Best PlacesWest Rainier, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around West Rainier, 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.
West Rainier ranks 35,200th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in West Rainier
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.
West Rainier's strengths and weaknesses
Where West Rainier ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 81% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 79% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 75% of towns
Where West Rainier ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 14% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,162 a month, better than only 14% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in West Rainier
A household needs to earn about $110,000 a year to comfortably buy the median West Rainier home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $62,988, 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 West Rainier's effective rate of 0.78%, 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 West Rainier
West Rainier'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 West Rainier.
Who works in West Rainier, and how
Work in West Rainier centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in West Rainier
West Rainier has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of West Rainier and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in West Rainier, month by month
West Rainier sees roughly 75 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 West Rainier
Portland International sits about 39 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 9.1 million passengers in 2025, with 117 nonstop destinations.
West Rainier 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 West Rainier against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in West Rainier
Is West Rainier a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, West Rainier ranks 35,200th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, clean air, and big-city access, and lowest on an overheated housing market and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is West Rainier expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $422,408. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $62,988 median income, cost of living beats 14% of towns.
Is West Rainier safe?
Yes, West Rainier is safer than 55% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $359 per resident a year.
Compare West Rainier with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to West Rainier. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in West Rainier 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.
West Rainier detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for West Rainier: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in West Rainier: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of West Rainier: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in West Rainier: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
West Rainier 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.