Best PlacesUnion Hill-Novelty Hill, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Union Hill-Novelty Hill, 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.
Union Hill-Novelty Hill ranks 75th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Union Hill-Novelty Hill
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.
Union Hill-Novelty Hill's strengths and weaknesses
Where Union Hill-Novelty Hill ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$200,856 median, better than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
Where Union Hill-Novelty Hill ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,022 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 13% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 20% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 36% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Union Hill-Novelty Hill
A household needs to earn about $339,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Union Hill-Novelty Hill home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $200,856, 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 Union Hill-Novelty Hill's effective rate of 0.83%, 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 Union Hill-Novelty Hill
Union Hill-Novelty Hill 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 Union Hill-Novelty Hill.
Who works in Union Hill-Novelty Hill, and how
Work in Union Hill-Novelty Hill centers on professional & technical and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 53%
- Work from home 42%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Union Hill-Novelty Hill
Union Hill-Novelty Hill has more parkland per resident than 83% of towns. The coast is about 23 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Union Hill-Novelty Hill and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Union Hill-Novelty Hill, month by month
Union Hill-Novelty Hill sees roughly 149 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50° | 42° | 36° |
| April | 62° | 52° | 42° |
| July | 81° | 69° | 58° |
| October | 63° | 54° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Union Hill-Novelty Hill
The nearest airport, Boeing Field/King County International, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 21 miles away.
Union Hill-Novelty Hill 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 Union Hill-Novelty Hill against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Union Hill-Novelty Hill suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 98% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 42% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 92% of towns and health care access beats 64%.
Common questions about living in Union Hill-Novelty Hill
Is Union Hill-Novelty Hill a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Union Hill-Novelty Hill ranks 75th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on population health, high incomes, and an educated workforce, and lowest on childcare costs 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 Union Hill-Novelty Hill expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,293,565. The overall cost of living runs about 37% above the national average. Set against a $200,856 median income, cost of living beats 98% of towns.
Is Union Hill-Novelty Hill safe?
Yes, Union Hill-Novelty Hill is safer than 79% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $290 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Union Hill-Novelty Hill?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 50 with lows near 36. That works out to about 149 pleasant days a year, more than 92% of towns.
Is Union Hill-Novelty Hill good for families?
Schools beat 94% of towns, crime safety beats 79%, and childcare runs $2,022 a month.
Compare Union Hill-Novelty Hill with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Union Hill-Novelty Hill. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Union Hill-Novelty Hill 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.
Union Hill-Novelty Hill detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Union Hill-Novelty Hill: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Union Hill-Novelty Hill: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Union Hill-Novelty Hill: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Union Hill-Novelty Hill: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Union Hill-Novelty Hill 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.