?WhereToHQ

Ranked · Buying a home · Washington

Best cities for buying a home in Washington

Cities of 25,000+ residents, scored with the “Buying a home” weighting the live tool uses, heaviest on median home price, property tax rate, home price yoy, cost of living index. Scores are relative to this set; open the tool to change the weights and re-rank.

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Top 10 · computed ranking

  1. 1.Pullman, WA32k residents

    73/100

    median home price: $424,800 · property tax rate: 0.87% · home price yoy: -3.5%

  2. 2.Orchards, WA29k residents

    72/100

    median home price: $461,700 · property tax rate: 0.87% · home price yoy: —

  3. 3.South Hill, WA68k residents

    71/100

    median home price: $543,600 · property tax rate: 0.87% · home price yoy: —

  4. 4.Maple Valley, WA28k residents

    71/100

    median home price: $724,700 · property tax rate: 0.87% · home price yoy: -2.9%

  5. 5.Pasco, WA80k residents

    70/100

    median home price: $376,300 · property tax rate: 0.87% · home price yoy: -0.3%

  6. 6.Bothell, WA50k residents

    70/100

    median home price: $925,100 · property tax rate: 0.87% · home price yoy: -5.0%

  7. 7.Lake Stevens, WA40k residents

    70/100

    median home price: $635,600 · property tax rate: 0.87% · home price yoy: -2.1%

  8. 8.Graham, WA35k residents

    70/100

    median home price: $516,700 · property tax rate: 0.87% · home price yoy: -0.8%

  9. 9.Sammamish, WA66k residents

    69/100

    median home price: $1,407,300 · property tax rate: 0.87% · home price yoy: -5.6%

  10. 10.Moses Lake, WA26k residents

    69/100

    median home price: $310,000 · property tax rate: 0.87% · home price yoy: +0.7%

Methodology: each city is scored 0–100 by min–max normalizing every weighted facet across this candidate set (direction-aware), identical math to the tool's “Best fit” tab. A different weighting produces a different order, which is the point: this is a starting shortlist, not a verdict.

Questions & answers
Which city is best for buying a home in Washington?
Pullman, WA ranks first with a fit score of 73/100, followed by Orchards (72) and South Hill (71), using the "Buying a home" weighting.
How is this ranking calculated?
Each of the 10 candidate cities (25,000+ residents) is scored 0 to 100 by min-max normalizing the weighted facets, heaviest on median home price, property tax rate, home price yoy, cost of living index, across this set. Change the weights in the live tool and the order changes with them.