Liberty Lake, Washington

Area Profile

12,737 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Liberty Lake, in Spokane County.

73out of 100
Area Score
Top 11% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 22% of 3,904 cities measured70
GrowthTop 40% of 2,973 cities measured56
Housing affordability2399th of 4,223 cities measured76
Climate2604th of 4,223 cities measured67
Physical resilienceTop 12% of 4,182 cities measured89
Access3057th of 4,226 cities measured84
Economic stabilityTop 27% of 4,226 cities measured71
The quick read

Liberty Lake ranks in the top 22% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.8% and median household income of $118,723.

Residential permitting has slowed: 125 units authorized over the past twelve months, 73% below the prior year.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Liberty Lake in the top 12% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
12,737
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$118,723
Top 11% nationally
Density
2,008/sq mi
6.3 sq mi of land
Median age
37.1
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Spokane County
Washington
Metro area
Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA
Nearest major airport
GEG
20 mi · Spokane Intl
Median home value
$577,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.8% is lower than 70% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 0.3% over the past year, to 250,659 employed residents.

49% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 88% of measured US cities.

Household income is higher than at least 89% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$8,914$118,723Top 11%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$4,669$54,275Top 14%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate5.0%Bottom 24%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute25.0 minBottom 41%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher48.7%Top 12%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment250,659Top 26%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-0.7%Bottom 37%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.3%Top 37%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force260,633Top 26%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation65.4%Top 33%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$68,570Top 49%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$54,660Top 39%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.4%Top 36%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate3.8%Bottom 30%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024119k96k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $118,723 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides10,580$47,410
Fast Food and Counter Workers7,870$35,780
Retail Salespersons7,400$36,880
Registered Nurses6,850$111,750
Stockers and Order Fillers5,330$40,510
Cashiers4,470$36,290

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Spokane County, WA, which contains this city.

There are 19.9 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
4
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
19.9
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Ridgeline High SchoolCentral Valley School District1,57522.8
Liberty Lake ElementaryCentral Valley School District52418.7
Liberty Creek Elementary SchoolCentral Valley School District45314.6
CVSD Open Doors ProgramsCentral Valley School District102

31.4% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Washington’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,895 takes 19% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.9 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
19.2%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.9×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,895
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$577,500
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income4.86Top 17%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate67.0%Bottom 32%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3935,047Top 11%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$160$1,895Top 10%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$43,908$577,500Top 9%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income19.2%Top 46%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate6.0%Bottom 33%of 32,0012024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
56/ 100
Top 40% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 10% since 2020, reaching 13,353 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before.

Population is still rising, but more slowly than in the preceding year.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 9.8 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
125
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
9.8
Top 14% nationally
Year over year
−73%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202413k12k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
202020212022202320242025401110
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+24%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 87°F and January a low of 26°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 17.4 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 38, in the Good band, and one day a year passes 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station SPOKANE FELTS FLD, 10.2 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND2.2"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index62.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation17.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low26°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high87°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10012024 calendar year
Median air quality index38.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing40°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
38
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
62
90th percentile index
Days above 100
1
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

89 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are wildfire and heat wave.

WildfireElevated
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, ice storm, inland flooding, strong wind, winter weather, earthquake, avalanche, hail, lightning, landslide, tornado, drought.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Spokane County records 3.1 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 14.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 45.5 per 100,000 residents in Spokane County.

Homicide
3.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
14.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
45.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
22.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Spokane County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Liberty Lake rather than Liberty Lake itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest 20 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Spokane IntlGEG20 mi8,199 ft
Grant County IntlMWH108 mi13,503 ft
Glacier Park IntlGPI139 mi9,007 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
73
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Other cities in Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
SpokaneSpokane County230,29368vs Liberty Lake
Spokane ValleySpokane County106,36568vs Liberty Lake
CheneySpokane County12,80462vs Liberty Lake
Airway HeightsSpokane County11,24564vs Liberty Lake
FairwoodSpokane County10,674vs Liberty Lake

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Liberty Lake

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
9901912,447$120,05373