15 Safest and Cheapest Cities To Live on the West Coast

When you think about the cost of living on the West Coast, “affordable” probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind — and “safe” might not be either. But there are places on the West Coast where average monthly costs are below $4,000 and crime rates are low.

To find the safest and cheapest cities on the West Coast, GOBankingRates analyzed cities in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington, ranking them based on a combination of factors including livability, rental costs, other living costs, and rates of violent and property crime. The best cities that provide a combination of safety and affordability are all concentrated in just two West Coast states — Oregon and Washington.

Here’s a look at the 15 safest and cheapest cities to live on the West Coast.

• Population: 31,972
• Violent crime rate per 1,000 residents: 0.9
• Property crime rate per 1,000 residents: 9.7
• Total monthly costs (rent + expenditures): $3,126

• Population: 12,026
• Violent crime rate per 1,000 residents: 2.2
• Property crime rate per 1,000 residents: 20.5
• Total monthly costs (rent + expenditures): $3,468

Pictured: Spokane, Washington

• Population: 19,123
• Violent crime rate per 1,000 residents: 1.4
• Property crime rate per 1,000 residents: 15.0
• Total monthly costs (rent + expenditures): $3,818

Pictured: Medford, Oregon

• Population: 24,458
• Violent crime rate per 1,000 residents: 0.6
• Property crime rate per 1,000 residents: 9.0
• Total monthly costs (rent + expenditures): $3,491

Pictured: Whidbey Island, Washington

• Population: 12,848
• Violent crime rate per 1,000 residents: 2.0
• Property crime rate per 1,000 residents: 18.8
• Total monthly costs (rent + expenditures): $3,102

• Population: 19,003
• Violent crime rate per 1,000 residents: 2.6
• Property crime rate per 1,000 residents: 28.0
• Total monthly costs (rent + expenditures): $3,244

• Population: 21,195
• Violent crime rate per 1,000 residents: 1.3
• Property crime rate per 1,000 residents: 13.1
• Total monthly costs (rent + expenditures): $3,732

• Population: 5,429
• Violent crime rate per 1,000 residents: 1.5
• Property crime rate per 1,000 residents: 11.2
• Total monthly costs (rent + expenditures): $4,186

• Population: 5,063
• Violent crime rate per 1,000 residents: 0.8
• Property crime rate per 1,000 residents: 8.9
• Total monthly costs (rent + expenditures): $3,770

Pictured: Tigard, Oregon

• Population: 33,842
• Violent crime rate per 1,000 residents: 3.7
• Property crime rate per 1,000 residents: 30.6
• Total monthly costs (rent + expenditures): $3,364

• Population: 25,617
• Violent crime rate per 1,000 residents: 2.3
• Property crime rate per 1,000 residents: 34.4
• Total monthly costs (rent + expenditures): $3,707

• Population: 77,274
• Violent crime rate per 1,000 residents: 3.3
• Property crime rate per 1,000 residents: 29.2
• Total monthly costs (rent + expenditures): $3,522

• Population: 15,130
• Violent crime rate per 1,000 residents: 1.9
• Property crime rate per 1,000 residents: 29.2
• Total monthly costs (rent + expenditures): $3,719

• Population: 18,127
• Violent crime rate per 1,000 residents: 1.2
• Property crime rate per 1,000 residents: 11.6
• Total monthly costs (rent + expenditures): $3,787

• Population: 18,234
• Violent crime rate per 1,000 residents: 3.5
• Property crime rate per 1,000 residents: 53.4
• Total monthly costs (rent + expenditures): $3,101

Methodology: For this study, GOBankingRates analyzed all the cities on the West Coast to find places that are the safest and the cheapest. GOBankingRates started by defining the West Coast as the states of Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington. For every city within those states, GOBankingRates gathered the [1] average rental costs from December 2023, as sourced from the Zillow Observed Rental Index; [2] total population, as sourced from the U.S. Census’s American Community Survey; cost of living indexes across multiple expenditure categories including [3] grocery cost of living index, [4] healthcare cost of living index, [5] utilities cost of living index, [6] transportation cost of living index and [7] miscellaneous cost of living index, all sourced from Sperlings BestPlaces; [8] average national expenditure cost for each expenditure category, as sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey; [9] livability index, as sourced from AreaVibes; and [10] property crimes and [11] violent crimes, as sourced from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Crime Data Explorer. The cost of living indexes [3] through [7] were multiplied by their respective average expenditure cost [8] to find the average expenditure cost of living in each city. The average rental cost was added to that to find the total monthly cost of living in each city. The property crime and violent crimes [10] and [11] were used with the total population [2] to calculate the property crime rate [12] and violent crime rate [13] per 1,000 residents for each city. The livability index [9] was scored and weighted at 1.00, the property crime rate [12] was scored and weighted at 1.00, the violent crime rate [13] was scored and weighted at 1.00, the average expenditure cost was scored and weighted at 1.00 and the average rental cost was scored and weighted at 1.00. All the scores were combined and sorted to show the places on the West Coast with the safest and cheapest cities. All data was collected and is up-to-date as of Feb. 14, 2024.