Seattle

Best Seattle suburbs for schools

Ranked almost entirely on the Schools category — within-state proficiency, student–teacher ratio, graduation rate and schools nearby — with the two poll questions about children and teenagers at 20% once a place has enough responses.

Updated Sep 2026·59 suburbs considered, 10 listed
1
Drone view of Redmond, Washington State, USA
Redmond$1.17M median · 22.1 min commute
Schools A−Cost of living C+Residents inactive
83
Schools score
overall 75 B
2
The downtown waterfront area of Kirkland, Washington, on the shores of Lake Washington.
Kirkland$1.12M median · 23.9 min commute
Schools A−Cost of living CResidents inactive
83
Schools score
overall 74 B
3
Aerial photo of Mercer Island as seen from the north-west on a commercial flight from Seattle to Detroit. Despite bringing a microfiber cloth to clean the aircr
Mercer Island$2.00M+ median · 23.6 min commute
Schools A−Cost of living C+Residents inactive
83
Schools score
overall 75 B
4
Photo of Kenmore, Washington's harbour, taken by Dara Korra'ti (Solarbird) in autumn 2005, from the Uplake neighbourhood in Kenmore. The start of the industrial
Kenmore$921k median · 28.8 min commute
Schools B+Cost of living B−Residents inactive
82
Schools score
overall 68 B−
5
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Woodinville, Washington, U.S. Photo by Ron Zimmerman. Use only with credit.
Woodinville$1.10M median · 25.5 min commute
Schools B+Cost of living CResidents inactive
81
Schools score
overall 70 B−
6
Looking eastbound on Main Street from 101st Avenue in downtown Bothell, Washington.
Bothell$925k median · 27.7 min commute
Schools B+Cost of living CResidents inactive
81
Schools score
overall 69 B−
7
Drone view of Downtown Bellevue, Washington State, USA
Bellevue$1.34M median · 23.6 min commute
Schools B+Cost of living C−Residents inactive
80
Schools score
overall 74 B
8
Drone view of Issaquah, Washington State, USA
Issaquah$963k median · 25.3 min commute
Schools B+Cost of living CResidents inactive
80
Schools score
overall 73 B
9
Bothell East$1.13M median · 31.1 min commute
Schools B+Cost of living CResidents inactive
80
Schools score
overall 69 B−
10
Snoqualmie Depot, photo by Max Richards
Snoqualmie$977k median · 29.0 min commute
Schools B+Cost of living C−Residents inactive
79
Schools score
overall 69 B−
This list's weighting
Schools 80%Resident poll (Q5, Q6) 20%

Poll components only count for places with eight or more resident responses; for the others the remaining weights re-normalise to 100%.

Other Seattle lists
Best Seattle suburbs for familiesMost affordable Seattle suburbsShortest commutes to Downtown SeattleMost walkable Seattle suburbsBest Seattle suburbs for young professionalsHow we score Seattle suburbs →

Photos from Wikimedia Commons: Redmond (Spicypepper999 · CC0); Kirkland (Jelson25 · CC BY-SA 3.0); Mercer Island (Dllu · CC BY-SA 4.0); Kenmore (The original uploader was Solarbird at English Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 2.5); Woodinville (FloweringHearth · CC BY 2.5); Bothell (SounderBruce · CC BY-SA 4.0); Bellevue (Spicypepper999 · CC0); Issaquah (Spicypepper999 · CC0); Snoqualmie (Max Richards · CC BY-SA 3.0).