Shadow LakeWA
A town of 2,465.
Is Shadow Lake a good place to live?
Shadow Lake’s best subject grades are an A for health and schools; its weakest is a D for cost of living. Shadow Lake’s average trip to work is 42 minutes, above both Washington’s towns (27 minutes) and U.S. towns (25 minutes). Only 37 of Washington’s 395 towns score lower on cost of living. The biggest place to walk is Shadow Lake Nature Preserve, 89 acres with 1.1 miles of trail. Shadow Lake has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
What makes Shadow Lake stand out
Where Shadow Lake beats most towns.
100% of working residents leave Shadow Lake for work
Where Shadow Lake’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Shadow Lake grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Washington), ordered by how far Shadow Lake is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Space Needle and 134 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Shadow Lake. Close and well known come first.
Big draw19 mi LookoutSpace Needle
Big draw18 mi Stadium & arenaLumen Field
Big draw20 mi Stadium & arenaClimate Pledge Arena
17 mi Stadium & arenaT-Mobile Park
18 mi Ancient siteSeattle Underground
20 mi Stadium & arenaHusky StadiumPhoto credits
Space Needle: Another Believer, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Lumen Field: "Smart Destinations", GoSeattleCard.com, and Go Seattle Card Blog, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Climate Pledge Arena: Sea Cow, CC BY-SA 4.0 · T-Mobile Park: MyName (Cacophony), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Seattle Underground: Mark Hursh, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Husky Stadium: Atomic Taco, CC BY-SA 2.0
Moving to Shadow Lake: who provides what
Shadow Lake is unincorporated, so King 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 Shadow Lake.
Shadow Lake ranks healthier than 92% of the country’s towns
Shadow Lake beats the Washington average on 12 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 4. 26% of adults have obesity in Shadow Lake, against 33% in Washington’s towns and 35% across U.S. towns. 29% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Shadow Lake.
| Shadow Lake | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 33% | 35% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 33% | 36% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 18% | 25% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 72% | 71% | 79% |
| What stands out | Shadow Lake | WA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 6.1% | 9% |
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 3.7% | 5.1% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.7% | 7.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Shadow Lake’s schools rank ahead of 90% of Washington districts
Its public schools are run by the Tahoma School District. One of its 3 schools is below, with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maple View Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 1,046 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within WA on state tests and graduation
Shadow Lake has 0.3 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Most working residents leave Shadow Lake for work: only 0% work in town. Shadow Lake’s median household income is $153,000. Since 2013, Shadow Lake has added 96 jobs, to 338 in 2023.
| Shadow Lake | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $153,000 | $98,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 0.1% | 4.9% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 12% | 7.9% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Four seasons and pleasant summers in Shadow Lake
Shadow Lake has mild winters and cool summers, with plenty of rain. The July high in Shadow Lake is 76°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
High risk in Shadow Lake, with earthquakes at the top
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 63% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Shadow Lake has set aside 2.7% of its land for conservation
1.3 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves.
| Shadow Lake | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.8 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2.7% | 4% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Shadow Lake Nature Preserve | 1.1 mi | 89 |
| 2. Peterson Lake Natural Area | — | 6 |
| 3. Shadow Lake Boat Launch | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The median home in Shadow Lake sells for about $1.3M
85% of Shadow Lake households own their home.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Shadow Lake
Colleges nearby
5 within 15 miles of the center of Shadow Lake
About 3 of every 100 Shadow Lake residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Washington.
About Shadow Lake
Census-designated place in Washington, United States
Shadow Lake is a census-designated place (CDP) in King County, Washington, United States. As of the 2020 census, Shadow Lake had a population of 2,396.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 5.3 sq mi
- Elevation
- 558 ft
- Area code
- 425
Shadow Lake’s neighbors
One town shares a border with Shadow Lake.
| Town | WA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shadow Lake | — | — | D | — | A | A |
| Covington | #170 | C+ | D | C− | B− | A |
Shadow Lake has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Shadow Lake reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Shadow Lake with a neighbor →
Questions about Shadow Lake
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Shadow Lake, WA expensive?
Yes. The typical home is worth about $816,000, 39% above the Washington typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.