These Are The 10 Most Expensive Places In Washington To Raise A Family

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There are some parts of the country where your dollar goes further. For example, a steak dinner in Olympia costs less than a steak dinner in San Francisco.

And the cost of living can have a big impact on how far your hard earned salary stretches for you and your family. So if you have a choice in where you can live for your job, the cost of living can play a big part.

That’s where Zippia comes in; to show you the places in Washington that would eat up a big part of your paycheck on expenses — the San Franciscos of the world if you will. Where housing is expensive and day care will put you back a pretty penny.

These are the cities in Washington where the cost of living is actually higher than the national average because, for the most part, Washington isn’t all that expensive.

After we crunched all the numbers, we were left with this set of the most expensive places to raise a family in the Evergreen State:

Mercer Island

Sammamish

Union Hill-Novelty Hill

Read on to see how we determined the places that try to keep up with the Joneses a little too much.

How we determined the least affordable places to live in the Evergreen State

There are basic necessities that you have to buy no matter where in the country you live. Those things include:

Housing
Food
Gas
Health Insurance
Utilities
Transportation

You can then compare the cost of these things in each of the places in Washington to figure out which is the most expensive.

What you are left with is a “Cost of Living Index” that normalizes to 100 for an average place in the United States. And lucky for us, AreaVibes has such an index for us.

So we used that cost of living index in order to rank the largest 182 places in Washington.

And just so you can better understand how the cost of living index works, 100 is the average cost of a place in the United States. A score of 90 means that the place cost 10% less than average. A score of 120 means it’s 20% more expensive.

San Francisco has a score of 243 meaning it’s almost 2.5 times as expensive as the average place in the country.

1. Mercer Island

Population: 22,922Housing Index: 391
Groceries Index: 120
Healthcare Index: 119

2. Sammamish

Population: 46,405Housing Index: 282
Groceries Index: 120
Healthcare Index: 119

3. Union Hill-Novelty Hill

Population: 21,422 Housing Index: 276
Groceries Index: 120
Healthcare Index: 119

4. Cottage Lake

Population: 23,416 Housing Index: 267
Groceries Index: 120
Healthcare Index: 119

5. Bainbridge Island

Population: 22,933Housing Index: 261
Groceries Index: 120
Healthcare Index: 119

6. Bellevue

Population: 122,873Housing Index: 255
Groceries Index: 120
Healthcare Index: 119

7. Newcastle

Population: 10,358Housing Index: 252
Groceries Index: 120
Healthcare Index: 119

8. Klahanie

Population: 11,991 Housing Index: 240
Groceries Index: 120
Healthcare Index: 119

9. Hobart

Population: 6,580 Housing Index: 240
Groceries Index: 120
Healthcare Index: 119

10. Normandy Park

Population: 6,374 Housing Index: 235
Groceries Index: 120
Healthcare Index: 119

Detailed List Of Expensive Places In Washington

City	Rank	Population	Housing Index	Groceries Index	Healthcare Index
mercer island	1	22,922	391	120	119
sammamish	2	46,405	282	120	119
union hill-novelty hill	3	21,422	276	120	119
cottage lake	4	23,416	267	120	119
bainbridge island	5	22,933	261	120	119
bellevue	6	122,873	255	120	119
newcastle	7	10,358	252	120	119
klahanie	8	11,991	240	120	119
hobart	9	6,580	240	120	119
normandy park	10	6,374	235	120	119
snoqualmie	11	10,500	228	120	119
kirkland	12	49,090	225	120	119
redmond	13	54,389	223	120	119
bothell east	14	7,806	221	120	119
issaquah	15	30,473	220	120	119
woodinville	16	10,945	209	120	119
seattle	17	612,916	206	120	119
lake forest park	18	12,718	206	120	119
brier	19	6,142	204	120	119
mukilteo	20	20,263	225	105	124
maltby	21	11,403	224	105	124
duvall	22	6,706	202	120	119
vashon	23	10,854	200	120	119
north bend	24	5,847	195	120	119
mill creek	25	18,163	207	105	124
kenmore	26	20,589	192	120	119
lake tapps	27	11,870	204	95	122
wollochet	28	6,181	203	95	122
woods creek	29	5,800	200	105	124
gig harbor	30	7,239	201	95	122
east renton highlands	31	12,627	181	120	119
mill creek east	32	15,269	194	105	124
bothell	33	33,664	180	120	119
silver firs	34	21,433	193	105	124
felida	35	7,416	186	116	114
picnic point	36	8,886	191	105	124
edmonds	37	39,925	187	105	124
bothell west	38	15,858	173	120	119
shoreline	39	53,282	172	120	119
artondale	40	12,863	183	95	122
lake morton-berrydale	41	9,628	182	95	122
martha lake	42	15,785	175	105	124
bryn mawr-skyway	43	16,404	155	120	119
renton	44	91,273	152	120	119
alderwood manor	45	8,354	168	105	124
maple valley	46	22,663	168	95	122
poulsbo	47	9,172	149	120	119
covington	48	17,579	162	95	122
silverdale	49	19,490	148	120	119
camas	50	19,483	154	116	114
dupont	51	8,129	176	106	118
fircrest	52	6,511	159	95	122
burien	53	42,418	143	120	119
mountlake terrace	54	20,026	143	120	119
anacortes	55	15,798	161	112	121
fort lewis	56	13,935	158	95	122
barberton	57	5,526	150	116	114
edgewood	58	9,422	156	95	122
mount vista	59	7,435	149	116	114
lakeland south	60	12,186	154	95	122
sudden valley	61	6,625	156	111	114
lakeland north	62	13,767	152	95	122
lynnwood	63	35,901	149	105	124
lake stickney	64	7,503	149	105	124
steilacoom	65	6,065	151	95	122
eastmont	66	20,091	177	97	118
port orchard	67	11,239	136	120	119
lake stevens	68	28,130	144	105	124
port townsend	69	9,106	144	105	124
snohomish	70	9,154	143	105	124
bonney lake	71	17,336	148	95	122
tukwila	72	19,127	134	120	119
manchester	73	5,190	134	120	119
monroe	74	17,198	142	105	124
university place	75	31,315	144	95	122
north lynnwood	76	16,765	140	105	124
kent	77	108,700	141	95	122
des moines	78	29,862	141	95	122
lake shore	79	6,730	135	116	114
south hill	80	54,093	140	95	122
white center	81	15,198	128	120	119
bellingham	82	80,930	141	111	114
puyallup	83	37,358	138	95	122
summit	84	8,394	138	95	122
stanwood	85	6,201	139	112	121
seatac	86	27,003	125	120	119
marysville	87	60,202	133	105	124
federal way	88	89,691	135	95	122
waller	89	7,385	135	95	122
clover creek	90	6,420	135	95	122
arlington	91	17,773	132	105	124
lynden	92	12,072	137	111	114
tracyton	93	5,257	123	120	119
frederickson	94	18,371	133	95	122
salmon creek	95	21,168	127	116	114
lakewood	96	58,688	118	154	110
east port orchard	97	6,073	121	120	119
everett	98	103,135	129	105	124
walnut grove	99	9,911	126	116	114
auburn	100	70,297	131	95	122
fife	101	9,041	131	95	122
washougal	102	14,031	125	116	114
sumner	103	9,459	130	95	122
milton	104	7,107	129	95	122
battle ground	105	17,428	122	116	114
graham	106	23,196	127	95	122
enumclaw	107	10,963	127	95	122
five corners	108	18,710	121	116	114
birch bay	109	8,102	128	111	114
elk plain	110	14,645	125	95	122
orting	111	6,658	125	95	122
prairie ridge	112	11,795	124	95	122
pacific	113	6,666	123	95	122
bremerton	114	38,311	109	120	119
parkwood	115	7,322	109	120	119
tumwater	116	17,469	129	106	118
vancouver	117	162,699	113	116	114
liberty lake	118	7,475	139	92	114
olympia	119	46,792	128	106	118
oak harbor	120	22,118	123	112	121
orchards	121	20,636	112	116	114
hazel dell	122	18,511	112	116	114
spanaway	123	29,243	120	95	122
lacey	124	42,383	126	106	118
ferndale	125	11,507	122	111	114
tacoma	126	200,013	119	95	122
minnehaha	127	8,966	110	116	114
mount vernon	128	31,804	119	112	121
bangor base	129	5,419	100	120	119
yelm	130	6,762	122	106	118
sedro-woolley	131	10,536	114	112	121
sequim	132	6,527	108	105	124
burlington	133	8,379	112	112	121
woodland	134	5,454	101	116	114
west side highway	135	5,554	100	116	114
midland	136	8,946	106	95	122
tanglewilde	137	5,560	113	106	118
parkland	138	35,466	105	95	122
summit view	139	6,567	124	90	107
port angeles	140	19,061	105	112	121
longview	141	36,660	94	116	114
east wenatchee	142	13,169	113	97	118
kelso	143	11,929	75	116	114
otis orchards-east farms	144	6,421	113	92	114
ocean shores	145	5,512	98	106	118
pullman	146	29,895	111	92	114
wenatchee	147	31,956	108	97	118
chehalis	148	7,285	94	106	118
country homes	149	5,513	108	92	114
shelton	150	9,814	92	106	118
centralia	151	16,381	88	106	118
ellensburg	152	18,204	104	90	107
clarkston heights-vineland	153	6,714	104	92	114
richland	154	48,556	105	91	105
mead	155	7,011	103	92	114
terrace heights	156	6,278	100	90	107
selah	157	7,150	98	90	107
west richland	158	11,904	101	91	105
college place	159	8,720	101	91	105
town and country	160	5,456	98	92	114
spokane valley	161	89,793	95	92	114
aberdeen	162	16,779	70	106	118
moses lake	163	20,305	88	97	118
walla walla	164	31,595	96	91	105
cheney	165	10,631	92	92	114
yakima	166	91,083	85	90	107
spokane	167	208,701	88	92	114
west clarkston-highland	168	5,233	88	92	114
hoquiam	169	8,682	63	106	118
othello	170	7,293	78	97	118
kennewick	171	73,640	88	91	105
quincy	172	6,721	75	97	118
airway heights	173	6,127	81	92	114
ephrata	174	7,672	74	97	118
pasco	175	60,024	83	91	105
finley	176	5,856	81	91	105
grandview	177	10,763	71	91	105
sunnyside	178	15,775	65	90	107
toppenish	179	8,935	65	90	107
clarkston	180	7,237	67	92	114
moses lake north	181	5,010	61	97	118
union gap	182	6,003	62	90	107

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Author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.

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