Best PlacesShoreline, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shoreline, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Shoreline ranks 294th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Shoreline
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.
Shoreline's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shoreline ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of cities
- BikingBetter than 93% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 92% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of cities
Where Shoreline ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,022 a month, better than only 3% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 19% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 28% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 28% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Shoreline
A household needs to earn about $216,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shoreline home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $125,820, 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 Shoreline's effective rate of 0.81%, 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 Shoreline
Shoreline runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Shoreline.
Who works in Shoreline, and how
Work in Shoreline centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 65%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Shoreline
Shoreline has more restaurants and bars per resident than 65% of cities and more parkland per resident than 90% of cities. The coast is about 4 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Shoreline and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Shoreline, month by month
Shoreline sees roughly 135 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 76 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 42° | 36° |
| April | 59° | 50° | 42° |
| July | 76° | 64° | 55° |
| October | 60° | 52° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Shoreline
The nearest airport, Seattle Paine Field International, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 21 miles away.
Shoreline 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 Shoreline against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Shoreline suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 25% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Shoreline
Is Shoreline a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shoreline ranks 294th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on transit, clean air, and biking, and lowest on childcare costs and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shoreline expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $824,350. The overall cost of living runs about 25% above the national average. Set against a $125,820 median income, cost of living beats 61% of cities.
Is Shoreline safe?
Shoreline is safer than 19% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $562 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Shoreline?
July highs average about 76 degrees, and January highs near 48 with lows near 36. That works out to about 135 pleasant days a year, more than 78% of cities.
Is Shoreline good for families?
Schools beat 82% of cities, crime safety beats 19%, and childcare runs $2,022 a month.
Compare Shoreline with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shoreline. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shoreline 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.
Shoreline detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shoreline: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shoreline: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shoreline: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shoreline: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shoreline 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.