Best PlacesRocky Butte, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rocky Butte, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Rocky Butte ranks 31,670th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Rocky Butte
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.
Rocky Butte's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rocky Butte ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 98% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of towns
- Short commute17.3 minutes each way, better than 94% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 139 pleasant days a year, better than 89% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 86% of towns
Where Rocky Butte ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 6% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 7% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rocky Butte
A household needs to earn about $108,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rocky Butte home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $60,288, 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 Rocky Butte's effective rate of 0.76%, 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 Rocky Butte
Rocky Butte runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, 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 Rocky Butte.
Who works in Rocky Butte, and how
Work in Rocky Butte centers on agriculture & forestry and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Rocky Butte
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Rocky Butte.
What the weather is like in Rocky Butte, month by month
Rocky Butte sees roughly 139 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 28° | 23° |
| April | 65° | 51° | 35° |
| July | 94° | 77° | 58° |
| October | 64° | 50° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Rocky Butte
The nearest airport, Pangborn Memorial, is about 57 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 128 miles away.
Rocky Butte 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 Rocky Butte against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rocky Butte
Is Rocky Butte a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rocky Butte ranks 31,670th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, clean air, and short commutes, and lowest on education levels and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rocky Butte expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $416,786. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $60,288 median income, cost of living beats 17% of towns.
Is Rocky Butte safe?
Rocky Butte is safer than 44% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $427 per resident a year.
Compare Rocky Butte with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rocky Butte. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rocky Butte 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.
Rocky Butte detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rocky Butte: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rocky Butte: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rocky Butte: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rocky Butte: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rocky Butte 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.