Best PlacesSouth Montesano, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around South Montesano, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
South Montesano ranks 7,981st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in South Montesano
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.
South Montesano's strengths and weaknesses
Where South Montesano ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 86% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 86% of towns
- Short commute20.8 minutes each way, better than 85% of towns
Where South Montesano ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,375 a month, better than only 7% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 13% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in South Montesano
A household needs to earn about $97,000 a year to comfortably buy the median South Montesano home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $96,829; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 South Montesano's effective rate of 1.01%, 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 South Montesano
South Montesano 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 South Montesano.
Who works in South Montesano, and how
Work in South Montesano centers on other services and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in South Montesano
The coast is about 23 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across South Montesano, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in South Montesano, month by month
South Montesano sees roughly 114 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 70 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50° | 43° | 38° |
| April | 58° | 49° | 41° |
| July | 70° | 61° | 54° |
| October | 62° | 53° | 45° |
Flying in and out of South Montesano
Seattle-Tacoma International sits about 70 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.4 million passengers in 2025, with 172 nonstop destinations.
South Montesano 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 South Montesano against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in South Montesano
Is South Montesano a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, South Montesano ranks 7,981st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, low crime, and low taxes, and lowest on biking and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is South Montesano expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $361,732. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $96,829 median income, cost of living beats 86% of towns.
Is South Montesano safe?
Yes, South Montesano is safer than 90% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $243 per resident a year.
Compare South Montesano with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to South Montesano. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in South Montesano 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.
South Montesano detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for South Montesano: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in South Montesano: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of South Montesano: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in South Montesano: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
South Montesano 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.