Best PlacesStevens County, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Stevens County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime read low across the board, which puts the choice down to which part suits you. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Stevens County ranks 1,395th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores best on quiet, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Stevens 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 Stevens County
The parts of Stevens 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.
Nine Mile Falls, Loon Lake & Clayton
Fewer homes sit empty, incomes run higher, and local pay stretches further.
Colville
Commutes are shorter and advertised internet is faster.
Chewelah
Kettle Falls
Fewer households have young kids and big-city amenities are further off.
Scores across Stevens County run from about the 6th to the 85th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Stevens County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Stevens County ranks high
- QuietBetter than 88% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 86% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 81% of counties
- TransitBetter than 78% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 75% of counties
Where Stevens County ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 11% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 13% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,077 a month, better than only 13% of counties
- Short commute29.3 minutes each way, better than only 19% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 24% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Stevens County
A household needs to earn about $88,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Stevens County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $71,909, 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 Stevens County's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 Stevens County
Stevens County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Stevens County.
Who works in Stevens County, and how
Work in Stevens County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Stevens County
Stevens County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Stevens County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Stevens County growing, and who is moving in?
Stevens County has grown about 13% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Spokane, WA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Stevens County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Stevens County, month by month
Stevens County sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 29° | 21° |
| April | 61° | 46° | 31° |
| July | 89° | 70° | 48° |
| October | 61° | 45° | 31° |
Flying in and out of Stevens County
The nearest airport, Spokane International, is about 47 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 216 miles away.
Stevens 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 Stevens County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Stevens County suits
Families
Schools land around the 49th percentile and crime safety beats 86%.
Common questions about living in Stevens County
Is Stevens County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Stevens County ranks 1,395th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on quiet, low crime, and low taxes, and lowest on state infrastructure and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Stevens County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $345,001. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $71,909 median income, cost of living beats 40% of counties.
Is Stevens County safe?
Yes, Stevens County is safer than 86% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $336 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Stevens County?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 36 with lows near 21. That works out to about 91 pleasant days a year, more than 52% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Stevens County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Nine Mile Falls, Loon Lake & Clayton, Colville, and Chewelah. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Stevens County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Stevens County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Stevens 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.
Stevens County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Stevens County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Stevens County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Stevens County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Stevens County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Stevens 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.