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The Northwest is arguably one of the most beautiful areas in the country, if not the entire world (to residents, of course, it’s a fact not an argument). But Washington, Oregon, and Idaho aren’t just perfect places for postcards—they’re also home to some pretty fabulous cities.
So which cities are the best of the best in the northwest? Well, according to the latest analysis here at the Movoto Real Estate Blog, that honor goes to the following 10 places, starting with our winner, Bellevue. Yep, you read that correctly. Sorry, Seattle.
1. Bellevue, WA
2. Lake Oswego, OR
3. Issaquah, WA
4. Lewiston, ID
5. Kirkland, WA
6. Redmond, WA
7. Corvallis, OR
8. Beaverton, OR
9. Meridian, ID
10. Twin Falls, ID
What exactly makes Bellevue the belle of Washington? And why Lake Oswego as opposed to, say, Portland? Well, we didn’t just pick these places off of a map. Believe it or not, we didn’t even really pick them at all.
In the following sections, we’ll go over the methodology behind this list and take a closer look at each of our top 10 places.
Our Methodology
In order to create this Big Deal List, we started by gathering a list of all of the places in the Northwest (that’s Washington, Idaho, and Oregon) with populations of 30,000 people or more. Once we eliminated any places where we couldn’t find data, we were left with a total of 63 places.
Then using sources such as the 2012 U.S. Census, the National Weather Service, and business listings, we gathered data for each place in the following categories:
- Amenities per capita
- Quality of life (cost of living, median home price, median rent, median household income, and student-to-teacher ratio)
- Total crimes
- Tax rates (sales tax and income tax)
- Unemployment
- Commute time
- Weather (temperature and air quality)
From there, we ranked each place in each of these criteria from one to 63, where the lower the score, the better the place. We then averaged all of each place’s rankings into one Big Deal Score, again, where the lowest score was the best.
At the end of the post, we’ll include a table with rankings for the top 50 places in the state. First, though, let’s take a closer look at each of our top 10, starting with our winner, the one and only Bellevue.
1. Bellevue, WA
Bellevue may be a suburb of Seattle—and to those who actually live in Seattle, it may seem like the boring ‘burbs—but clearly, coming in at the top of our list, these guys are doing something right.
According to the math (and math doesn’t lie), Bellevue residents have a better overall quality of life, ranking eighth where Seattle ranked ninth, and even ranked seventh in the category of amenities per capita, where Seattle, again, came in ninth overall.
Bellevue also had the third lowest unemployment rate in the entire northwest at just four percent. To put that into perspective, take a look at Bremerton, WA where it was seven percent.
While it may be more exciting to live in the big city, it’s also more dangerous. Whereas Seattle had more than 5,700 crimes per 100,000 people, Bellevue had just 2,960.
2. Lake Oswego, OR
Lake Oswego comes in near the top of our list because it had all of the benefits of being near Portland—which, let’s face it, is awesome—but had none of the drawbacks. Namely the crime.
Where Portland ranked 48th in the category of crime, Lake Oswego ranked second—out of 63 places we looked at in all of the Northwest.
Plus, Lake Oswego ranked 14th for both its number of amenities—stores, gyms, restaurants, and of course, in a class of its own, the Oswego Grill—and its overall quality of life.
3. Issaquah, WA
Here’s another city proving wrong the notion that the ‘burbs are boring. In fact, per capita, Issaquah had the 16th most amenities in the Northwest.
That includes all kinds of things—shopping centers, spas, and of course, coffee, coffee, coffee (kind of a requirement in Washington).
Coffee aside, Issaquah also had a good overall quality of life score. This’s because of the relatively low student-teacher ratio (20 to 1), the high median household income ($84,001), and the high median home and rent prices—good indicators of desirability.
4. Lewiston, ID
Surprise, surprise—the first of our cities from Idaho earned the majority of its cool points for its weather. Of course, compared to Washington and Oregon, almost any place in Idaho is going to have superior weather.
Lewiston in particular came in first in this category, for its warm average summer temperature of 71 degrees and its air quality score of 13 (where a lower number is better, and where most places on our list scored higher than 30).
The best part is that, with the second lowest commute times in the northwest and the fifth lowest crime rate, Lewiston residents can actually get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. Well, that is if they’re not too busy at work: 96 percent of residents here were employed.
Oh well, that’s what sick days are for.
5. Kirkland, WA
If you thought Kirkland was a mere bedroom community to Seattle, you obviously haven’t spent much time there.
This place is dotted with restaurants, art galleries, a 400 seat performing arts center, parks, beaches, bronze sculptures. Long story short, it had the fourth most amenities per capita in the Northwest. That’s way more than Seattle.
Kirkland also had one of the highest qualities of life overall in the region, for its high median household income of nearly $85,000, high median home and rent prices (the fourth and third highest in the region), and, to top it off, the 12th lowest number of crimes per 100,000 people in three states.
Bedroom community, shmedroom community.
6. Redmond, WA
This city may be known as a tech bubble—which it totally is—but it’s also a whole lot more.
First of all, Redmond is safe. With 2,615 crimes per 100,000 residents, it’s the 13th safest in the Northwest.
Second of all, it’s affluent. Residents here earn the second highest median household income in the three states—$88,194—which definitely raises its overall quality of life score.
But where Redmond really outshined the rest was in its low unemployment rate of just 3.4 percent. This is the lowest unemployment rate out of all of the places we looked at.
7. Corvallis, OR
The great thing about Corvallis is that this city’s awesomeness has absolutely nothing to do with the oh-so-loved Portland. In fact, with over 80 miles separating the two, Corvallis is on its own to provide for residents, and provide it does.
It doesn’t have quite the number of amenities per capita as Portland or some of the others in our top 10, but with an average commute time of just 17 minutes, who really cares about amenities?
The real reason for living in Corvallis, though, is the weather. Oregon may not be known for the best weather in general, but there’s no arguing that an average summer temperature of 66 and an air quality score of just 12 is pretty darn nice.
This is way nicer than most places you’ll find in Oregon, or even in Idaho, that’s for sure.
8. Beaverton, OR
Residents of Beaverton are probably not too surprised to find it on our list.
After all, they know how safe the city feels (just 2,143 crimes per 100,000 people), how low their sales tax was (none), and, of course, how much money they were making (on average $55,296). All of this combined for a low crime rate and overall good quality of life score.
Beaverton also had the 17th most amenities per capita, including restaurants, markets, shops, and, of course, Donut Day in a category all its own.
To put that into perspective, Beaverton had more amenities per capita than Eugene, Redmond, and even Vancouver (the one in Washington).
9. Meridian, ID
This Idaho city may not exactly be the most exciting of places (it lacked a few amenities), but it’s easily one of the best places to raise a family in the Northwest.
For starters, the quality of life here was off the charts. Not only was the cost of living index lower than average (96, where the national average is 100), but the median household income was higher than average: $63,757 where the national average is $52,328.
It also had the fourth lowest unemployment rate in the Northwest, plus with just 1,524 crimes per 100,000 people, the third lowest crime rate.
Sure, maybe it didn’t have all the amenities of, say, Kirkland, but who needs shopping and restaurants when the safety and wellbeing of your family are so secure? Plus, it has Gelato Cafe, which is really all you need.
10. Twin Falls, ID
If Meridian lacked the amenities and excitement you’d like, this city might just be a better fit.
With restaurants like Buffalo Cafe, coffee shops like Java, and, of course, tons of galleries, shops, fitness centers, and other businesses, Twin Falls had the 15th most amenities per capita in the Northwest.
It also tied for fourth for a low average commute time of 17 minutes, and came in at 11th for its near perfect weather—as residents know too well, a rare find in the region.
Way More Than Just Postcards
There is no doubt about it: the Northwest is beautiful, a postcard enthusiast’s dream come true. But more than that, it is also home to some of our nation’s finest cities, like the 10 listed above.
If you’d like to see some of the other fine cities in the Northwest, just look down at the top 50 below. And if you’d like to take it one step further (perhaps a move is in your future?), well, we can help you there too.
