Kennewick Named One of the Best Places to Live in the U.S.

A new study confirms what we locals have known for a long time: Kennewick is one of the best places to live in the entire U.S.A.!

The folks at Livability.com recently published their rankings of the Top 100 Places to Live in the U.S., and Kennewick was the only Mid-Columbia city to make the grade. But the non-inclusion of the rest of the Tri-Cities may be because the study included “constraints” on allowing neighboring cities to also rank well. (Whatevs. Whenever one Tri-City town makes a list like this, I always believe the honor includes the whole Tri-Cities.)

In fact, Livability celebrated the entire Tri-Cities in its summary of what makes living in Kennewick great:

Three cheers for the Tri-Cities! Affordable housing, top-rated schools, and a family-friendly environment make Kennewick a great place to raise a family. Stunning Columbia River views and endless outdoor options keep nature lovers captivated, too.

The site says Kennewick scored highest on

• environmental factors like good air quality and reasonable population density
• housing-related factors (warms my heart!) such as “relatively affordable housing for renters and owners, reasonable taxes, and an overall modest cost of living”
• transportation factors like being drivable, walkable (especially downtown Kennewick!), and offering short commute times

On those housing factors, though, I should mention that Livability is a bit behind the times. It lists Kennewick’s median home value as $337,311, but it’s been about three years since that’s been the case. You can see for yourself in our Tri-Cities/Kennewick housing market updates. Over the past six months, Kennewick’s median sales price has been in the $415K range.

Kennewick earned a “LivScore” of 745, just behind Spokane’s 749 and ahead of Tacoma’s 743 score. Vancouver, at 794, was the highest-rated city in Washington. (Hmmmph.) Those are the only four Washington cities to make the Top 100.

Bottom line: If you’re thinking about moving to the Tri-Cities, or Kennewick specifically, you’re considering a great place — one of the best places to live in the entire country!

Click here to see everything Livability had to say about living in Kennewick. And if you have any questions, get in touch with us anytime. We love spreading the word about Kennewick and the entire Tri-Cities area!