WallerWA
A town of 7,683.
Is Waller a good place to live?
Waller grades B overall, 105th among Washington's 285 graded towns, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. The median household earns $101K and 5% of its land is conserved. On the other side, FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 81% of U.S. communities, with earthquakes at the top. Waller’s average trip to work is 32 minutes, above both the Washington town median (27 minutes) and the median of U.S. towns (25 minutes). The biggest park or preserve is Swan Creek Park, at 44 acres.
What makes Waller stand out
Where Waller beats most towns.
98% of working residents leave Waller for work
Where Waller’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Waller grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Washington), ordered by how far Waller is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Space Needle and 127 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Waller. Close and well known come first.
Big draw29 mi LookoutSpace Needle
Big draw27 mi Stadium & arenaLumen Field
Big draw29 mi Stadium & arenaClimate Pledge Arena
4 mi Stadium & arenaTacoma Dome
5 mi Theme parkWild Waves Theme Park
27 mi Stadium & arenaT-Mobile ParkPhoto 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 · Tacoma Dome: Broran28, Public domain · Wild Waves Theme Park: Jessica Spengler from Hove, United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0 · T-Mobile Park: MyName (Cacophony), CC BY-SA 3.0
Moving to Waller: who provides what
Waller is unincorporated, so Pierce 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 Waller.
Waller has fewer 90° days than nearly all U.S. towns and is healthy by national standards but behind most towns in Washington.
Waller faces a very high natural-hazard risk, led by earthquakes
Since 1980, 176 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Waller.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
On state tests, Waller’s schools beat 72% of Washington districts
Its public schools are run by Chief Leschi School. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Chief Leschi School, with 633 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waller Road ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–6 | Grades K–6 | 306 | – |
| Chief Leschi SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades K–12 | Grades K–12 | 633 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within WA on state tests and graduation
With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of Waller’s workers commute out
Most working residents leave Waller for work: only 2% work in town. Since 2013, Waller has added 247 jobs, to 1,623 in 2023. The top destinations are Tacoma (19%), Seattle (10%) and Puyallup (8%).
| Waller | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 17% | 15% | 11% |
| Median household income | $101,000 | $98,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.3% | 5% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 7.6% | 7.9% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Four seasons and pleasant summers in Waller
The Mcmillin Rsvr weather station, 7 miles away, records that about 3 days a year reach 90°, fewer than in 98% of U.S. towns. July afternoons average 77.2°, cooler than in 97% of U.S. towns; January nights average 35.5°.
Waller has mild winters and pleasant summers. Waller’s July high is 77°F. About 6 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Waller | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 77°F | 77°F | 85°F |
| January low | 36°F | 35°F | 22°F |
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
| Waller | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 0.8 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 5.1% | 4% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Orangegate Park | 2.5 mi | 40 |
| 2. Lidford Playfield | 0.5 mi | 9 |
| 3. Swan Creek Park | — | 44 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Waller ranks healthier than 62% of the country’s towns
Within Washington it is less healthy than 73% of the 285 graded towns: Washington sets a high bar. Against the 8,358 U.S. towns with household incomes like Waller’s, it is less healthy than 59%: its national edge comes with its incomes.
Waller beats the Washington average on 2 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 17. 73% of Waller adults had a checkup this year.
| Waller | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 73% | 71% | 79% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 26% | 23% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 33% | 36% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Waller | WA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults screened for colon cancer | 70% | 66.2% |
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 74% | 70.7% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 13.2% | 9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Homes in Waller are worth about $585K, by Zillow’s estimate
The typical Waller home is worth about $585,000, up 0.6% in a year, close to the Washington typical home. The median rent in Waller is $1,787 a month.
| Waller | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 83% | 70% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,787 a month | $1,737 a month | $1,185 a month |
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Waller
Colleges nearby
11 within 15 miles of the center of Waller
About 3 of every 100 Waller residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Washington.
About Waller
CDP in Washington, United States
Waller is a rural census-designated place (CDP) in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The population was 8,189 at the 2020 census. The population has seen significant growth in the last decade.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 8.0 sq mi
- Elevation
- 390 ft
- Area code
- 253
Waller’s neighbors
4 towns share a border with Waller.
It grades higher overall than all 4 graded towns on its borders; Summit (B−) comes closest.
Questions about Waller
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Waller, WA a good place to live?
By most measures, yes. Waller grades B overall, better than 56% of U.S. towns and #105 of 285 in Washington. It grades B for health and B+ for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D.
Is Waller, WA expensive?
That is 5.1 years of the area's median household income ($115,177 across the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.