CITY PROFILE
Bellingham, WA
WHAT LIVING HERE IS LIKE
Bellingham is a smaller metro with a temperate four-season climate, often-cloudy skies, and a wet climate—typical of the Pacific Northwest. Housing here ranks among the most expensive metros in our dataset, so affordability will be a significant factor in your decision. If you're drawn to milder winters and don't mind frequent cloud cover and rain, the trade-off is a tight housing market.
By the numbers
| Typical home value | $621K · Zillow, May 2026 (ZHVI) |
|---|---|
| Typical rent | $2,041/mo · Zillow, May 2026 (ZORI) |
| Average temperature | 9.6°C · warmest 17.9°C · coolest 2°C · NASA POWER |
| Annual precipitation | 1402 mm · NASA POWER |
| Sunshine (solar energy) | 3.48 kWh/m²/day · NASA POWER (annual mean) |
| Metro size rank (US) | #205 · Zillow SizeRank |
Match scores
- Affordable to buy66
- Affordable to rent57
- Climate comfort54
- Plenty of sunshine27
- Big-city amenities50
Scores are 0–100, normalised across the metros we cover, derived from the sourced figures above (higher = better on that factor). A research aid, not a recommendation to move. Job market, safety, and healthcare access need key-gated feeds (BLS, FBI, Census) not yet wired — see the methodology.
Where to look next
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