Best PlacesSkamania County, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Skamania County, 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.
Skamania County ranks 911th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Skamania County
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.
The best areas in Skamania County
The parts of Skamania County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Washougal
Stevenson
It is noisier and more homes sit empty.
Carson
Local pay stretches less far and incomes run lower.
Scores across Skamania County run from about the 12th to the 85th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Skamania County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Skamania County ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 92% of counties
- Household income$100,188 median, better than 92% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 89% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 89% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of counties
Where Skamania County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,375 a month, better than only 4% of counties
- Short commute32.8 minutes each way, better than only 8% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 11% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Skamania County
A household needs to earn about $135,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Skamania County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $100,188, 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 Skamania County'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 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 Skamania County
Skamania County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Skamania County.
Who works in Skamania County, and how
Work in Skamania County centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Skamania County
Skamania County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of counties and more parkland per resident than 99% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Skamania County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Skamania County growing, and who is moving in?
Skamania County has grown about 11% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Portland, OR metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Skamania County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Skamania County, month by month
Skamania County sees roughly 110 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 42° | 37° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 42° |
| July | 87° | 71° | 57° |
| October | 67° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Skamania County
Portland International sits about 33 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 9.1 million passengers in 2025, with 117 nonstop destinations.
Skamania County 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 Skamania County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Skamania County
Is Skamania County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Skamania County ranks 911th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on clean air, high incomes, and tree cover, and lowest on childcare costs and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Skamania County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $531,274. The overall cost of living runs about 16% above the national average. Set against a $100,188 median income, cost of living beats 64% of counties.
Is Skamania County safe?
Yes, Skamania County is safer than 89% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $322 per resident a year.
Compare Skamania County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Skamania County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Skamania County 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.
Skamania County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Skamania County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Skamania County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Skamania County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Skamania County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Skamania County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.