Best PlacesPend Oreille County, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Pend Oreille County, 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.
Pend Oreille County ranks 1,533rd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Pend Oreille 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.
Pend Oreille County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pend Oreille County ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 94% of counties
- QuietBetter than 92% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 91% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 87% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 81% of counties
Where Pend Oreille County ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 6% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 11% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 12% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,077 a month, better than only 13% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Pend Oreille County
A household needs to earn about $93,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pend Oreille County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $69,827, 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 Pend Oreille County's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 Pend Oreille County
Pend Oreille 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 Pend Oreille County.
Who works in Pend Oreille County, and how
Work in Pend Oreille 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 80%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Pend Oreille County
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Pend Oreille County.
Is Pend Oreille County growing, and who is moving in?
Pend Oreille County has grown about 11% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Spokane, WA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Pend Oreille County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Pend Oreille County, month by month
Pend Oreille County sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 29° | 21° |
| April | 61° | 46° | 31° |
| July | 89° | 70° | 48° |
| October | 61° | 45° | 31° |
Flying in and out of Pend Oreille County
The nearest airport, Spokane International, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 243 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pend Oreille County
Schools across Pend Oreille County average a C+, better than 43% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Priest Lake Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pend Oreille County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pend Oreille 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 Pend Oreille County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Pend Oreille County
Is Pend Oreille County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pend Oreille County ranks 1,533rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low crime, quiet, and low disaster risk, and lowest on an overheated housing market and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pend Oreille County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $366,453. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $69,827 median income, cost of living beats 32% of counties.
Is Pend Oreille County safe?
Yes, Pend Oreille County is safer than 94% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $281 per resident a year.
Compare Pend Oreille County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pend Oreille County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pend Oreille 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.
Pend Oreille County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pend Oreille County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pend Oreille County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pend Oreille County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pend Oreille County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pend Oreille 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.