Best PlacesVan Horn, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Van Horn, 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.
Van Horn ranks 44,079th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Van Horn
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.
Van Horn's strengths and weaknesses
Where Van Horn ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 86% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 73% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 105 pleasant days a year, better than 72% of towns
Where Van Horn ranks low
- Short commute53.9 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,516 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 11% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Van Horn
A household needs to earn about $93,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Van Horn home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $61,932, 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 Van Horn's effective rate of 0.70%, 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 Van Horn
Van Horn's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Van Horn.
Who works in Van Horn, and how
Work in Van Horn centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Van Horn
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Van Horn.
What the weather is like in Van Horn, month by month
Van Horn sees roughly 105 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 36° | 32° |
| April | 61° | 47° | 39° |
| July | 81° | 65° | 53° |
| October | 59° | 49° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Van Horn
The nearest airport, Bellingham International, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 77 miles away.
Van Horn 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 Van Horn against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Van Horn
Is Van Horn a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Van Horn ranks 44,079th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, quiet, and low taxes, and lowest on long commutes 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 Van Horn expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $362,000. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $61,932 median income, cost of living beats 11% of towns.
Is Van Horn safe?
Van Horn is safer than 12% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $717 per resident a year.
Compare Van Horn with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Van Horn. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Van Horn 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.
Van Horn detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Van Horn: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Van Horn: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Van Horn: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Van Horn: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Van Horn 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.