Olympia, the state capital · Photo: OceanLoop · CC BY-SA 4.0How Washington stacks up
Look town by town and Washington has a national leader: Mercer Island for health (#3). It offers fast growth (+15% from 2010 to 2020) and healthy residents (only 16% of adults in fair or poor health), but at the cost of $4,556 property-tax bills (46% above the national figure) and low home ownership. Across all eight subjects, Washington lands 30th (C+).
Each subject puts the official state figure beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
27th of 51B−48/100 About average for crime. At 292 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, Washington sits 24th lowest among the states. Its larger places pull the town measure down: Seattle and Spokane sit in the national bottom quarter.
With property crime counted (property + 4 × violent), it places 17th highest.
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, state estimate 2025.
Measure: reported crime per resident over the engine’s three crime years (property + 4 × violent), as in our Safety grades. 90 Washington towns of 10,000+ against 3,410 nationally. Covers 85% of residents of Washington’s 10,000+ towns.
The big places weigh on the total
Property crime, not violence, explains Burlington: it reports less violent crime than the typical U.S. town. Sammamish leads its towns at #177 of 3,410 nationally, with Sedro-Woolley and Bainbridge Island close behind. Tacoma, Vancouver and Kent sit at the high-crime end of the national ranking.
| State | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | 42% | 0% | |
| Rhode Island | 37% | 0% | |
| New Jersey | 35% | 20% | |
| Pennsylvania | 29% | 37% | |
| Maine | 29% | 15% | |
| Washington | 5% | 62% |
Towns policed by others
Our town measure uses the crime each local police department reports to the FBI; towns without enough of the last three years are left out. In Washington, 85% of residents of 10,000+ towns are covered. One town, Mill Creek, has too few years reported and sits out. In South Hill, Parkland, Graham and 39 other places, county or state police answer the calls, so there is no town figure. Its neighbors are counted about as fully, 86% to 88%.
Schools
17th of 51B+68/100 Schools a notch above average. On the Nation’s Report Card it ranks 18th highest, with 33% of students at Proficient or better. It leads its neighbors on schools, ahead of Idaho. Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Bainbridge Island ranks highest, at #302.
On-time graduation, 83.8% (17th lowest), weighs equally with test results in the grade.
It spends $18,444 per pupil, 18th highest (context only; spending isn’t graded).
Source: NCES, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2024, public schools; EDFacts graduation rates; Census school finance.
Measure: graduation rate and test results, averaged; each district’s state-test proficiency is put on the NAEP yardstick (its result ÷ the state average × the state’s NAEP proficiency) so districts compare across states. 133 Washington towns of 10,000+ against 5,230 nationally.
Cost of living
45th of 51D12/100 Costs run high. The typical homeowner pays $4,556 a year in property tax, 46% above the national figure. Fewer than one resident in 100 lives in a town in the national top quarter, led by Sunnyside. Every neighbor scores higher, Idaho and Oregon among them.
A typical home costs 5.8 years of median household income, 5th highest.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: our cost-of-living score: home value, rent and tax bill against area income, plus the share paying 30%+ for housing. 133 Washington towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Health
11th of 51A−80/100 Consistently healthy. Its larger towns score well almost across the board, from Sammamish to Newcastle. About one adult in six here says their health is fair or poor (10th lowest). Mercer Island is among the ten best towns in the country for health (#3).
Source: CDC PLACES 2025 release (BRFSS model estimates).
Measure: our health score: seven CDC PLACES measures (general, physical and mental health, obesity, diabetes, smoking, inactivity). 133 Washington towns of 10,000+ against 5,218 nationally.
Housing
39th of 51C−24/100 More renters than most states. Washington ranks 12th lowest for home ownership, at 64% of homes. Big places drag it down: Seattle and Tacoma rank in the national bottom quarter.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: share of occupied homes that are owner-occupied. 133 Washington towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Natural hazards
34th of 51C34/100 A bit more hazard risk than most. FEMA expects $195 of damage a year for every $100,000 of buildings, 26% above the national figure (8th highest). 59% of residents live in bottom-quarter towns, among them Seattle and Tacoma. FEMA puts 50% of the expected losses on earthquakes.
Federal major-disaster declarations since 2015: 15, 17th most.
Behind the figure: earthquake 50%, inland flooding 43%, wildfire 5% of FEMA’s expected losses.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (Dec. 2025): expected annual building loss over building value, all census tracts; FEMA disaster declarations.
Measure: FEMA National Risk Index: expected yearly building loss from 18 natural hazards, as a share of building value. 133 Washington towns of 10,000+ against 5,239 nationally.
Commute
35th of 51C32/100 Commutes a bit longer than average. Every neighbor scores higher, Idaho and Oregon among them. Washington workers average 26.6 minutes to work, against 26.4 nationally. The longest trips start in places like Kent, in the national bottom quarter.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: average one-way commute of the town’s workers. 133 Washington towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Growth
5th of 51A92/100 Growing, town after town. At +14.6% from 2010 to 2020, growth here was the 8th fastest among the states. Its larger towns score well almost across the board, from Ridgefield to Lake Stickney.
Building: 4.6 new homes permitted per 1,000 residents in 2025, 24th most.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 and 2020 decennial counts; Census building permits.
Measure: population change between the 2010 and 2020 censuses. 132 Washington towns of 10,000+ against 5,079 nationally.
How Washington compares to its neighbors
Washington beats every neighbor on schools and health; on cost of living and the commute, every neighbor beats it.
| Washington | Idaho | Oregon | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | C+ 4230th of 51 | A 906th of 51 | D 648th of 51 |
| Safety | B− 4824th official · 5% in top towns | A 8611th official · 22% in top towns | C 3428th official · 1% in top towns |
| Schools | B+ 6818th official · 16% in top towns | C− 2013th official · 0% in top towns | D 1443rd official · 2% in top towns |
| Cost of living | D 1242nd official · <1% in top towns | B− 5418th official · 10% in top towns | C− 2237th official · <1% in top towns |
| Health | A− 8010th official · 39% in top towns | A− 7815th official · 36% in top towns | C 3030th official · 9% in top towns |
| Housing | C− 2440th official · 9% in top towns | B+ 688th official · 8% in top towns | D 843rd official · 4% in top towns |
| Natural hazards | C 3444th official · 10% in top towns | B+ 6829th official · 48% in top towns | C 3041st official · 6% in top towns |
| Commute | C 3238th official · 19% in top towns | A− 829th official · 53% in top towns | B 6415th official · 31% in top towns |
| Growth | A 928th official · 63% in top towns | A+ 1002nd official · 83% in top towns | B+ 6612th official · 28% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the state’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of residents of 10,000+ towns living in a nationally top-quarter town. Neighbor names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is the figure a state agency or federal survey publishes for the whole state, ranked against the other 49 states and D.C. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the state’s towns and cities of 10,000+, the share whose town falls in the national top quarter of 10,000+ towns. A state can do well on one and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the state’s standing among the 50 states and D.C.: the two measures’ percentiles averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. 100 is the best state, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, commute 10, housing 8, natural hazards 8, growth 8 (out of 100). D.C., a single city, is left out of the town measure and graded on official figures alone.
What it is not. A state figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a state is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out towns under 10,000 and towns missing data. Neither says anything about any one neighborhood.
Schools use the Nation’s Report Card because each state’s own tests are set to different bars. Hazards use FEMA’s expected building damage, the same loss rate behind our town hazard grades. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work