The 10 Best Vancouver Suburbs To Live In For 2023


The best Vancouver suburbs are Sherwood and Lake Oswego for 2023 based on Saturday Night Science.

While big cities like Vancouver offer culture, cuisine, and charisma, they also deliver terrible traffic, towering expenses, and a taxing quality of life.

With that in mind, we wanted to uncover the best suburbs around Vancouver. These burbs have all of the benefits of being near Vancouver without actually having to be in the city.

Of course, not all suburbs of Vancouver are created equally, which is precisely why we set out to find the best ones. Using Saturday Night Science, we delve into the factors that matter most, from commutes and housing costs to community vibes, to help you uncover the perfect suburban spots in the Greater Vancouver area.

Here are the 10 best suburbs to live around Vancouver for 2023:

  1. Sherwood
  2. Lake Oswego
  3. West Linn
  4. Camas
  5. Happy Valley
  6. North Plains
  7. Oregon
  8. Tigard
  9. Ridgefield
  10. Banks

What’s the best suburb of Vancouver? Sherwood ranks as the best suburb of Vancouver for 2023 based on the most recent Census and FBI data. If you happen to be a resident of Sherwood, you’re probably not too surprised to find it on the top our list.

We’ll tell you what makes each of these 10 Vancouver ‘burbs better than the rest–but first, a bit about our methodology.

Feel free to check out some more reading about Washington:


Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table


The 10 Best Vancouver Suburbs To Live For 2023

Sherwood, OR

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 20,281
Median Income: $104,651
Unemployment Rate: 2.6%
Poverty Rate: 4.3%
More on Sherwood: Data | Real Estate

Sherwood is always mentioned as one of the best suburbs in the Vancouver area. We’ll tell you the good about “Awesome Sherwood.”

Everyone here is rich; families average $104,651 a year, which is the 6th highest in the Vancouver region. And only 2.64% are out of work. Homes average more than $454,400 each.

Lake Oswego, OR

Source: Wikipedia User Esprqii | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

10
/10

Population: 40,390
Median Income: $120,585
Unemployment Rate: 5.0%
Poverty Rate: 4.2%
More on Lake Oswego: Data | Real Estate

Lake Oswego is the second best ‘burb we looked at near Vancouver for 2023.

It ranks 4th for incomes in the area and only 3.48% of residents lack insurance, good for 6th best.

West Linn, OR

Source: Wikipedia User Tesint at English Wikipedia | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

9.5
/10

Population: 27,173
Median Income: $124,098
Unemployment Rate: 4.6%
Poverty Rate: 4.7%
More on West Linn: Data | Real Estate

Here in West Linn, it’s really safe, and residents are just about as rich as you’ll see in the Vancouver metro area.

The bad side? Schools are more crowded, and the cost of living puts a large part of the city out of reach for most families.

But price is based on demand and a lot of people want to live in West Linn.

Camas, WA

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

9.5
/10

Population: 25,774
Median Income: $121,094
Unemployment Rate: 2.9%
Poverty Rate: 3.8%
More on Camas: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Camas ranks as the 4th best suburb of Vancouver for 2023.

You won’t find many better places to raise your kids in the region than in Camas and the schools are some of the best around.

Happy Valley, OR

Source: Wikipedia User Esprqii | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 23,442
Median Income: $131,980
Unemployment Rate: 2.6%
Poverty Rate: 4.0%
More on Happy Valley: Data | Real Estate

Coming in as the fifth best is Happy Valley.

Happy Valley gets kudos for having the 4th most expensive homes in the Vancouver area, where houses sell for an average of $559,300. However, the cost of living here is among the highest in the area.

North Plains, OR

Source: Wikipedia User Aboutmovies | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

9.5
/10

Population: 3,280
Median Income: $101,988
Unemployment Rate: 5.6%
Poverty Rate: 2.4%
More on North Plains: Data | Real Estate

North Plains is proud of its 6th place finish on this list. And here’s why.

Most residents have great jobs and the unemployment rate sits at 5.56%.

According to online reports, North Plains is quickly becoming one of the more affluent suburbs in the Vancouver area, meaning you need to get in soon.

7. Oregon

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 11,100
Median Income: $89,301
Unemployment Rate: 1.3%
Poverty Rate: 4.7%

The 7th best suburb on our list goes to Oregon.

Oregon schools are some of the best in the region, and crime is really low. The cost of living makes it a lot more desirable for many families, especially first-time home buyers.

And, it’s only 20.3 miles to downtown, which is a good thing.

Tigard, OR

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 54,750
Median Income: $93,532
Unemployment Rate: 5.0%
Poverty Rate: 6.7%
More on Tigard: Data | Real Estate

Tigard is growing quickly, and for a good reason. Crime is far below average, and most residents are gainfully employed. Even the cost of living is reasonable.

A solid 5.05% of people lack insurance, good for 16th in the area.

Ridgefield, WA

Source: City Of Ridgefield
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 10,432
Median Income: $107,861
Unemployment Rate: 5.2%
Poverty Rate: 3.1%
More on Ridgefield: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Is ‘Everything Better In Ridgefield?’

Almost.

It placed 9th on our list thanks to the fact that it’s really expensive to live here, but the schools are great, so you get what you pay for in that regard.

Overall SnackAbility

9
/10

Population: 2,080
Median Income: $81,250
Unemployment Rate: 7.8%
Poverty Rate: 5.9%
More on Banks: Data | Real Estate

And rounding out the top ten for 2023 is Banks.

This city is far above average in every category, and the best part? It’s far more affordable than the other cities listed above. So, you get a big bang for your buck here.

Methodology: How We Determined The Best Suburbs Around Vancouver for 2023

Figuring out the best suburbs around Vancouver was simple. We used Saturday Night Science to find things people like about living in the suburbs and then locate the suburbs with those things.

We analyzed the newest American Community Survey data for 2017-2021 to research each suburb. We decided upon the following criteria:

  • Low unemployment rate
  • High median household incomes
  • Population density (lots of things to do)
  • High home values
  • A lot of college-educated people
  • Low poverty
  • High rate of insured families

We defined a suburb as being within 30 miles of Vancouver.

Additionally, we limited the analysis to places that have over 2,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 35 suburbs to evaluate around Vancouver.

We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 35 in each category, where 1 was the “best.

Next, we averaged the rankings for each place to create a quality-of-life index.

Finally, we crowned the city with the best quality of life index, the “Best Suburb near Vancouver.” We’re lookin’ at you, Sherwood.

This result may differ from our state-wide data as we did not include commute times and crime for this analysis to allow for a more extensive selection of suburbs.

We updated the data for 2023. This report is our tenth time ranking the best Vancouver suburbs. Skip to the end to see the list of all the suburbs ranked from best to worst.

Summary: Welcome to the Best Vancouver ‘Burbs of 2023

We said it once, and we’ll say it again–life in the big city isn’t for everyone. At least not all the time.

So if you’re craving the amenities of a larger city like Vancouver but don’t want to deal with the drawbacks, one of these suburbs might be for you.

For more Washington reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Best Vancouver Suburbs

Rank City Population Median Income
1 Sherwood, WA 20,281 $104,651
2 Lake Oswego, WA 40,390 $120,585
3 West Linn, WA 27,173 $124,098
4 Camas, WA 25,774 $121,094
5 Happy Valley, WA 23,442 $131,980
6 North Plains, WA 3,280 $101,988
7 Oregon, WA 11,100 $89,301
8 Tigard, WA 54,750 $93,532
9 Ridgefield, WA 10,432 $107,861
10 Banks, WA 2,080 $81,250
11 Scappoose, WA 7,871 $86,528
12 La Center, WA 3,471 $91,375
13 Tualatin, WA 27,821 $97,931
14 Durham, WA 2,073 $94,524
15 Beaverton, WA 97,466 $82,380
16 Sandy, WA 12,383 $88,775
17 Hillsboro, WA 105,909 $91,540
18 Battle Ground, WA 20,536 $85,943
19 Wilsonville, WA 25,887 $78,508
20 Milwaukie, WA 21,108 $73,351
21 Canby, WA 18,078 $83,948
22 Portland, WA 647,176 $78,476
23 Troutdale, WA 16,353 $85,131
24 Newberg, WA 25,108 $81,210
25 Forest Grove, WA 25,767 $73,499
26 Washougal, WA 16,664 $95,894
27 Gladstone, WA 12,017 $83,214
28 Kalama, WA 2,888 $87,500
29 Columbia, WA 10,243 $45,507
30 Cornelius, WA 12,893 $72,917
31 Fairview, WA 10,439 $65,604
32 Estacada, WA 4,353 $75,000
33 St. Helens, WA 13,808 $67,839
34 Gresham, WA 114,164 $61,826
35 Woodland, WA 6,368 $74,221
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.