Best PlacesPierce County, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Pierce County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Pierce County ranks 654th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $106,346, wages outrun the cost of living, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are childcare costs, state infrastructure, and long commutes.
The best neighborhoods in Pierce 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 Pierce County
The parts of Pierce 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.
Gig Harbor & Artondale
More adults hold degrees, tree cover is thicker, and health care is easier to reach.
Edgewood, Auburn & Lake Tapps
Local pay stretches further and crime runs lower.
South Hill & Graham
More households have young kids and incomes run higher.
Puyallup, Bonney Lake & Sumner
More residents vote and prices have run up less.
Spanaway
Commutes are longer and biking is worse.
Lakewood & University Place
Transit reaches more jobs, though schools score lower.
Fort Lewis, Dupont & North Fort Lewis
More homes sit empty and streets are more car-dependent.
Tacoma & Parkland
Homes cost less, though it is noisier.
Pierce County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Pierce County's strengths and weaknesses
Pierce County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Few empty homes, transit, and high incomes carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Childcare costs, state infrastructure, and long commutes hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Pierce County ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 95% of counties
- TransitBetter than 95% of counties
- Household income$106,346 median, better than 94% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of counties
- BikingBetter than 93% of counties
Where Pierce County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,327 a month, better than only 5% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 11% of counties
- Short commute31.3 minutes each way, better than only 11% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 15% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Pierce County
A household needs to earn about $145,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pierce County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $106,346, 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 Pierce County's effective rate of 0.86%, 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 Pierce County
Pierce County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Pierce County.
Who works in Pierce County, and how
Work in Pierce County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Pierce County
Pierce County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more late-night spots per resident than 73% of counties. The coast is about 15 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Pierce County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Pierce County growing, and who is moving in?
Pierce County has grown about 13% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Seattle, WA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Pierce County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Pierce County, month by month
Pierce County sees roughly 100 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 41° | 35° |
| April | 61° | 49° | 40° |
| July | 82° | 67° | 54° |
| October | 63° | 52° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Pierce County
Seattle-Tacoma International sits about 19 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.4 million passengers in 2025, with 172 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Pierce County
Schools across Pierce County average a C+, better than 49% of counties.
Top middle schools
- Lakeridge Middle SchoolA · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pierce County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pierce 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 Pierce County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Pierce County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 83% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 14% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Pierce County
Is Pierce County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pierce County ranks 654th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on few empty homes, transit, and high incomes, and lowest on childcare costs and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pierce County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $549,555. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $106,346 median income, cost of living beats 83% of counties.
Is Pierce County safe?
Pierce County is safer than 40% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $549 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Pierce County?
July highs average about 82 degrees, and January highs near 49 with lows near 35. That works out to about 100 pleasant days a year, more than 60% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Pierce County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Gig Harbor & Artondale, Edgewood, Auburn & Lake Tapps, and South Hill & Graham. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Pierce County good for families?
Schools beat 49% of counties, crime safety beats 40%, and childcare runs $1,327 a month.
Is Pierce County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 83% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 61% of counties. About 14% of workers already work from home.
Compare Pierce County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pierce County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pierce 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.
Pierce County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pierce County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pierce County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pierce County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pierce County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pierce 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.