Best PlacesSunnyside, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sunnyside, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Sunnyside ranks 23,960th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Sunnyside
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.
Sunnyside's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sunnyside ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 156 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of towns
- BikingBetter than 92% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 91% of towns
Where Sunnyside ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 5% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 13% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sunnyside
A household needs to earn about $70,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sunnyside home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $63,918; 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 Sunnyside's effective rate of 0.73%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sunnyside
Sunnyside runs younger than the country, 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 Sunnyside.
Who works in Sunnyside, and how
Work in Sunnyside centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Sunnyside
Sunnyside has more restaurants and bars per resident than 77% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Sunnyside and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sunnyside, month by month
Sunnyside sees roughly 156 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 67° | 52° | 35° |
| July | 94° | 77° | 55° |
| October | 67° | 50° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Sunnyside
The nearest airport, Yakima Air Trml/McAllister Field, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 134 miles away.
Sunnyside 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 Sunnyside against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Sunnyside suits
Families
Schools land around the 26th percentile and crime safety beats 85%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 7% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Sunnyside
Is Sunnyside a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sunnyside ranks 23,960th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, walkability, and the weather, and lowest on thin health care access and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sunnyside expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $271,239. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $63,918 median income, cost of living beats 18% of towns.
Is Sunnyside safe?
Yes, Sunnyside is safer than 85% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $279 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Sunnyside?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 41 with lows near 23. That works out to about 156 pleasant days a year, more than 94% of towns.
Is Sunnyside good for families?
Schools beat 26% of towns, crime safety beats 85%, and childcare runs $1,102 a month.
Compare Sunnyside with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sunnyside. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sunnyside 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.
Sunnyside detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sunnyside: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sunnyside: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sunnyside: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sunnyside: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sunnyside 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.