Best PlacesBellevue, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Bellevue area, 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.
Bellevue ranks 6th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $174,602, wages outrun the cost of living, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are childcare costs, state infrastructure, and an overheated housing market.
The best neighborhoods in Bellevue
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.
The best areas in Bellevue
The parts of Bellevue, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Lakemont
Lake Hills, Phantom Lake & West Lake Sammamish
Newport Hills, Newport & Newport Shores
Downtown Seattle
Somerset, Eastgate & Factoria
Crossroads, Overlake & Tam O'shanter
Meydenbauer
Bridle Trails
Wilburton, Woodbridge & Robinswood
Scores across Bellevue run from about the 63rd to the 100th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Bellevue's strengths and weaknesses
Bellevue ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. High incomes, population health, and an educated workforce are the strongest pieces.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Childcare costs, state infrastructure, and an overheated housing market hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Bellevue ranks high
- Household income$174,602 median, better than 99% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of cities
- School gradeA, better than 96% of cities
Where Bellevue ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,022 a month, better than only 4% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 5% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 23% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 24% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 27% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Bellevue
A household needs to earn about $341,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bellevue home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $174,602, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment and a 6.8% 30-year fixed rate. The rate updates weekly from Freddie Mac; property tax uses Bellevue's effective rate against the median home value.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first ten 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 Bellevue
Bellevue'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 Bellevue.
Who works in Bellevue, and how
Work in Bellevue centers on professional & technical and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 54%
- Work from home 35%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Bellevue
Bellevue has more restaurants and bars per resident than 83% of cities and more parkland per resident than 92% of cities. The coast is about 12 minutes away. The map and measures below show how they vary by area.
What the weather is like in Bellevue, month by month
Bellevue sees roughly 149 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 36. Spring and fall carry most of the comfortable stretch.
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 Bellevue
The nearest airport, Boeing Field/King County International, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 13 miles away.
Bellevue 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 Bellevue against the other 444 cities.
Who Bellevue suits
Families
Schools beat 96% of the country. Compare neighborhoods on the map for the best fit.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 92% of cities and 35% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather is mild, health care access is good, and it stays quiet.
Common questions about living in Bellevue
Is Bellevue a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bellevue ranks 6th of 445 cities. It scores highest on high incomes, population health, 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 Bellevue expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,290,095. The overall cost of living runs about 42% above the national average. Set against a $174,602 median income, cost of living beats 92% of cities.
Is Bellevue safe?
Bellevue is safer than 53% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $527 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Bellevue?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 50 with lows near 36. The area gets its pleasant stretches in spring and fall.
What are the best neighborhoods in Bellevue?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Lakemont, Lake Hills, Phantom Lake & West Lake Sammamish, and Newport Hills, Newport & Newport Shores. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Bellevue good for families?
Schools beat 96% of cities, and safety is best away from the urban core. Home prices are usually the catch in the strongest school areas.
Is Bellevue good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 92% of cities, and internet is widely advertised, so a big-employer salary stretches further here.
Compare Bellevue with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bellevue. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bellevue 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.
Bellevue detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bellevue: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bellevue: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bellevue: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bellevue: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bellevue 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.