FairwoodSpokane County, WA
A town of 10,674.
Is Fairwood a good place to live?
For most people who can afford it, yes. Fairwood grades A overall, ranked 20th of 285 in Washington. Natural-hazard risk is low. Its schools outperform 87% of the state's and CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 80% of the country. The catch is cost: homes are expensive, about $469K for a typical one and 6.1 times the Spokane metro’s $77K median household income. Fairwood’s trail network density is 1.8 miles per square mile, where Washington’s towns sit at 0.8 and U.S. towns at 0.4. Fairwood is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns. Fairwood has 1 place on the National Register.
What makes Fairwood stand out
Where Fairwood beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Brentwood Elementary School | K–5 | 468 |
| Mead Senior High School | 9–12 | 1,827 |
Fairwood has grown 33% from 2010 to 2020
7,905 counted in 2010 and 10,541 in 2020.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts
How Fairwood grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Washington), ordered by how far Fairwood is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Coeur D'Alene Lake and 13 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Fairwood. Close and well known come first.
32 mi LakeCoeur D'Alene Lake
34 mi Theme parkSilverwood Theme Park
7 mi Stadium & arenaNumerica Veterans Arena
7 mi Theme parkRiverfront Park
9 mi GardenManito Park and Botanical Gardens18 mi Ski areaMt. Spokane61 runs · 1,974 ft verticalPhoto credits
Coeur D'Alene Lake: The original uploader was Jamidwyer at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.0 · Silverwood Theme Park: nicanicasather, CC BY 2.0 · Numerica Veterans Arena: Jdubman at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Riverfront Park: en:User:Sundodger, Public domain · Manito Park and Botanical Gardens: Jdubman at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
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Moving to Fairwood: who provides what
Fairwood is unincorporated, so Spokane County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 30, 2026.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Fairwood.
Fairwood carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of Washington (mostly inland flooding), pairs an A for schools with high home prices and has milder winter nights than most of the country, though not than most of Washington.
In Fairwood, 4% of the land is conserved
The biggest park or preserve is Waikiki Springs Wildlife Area, at 81 acres. Walkers can cover 7.0 miles of trail in 5 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Waikiki Springs Wildlife Area | 0.9 mi | 81 |
| 2. Camelot Park | — | 9 |
| 3. Northwoods Park | — | 6 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Fairwood earns an A for schools
That grade comes with a C− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $469K.
The largest public high school is Mead Senior High School, with 1,827 students. Its two schools are below. Public school enrollment in Fairwood: 2,295 students across 2 schools.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brentwood Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 468 | – |
| Mead Senior High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,827 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within WA on state tests and graduation
Very low risk in Fairwood, with inland flooding at the top
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 95% of Washington towns, with expected losses of about $141 per resident a year; that rating is what its A for hazard risk is built on.
The natural-hazard score from FEMA in Fairwood is 7 of 100. Of the losses FEMA expects here, 52% come from inland flooding and 25% from cold waves.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Fairwood earns an A− for health
For adults in Fairwood, the share who have been diagnosed with depression is 25%. Nearly a tenth of Fairwood adults smoke cigarettes, below both the Washington town median (11%) and the median of U.S. towns (14%). CDC measures, 31 in all: Fairwood beats Washington on 10 and trails on 7.
| Fairwood | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 33% | 36% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 76% | 71% | 79% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 9.5% | 11% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 17% | 17% |
| What stands out | Fairwood | WA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7.1% | 10.2% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 5.9% | 8.4% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11% | 7.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
About two in five of Fairwood’s working residents commute to Spokane
Between 2013 and 2023, jobs in Fairwood rose by 456, to 2,378. For most workers, Fairwood is a place to come home to: only 4% work in town. Also worth knowing: the average trip to work for Fairwood comes to 30 minutes. The top destinations are Spokane (44%), Spokane Valley (11%) and Seattle (2%).
| Fairwood | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 30 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 16% | 15% | 11% |
| Median household income | $92,000 | $98,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 4.4% | 5% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Fairwood: snowy winters and pleasant summers
January nights average 24.3°: milder than most of the country, but colder than 83% of Washington places with climate records; July afternoons average 86.2°.
For Fairwood, the peak summer temperature is 86°F. About 45 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Fairwood | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 86°F | 77°F | 85°F |
| January low | 24°F | 35°F | 22°F |
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Fairwood skews older than Washington
In Fairwood, nearly a quarter of residents are 65 or older. The town’s midpoint age is 41.6 years.
| Fairwood | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 47% | 30% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 24% | 16% | 18% |
| Median age | 41.6 years | 38.5 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 23% | 22% | 22% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±1.8 points. Across Washington, 49.6% of residents are women.
| Fairwood | WA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.8% | 11.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 13.4% | 9.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8.3% | 8.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 10.7% | 15.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.4% | 14.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10.3% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.7% | 12% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 8% | 10.1% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 15.6% | 6.5% | 7% |
| No diploma | 1.7% | 7.7% | 10.4% |
| High school | 17.4% | 21.6% | 26% |
| Some college | 24.5% | 21% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.8% | 10% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 28% | 24% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 18.5% | 15.6% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Everything we know about Fairwood
Colleges nearby
6 within 15 miles of the center of Fairwood
About 6 of every 100 Fairwood residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Washington.
96% of working residents leave Fairwood for work
Where Fairwood’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
About Fairwood
Census-designated place in Washington, United States
Fairwood is a census-designated place (CDP) in Spokane County, Washington, United States. The population was 10,541 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 3.6 sq mi
- Elevation
- 1,814 ft
- Area code
- 509
Fairwood’s neighbors
One town shares a border with Fairwood.
| Town | WA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairwood | #20 | A | C− | — | A | A− |
| Country Homes | #43 | B+ | D | — | A | A− |
Fairwood and Country Homes report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Fairwood with a neighbor →
Questions about Fairwood
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Fairwood, WA a good place to live?
For most people who can afford it, yes. Fairwood grades A overall, better than 86% of U.S. towns and #20 of 285 in Washington. It grades A− for health and A for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
Is Fairwood, WA expensive?
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.