Best PlacesPullman, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pullman, 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.
Pullman ranks 1,363rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and low incomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Pullman
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.
Pullman's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pullman ranks high
- Short commute14.7 minutes each way, better than 99% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 93% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 93% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 90% of cities
Where Pullman ranks low
- Household income$53,236 median, better than only 2% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than only 2% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 6% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Pullman
A household needs to earn about $116,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pullman home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $53,236, 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 Pullman's effective rate of 0.84%, 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 Pullman
Pullman runs younger 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 Pullman.
Who works in Pullman, and how
Work in Pullman centers on education and hospitality & food. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 62%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 25%
Life in Pullman
Pullman has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of cities and more parkland per resident than 87% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Pullman and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Pullman, month by month
Pullman sees roughly 102 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 32° | 26° |
| April | 59° | 46° | 35° |
| July | 87° | 70° | 50° |
| October | 62° | 49° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Pullman
The nearest airport, Pullman/Moscow Regional, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 224 miles away.
Pullman 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 Pullman against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Pullman suits
Families
Schools land around the 48th percentile and crime safety beats 71%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 13% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Pullman
Is Pullman a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pullman ranks 1,363rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on short commutes, heat safety, and an educated workforce, and lowest on low incomes and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pullman expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $442,417. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $53,236 median income, cost of living beats 3% of cities.
Is Pullman safe?
Yes, Pullman is safer than 71% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $371 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Pullman?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 39 with lows near 26. That works out to about 102 pleasant days a year, more than 62% of cities.
Is Pullman good for families?
Schools beat 48% of cities, crime safety beats 71%, and childcare runs $1,077 a month.
Compare Pullman with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pullman. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pullman 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.
Pullman detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pullman: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pullman: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pullman: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pullman: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pullman 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.