Best PlacesRuff, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ruff, 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.
Ruff ranks 34,205th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ruff
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.
Ruff's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ruff ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 161 pleasant days a year, better than 95% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 86% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 77% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 70% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 69% of towns
Where Ruff ranks low
- Short commute45.3 minutes each way, better than only 2% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ruff
A household needs to earn about $53,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ruff home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,957, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Ruff'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, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ruff
Ruff's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ruff.
Who works in Ruff, and how
Work in Ruff centers on construction and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Ruff
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ruff.
What the weather is like in Ruff, month by month
Ruff sees roughly 161 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 31° | 24° |
| April | 67° | 52° | 36° |
| July | 93° | 77° | 57° |
| October | 66° | 51° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Ruff
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 58 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 161 miles away.
Ruff 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 Ruff against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ruff
Is Ruff a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ruff ranks 34,205th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, low taxes, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on long commutes and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ruff expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $208,348. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $80,957 median income, cost of living beats 62% of towns.
Is Ruff safe?
Ruff is safer than 34% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $489 per resident a year.
Compare Ruff with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ruff. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ruff 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.
Ruff detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ruff: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ruff: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ruff: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ruff: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ruff 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.