Best PlacesPacific County, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Pacific County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Pacific County ranks 1,743rd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Pacific 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 Pacific County
The parts of Pacific 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.
Ocean Park
More adults hold degrees, health care is easier to reach, and more residents vote.
Long Beach
More homes sit empty and fewer households have young kids.
Raymond
Prices have run up less and homes cost less.
Scores across Pacific County run from about the 11th to the 78th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Pacific County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pacific County ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of counties
- QuietBetter than 89% of counties
- TransitBetter than 85% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 81% of counties
- BikingBetter than 81% of counties
Where Pacific County ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,375 a month, better than only 4% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 11% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Pacific County
A household needs to earn about $85,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pacific County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $68,759, 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 Pacific County's effective rate of 0.69%, 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 Pacific County
Pacific 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 Pacific County.
Who works in Pacific County, and how
Work in Pacific County centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Pacific County
Pacific County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 95% of counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. The coast is about 6 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Pacific County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Pacific County growing, and who is moving in?
Pacific County has grown about 18% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Seattle, WA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Pacific County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Pacific County, month by month
Pacific County sees roughly 113 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 70 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 44° | 37° |
| April | 59° | 49° | 40° |
| July | 70° | 61° | 53° |
| October | 63° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Pacific County
Portland International sits about 90 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 9.1 million passengers in 2025, with 117 nonstop destinations.
Pacific 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 Pacific County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Pacific County suits
Common questions about living in Pacific County
Is Pacific County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pacific County ranks 1,743rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on clean air, quiet, and transit, and lowest on an overheated housing market and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pacific County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $330,723. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $68,759 median income, cost of living beats 39% of counties.
Is Pacific County safe?
Pacific County is safer than 42% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $512 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Pacific County?
July highs average about 70 degrees, and January highs near 52 with lows near 37. That works out to about 113 pleasant days a year, more than 70% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Pacific County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Ocean Park, Long Beach, and Raymond. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Pacific County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pacific County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pacific 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.
Pacific County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pacific County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pacific County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pacific County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pacific County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pacific 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.