Best PlacesWallula, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wallula, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Wallula ranks 15,532nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Wallula
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.
Wallula's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wallula ranks high
- Short commute17.6 minutes each way, better than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 153 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 86% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 77% of towns
Where Wallula ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 11% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 13% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 15% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wallula
A household needs to earn about $113,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wallula home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $81,760, 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 Wallula's effective rate of 0.77%, 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 Wallula
Wallula runs younger 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 Wallula.
Who works in Wallula, and how
Work in Wallula centers on health care & social and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Wallula
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wallula.
What the weather is like in Wallula, month by month
Wallula sees roughly 153 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 26° |
| April | 70° | 54° | 38° |
| July | 97° | 78° | 57° |
| October | 69° | 53° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Wallula
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 181 miles away.
Wallula 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 Wallula against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wallula
Is Wallula a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wallula ranks 15,532nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, transit, and the weather, and lowest on thin health care access and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wallula expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $433,692. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $81,760 median income, cost of living beats 41% of towns.
Is Wallula safe?
Yes, Wallula is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $355 per resident a year.
Compare Wallula with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wallula. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wallula 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.
Wallula detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wallula: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wallula: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wallula: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wallula: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wallula 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.