Best PlacesTrafton, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Trafton, 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.
Trafton ranks 17,940th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Trafton
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.
Trafton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Trafton ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 94% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 86% of towns
- Household income$99,656 median, better than 84% of towns
Where Trafton ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,516 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of towns
- Short commute36.9 minutes each way, better than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Trafton
A household needs to earn about $171,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Trafton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $99,656, 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 Trafton's effective rate of 0.72%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Trafton
Trafton runs older 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 Trafton.
Who works in Trafton, and how
Work in Trafton centers on health care & social and admin & support services. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Trafton
The coast is about 32 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Trafton, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Trafton, month by month
Trafton sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 40° | 32° |
| April | 61° | 49° | 38° |
| July | 79° | 64° | 51° |
| October | 62° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Trafton
The nearest airport, Seattle Paine Field International, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 56 miles away.
Trafton 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 Trafton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Trafton
Is Trafton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Trafton ranks 17,940th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, tree cover, and quiet, and lowest on an overheated housing market and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Trafton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $659,616. The overall cost of living runs about 16% above the national average. Set against a $99,656 median income, cost of living beats 52% of towns.
Is Trafton safe?
Yes, Trafton is safer than 79% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $289 per resident a year.
Compare Trafton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Trafton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Trafton 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.
Trafton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Trafton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Trafton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Trafton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Trafton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Trafton 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.