Best PlacesRuby, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ruby, 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.
Ruby ranks 24,799th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ruby
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.
Ruby's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ruby ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Short commute19.7 minutes each way, better than 89% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 86% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 75% of towns
Where Ruby ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 4% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ruby
A household needs to earn about $84,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ruby home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $72,435, 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 Ruby's effective rate of 0.52%, 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 Ruby
Ruby 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 Ruby.
Who works in Ruby, and how
Work in Ruby centers on education and hospitality & food. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Ruby
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ruby.
What the weather is like in Ruby, month by month
Ruby sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 29° | 26° |
| April | 57° | 44° | 35° |
| July | 85° | 68° | 52° |
| October | 56° | 44° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Ruby
The nearest airport, Spokane International, is about 68 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 243 miles away.
Ruby 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 Ruby against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ruby
Is Ruby a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ruby ranks 24,799th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, low disaster risk, and short commutes, and lowest on biking and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ruby expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $334,533. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $72,435 median income, cost of living beats 48% of towns.
Is Ruby safe?
Ruby is safer than 54% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $380 per resident a year.
Compare Ruby with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ruby. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ruby 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.
Ruby detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ruby: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ruby: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ruby: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ruby: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ruby 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.