Best PlacesWahkiakum County, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Wahkiakum County, 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.
Wahkiakum County ranks 2,020th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wahkiakum County
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.
Wahkiakum County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wahkiakum County ranks high
- QuietBetter than 95% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 84% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 83% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 81% of counties
Where Wahkiakum County ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,375 a month, better than only 4% of counties
- Short commute33.9 minutes each way, better than only 5% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 9% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Wahkiakum County
A household needs to earn about $96,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wahkiakum County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $66,856, 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 Wahkiakum County's effective rate of 0.58%, 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 Wahkiakum County
Wahkiakum County runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Wahkiakum County.
Who works in Wahkiakum County, and how
Work in Wahkiakum County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Wahkiakum County
Wahkiakum County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of counties. The coast is about 26 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Wahkiakum County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Wahkiakum County growing, and who is moving in?
Wahkiakum County has grown about 19% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Longview, WA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Wahkiakum County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Wahkiakum County, month by month
Wahkiakum County sees roughly 98 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 41° | 35° |
| April | 64° | 51° | 40° |
| July | 82° | 66° | 55° |
| October | 65° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Wahkiakum County
Portland International sits about 60 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 9.1 million passengers in 2025, with 117 nonstop destinations.
Wahkiakum County 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 Wahkiakum County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Wahkiakum County
Is Wahkiakum County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wahkiakum County ranks 2,020th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on quiet, clean air, and few empty homes, and lowest on disaster risk and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wahkiakum County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $379,675. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $66,856 median income, cost of living beats 24% of counties.
Is Wahkiakum County safe?
Yes, Wahkiakum County is safer than 83% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $331 per resident a year.
Compare Wahkiakum County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wahkiakum County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wahkiakum County 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.
Wahkiakum County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wahkiakum County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wahkiakum County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wahkiakum County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wahkiakum County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wahkiakum County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.