Best PlacesUpper Preston, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Upper Preston, 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.
Upper Preston ranks 1,848th 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 Upper Preston
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.
Upper Preston's strengths and weaknesses
Where Upper Preston ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
- Household income$162,628 median, better than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
Where Upper Preston ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,022 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 13% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 15% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 20% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Upper Preston
A household needs to earn about $240,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Upper Preston home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $162,628, 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 Upper Preston's effective rate of 0.84%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Upper Preston
Upper Preston runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Upper Preston.
Who works in Upper Preston, and how
Work in Upper Preston centers on professional & technical and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 53%
- Work from home 43%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Upper Preston
The coast is about 23 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Upper Preston, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Upper Preston, month by month
Upper Preston sees roughly 139 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 Upper Preston
The nearest airport, Boeing Field/King County International, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 18 miles away.
Upper Preston 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 Upper Preston against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Upper Preston
Is Upper Preston a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Upper Preston ranks 1,848th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on population health, high incomes, and an educated workforce, and lowest on childcare costs and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Upper Preston expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $913,442. The overall cost of living runs about 31% above the national average. Set against a $162,628 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is Upper Preston safe?
Yes, Upper Preston is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $328 per resident a year.
Compare Upper Preston with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Upper Preston. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Upper Preston 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.
Upper Preston detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Upper Preston: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Upper Preston: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Upper Preston: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Upper Preston: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Upper Preston 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.