Best PlacesPotlatch, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Potlatch, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Potlatch ranks 28,260th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Potlatch
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.
Potlatch's strengths and weaknesses
Where Potlatch ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 86% of towns
- QuietBetter than 84% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 84% of towns
Where Potlatch ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,375 a month, better than only 7% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 13% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 14% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Potlatch
A household needs to earn about $96,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Potlatch home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $79,965, 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 Potlatch's effective rate of 0.58%, 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 Potlatch
Potlatch'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 Potlatch.
Who works in Potlatch, and how
Work in Potlatch centers on manufacturing and public administration. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Potlatch
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Potlatch.
What the weather is like in Potlatch, month by month
Potlatch sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 40° | 33° |
| April | 62° | 48° | 36° |
| July | 82° | 65° | 51° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Potlatch
Seattle-Tacoma International sits about 43 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.4 million passengers in 2025, with 172 nonstop destinations.
Potlatch 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 Potlatch against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Potlatch
Is Potlatch a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Potlatch ranks 28,260th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, tree cover, and low taxes, and lowest on childcare costs and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Potlatch expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $379,185. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $79,965 median income, cost of living beats 46% of towns.
Is Potlatch safe?
Potlatch is safer than 32% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $485 per resident a year.
Compare Potlatch with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Potlatch. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Potlatch 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.
Potlatch detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Potlatch: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Potlatch: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Potlatch: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Potlatch: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Potlatch 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.