okanogan County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of counties and more parkland per resident than 69% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Okanogan County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Okanogan County growing, and who is moving in?
Okanogan County has grown about 9% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Seattle, WA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Okanogan County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Okanogan County, month by month
Okanogan County sees roughly 138 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 28° | 23° |
| April | 65° | 51° | 35° |
| July | 94° | 77° | 58° |
| October | 64° | 50° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Okanogan County
The nearest airport, Pangborn Memorial, is about 78 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 144 miles away.
The best schools in and around Okanogan County
Schools across Okanogan County average a C−, better than 24% of counties.
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Okanogan County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Okanogan County 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 Okanogan County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Okanogan County suits
Families
Schools land around the 24th percentile and crime safety beats 66%.
Common questions about living in Okanogan County
Is Okanogan County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Okanogan County ranks 1,624th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on quiet, clean air, and the weather, and lowest on disaster risk and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Okanogan County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $321,147. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $66,493 median income, cost of living beats 27% of counties.
Is Okanogan County safe?
Yes, Okanogan County is safer than 66% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $396 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Okanogan County?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 23. That works out to about 138 pleasant days a year, more than 87% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Okanogan County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Winthrop, Omak, and Okanogan. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Okanogan County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Okanogan County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Okanogan County 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.
Okanogan County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Okanogan County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Okanogan County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Okanogan County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Okanogan County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Okanogan County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.