Best Places to Buy Rental Property in Washington (2026)

Washington's statewide median sold price is $582,000, which prices most investors out of the state before they start. But the state also has fifteen cities that closed 100 or more sales in the last six months at medians between $275,000 and $428,750. That is where an investor with a normal amount of capital actually operates in Washington.

Before the list, one limit stated plainly. This ranking uses closing prices and closing volume, which is what we can verify. It does not use rent, because we have no verified rent figures for these cities, so there are no rent estimates, rent to price ratios, cap rates or cash on cash returns below. An invented return is worse than no return. Rent and cash flow get verified property by property, using the tools linked at the end.

How This List Is Built

Cheapest median sold price first. Every city cleared at least 100 closings in the trailing six months, which filters out markets where one unusual sale moves the median.

Volume is the second axis and it is not decoration. In a state where the median sale is $582,000, your capital sits in fewer properties, which makes exit liquidity more important rather than less.

1. Aberdeen, $275,000 median, 125 closings

The cheapest qualifying market in Washington, and $307,000 below the statewide median. About 21 closings a month, so liquidity is modest but real. The $85,000 gap between Aberdeen and the next city on this list is the single largest step in the ranking, which tells you Aberdeen is a genuine outlier rather than the bottom of a smooth ladder. Coastal Grays Harbor housing stock tends to be older, so condition assessment carries more weight than location analysis here.

2. Moses Lake, $360,000 median, 283 closings

Roughly 47 closings a month in central Washington, a market anchored by agriculture and by more recent industrial and data center investment. Entry cost is $222,000 below the state median with better volume than most cities at this price. Employment concentration is the risk to check, since a small number of large employers can drive a local market in both directions.

3. Ocean Shores, $367,000 median, 167 closings

About 28 closings a month in a coastal resort community, the least conventional entry on this list. Demand in vacation oriented markets is seasonal, so a six month closing window can flatter or understate normal pace. Our data covers sale prices only, so rental demand and any local short term rental rules have to be verified independently.

4. Longview, $378,200 median, 291 closings

About 49 closings a month on the Columbia River in the southwest corner of the state, roughly an hour from Portland. Solid volume for the price, and being in the Portland orbit gives the local economy a broader base than a standalone small city.

5. Yakima, $380,000 median, 475 closings

Roughly 79 closings a month, the third deepest market in this ranking. Yakima combines a below median price with the kind of volume that usually requires a larger metro, which is the profile that gives you both an affordable entry and a workable exit. Central Washington's agricultural economy is the demand base, and it is a different cycle from the Puget Sound tech economy.

6. Centralia, $380,000 median, 142 closings

About 24 closings a month at the same median as Yakima with roughly a third of the volume. Centralia's advantage is position: it sits on the I-5 corridor between Seattle and Portland, which historically supports demand from people priced out of both ends. The tradeoff is that thinner volume means a slower exit.

7. Shelton, $382,825 median, 210 closings

About 35 closings a month in Mason County, close enough to Olympia to draw on the state government employment base while pricing $167,175 under the statewide median. Reasonable balance of price and turnover.

8. Kelso, $386,000 median, 153 closings

Roughly 26 closings a month, directly adjacent to Longview. The $7,800 median gap between the two is small enough that the two cities are effectively one market, so treat comparable sales across the pair carefully rather than assuming a city boundary means a price boundary.

9. Spokane, $405,000 median, 2,138 closings

The strongest entry on this list by a wide margin. About 356 closings a month, more volume than the other fourteen cities on this list combined, at a price $177,000 below the statewide median. Spokane is the only Washington market that gives you a below median price and metro scale liquidity at the same time. Everywhere else on this list, you trade one for the other. Just note that a city this large is not one market, so a citywide median is a starting point and nothing more.

10. Kennewick, $410,500 median, 508 closings

About 85 closings a month in the Tri-Cities. Strong volume, and the local economy has a mix of energy, agriculture and healthcare employment that is unusually diversified for a market this size.

11. Walla Walla, $415,230 median, 247 closings

Roughly 41 closings a month in southeastern Washington. Wine and higher education anchor the local economy. Volume is adequate rather than deep, so plan for a longer marketing window than you would expect in the Tri-Cities.

12. Deer Park, $419,995 median, 149 closings

About 25 closings a month just north of Spokane. You are paying about $15,000 over the Spokane median for a small town rather than metro location. Whether that premium makes sense is exactly the kind of question a comp level review answers and a city average does not.

13. Pullman, $423,392 median, 108 closings

About 18 closings a month, one of the two thinnest markets on this list. Pullman is a university town, which means its demand cycle is tied to the academic calendar and to enrollment trends. That is a specific concentration risk worth researching before you buy, and it is not visible anywhere in a median sold price.

14. Cheney, $426,000 median, 106 closings

Also about 18 closings a month, also a university town, and about 20 minutes from Spokane. The Spokane proximity gives it a fallback demand base that a more isolated college market lacks, but 106 closings in six months is genuinely thin. Assume a slower exit.

15. Pasco, $428,750 median, 343 closings

About 57 closings a month, the second best volume in the Tri-Cities group. It is the most expensive entry on this list and still $153,250 below the statewide median, which puts the whole ranking in perspective: even Washington's most expensive affordable market is well under the state figure.

What This Ranking Deliberately Leaves Out

Entry price and liquidity are two inputs. They are not a return.

Two houses at $380,000 on the same street can produce opposite outcomes once you account for rent, condition, property tax, insurance and vacancy, and insurance and maintenance costs vary between the wet western side of Washington and the dry eastern side. None of that appears in a median sold price. Use this list to choose where to look, then verify at the address.

Verifying a Specific Washington Deal

Get below the city line first with the ZIP level market pages, because in markets as large as Spokane a citywide median averages across neighborhoods that do not resemble each other.

Value the property next. Resideline freezes its estimate when a home is listed and then grades it against the actual closing price, and those results are published on a public accuracy dashboard. Comps are visible and adjustable, so you can catch a comparable pulled from the wrong submarket instead of inheriting it. Condition is estimated from listing photos. Live valuations currently cover 31 states.

Then build the actual deal. Put quoted rent, tax, insurance, vacancy and management numbers for the specific address into the rental property calculator rather than city averages. For a renovation, size the after repair value and budget in the ARV calculator, then run purchase, rehab and exit together in the deal analyzer. The free calculators need no signup.