Moving to
Martha Lake.

All Martha Lake data Compare Martha Lake

22,634people live here $124,494median household income▲ 54% above US $2,185median rent per month▲ 55% above US $785,400median home value▲ 136% above US

Martha Lake is an unincorporated community in Snohomish County, WA. It has no city government: the county runs it, and the Census counts it as its own place.

What it's like to live in Martha Lake

Martha Lake is an unincorporated community in Washington with household incomes running above the national average, a highly educated workforce, and a growing population. Those factors carry real weight for anyone weighing where to move next.

The tradeoffs are worth naming plainly. Martha Lake deals with rent well above the national average, home prices well above the national average, and larger class sizes than the national average.

The good

Higher-than-average incomes
Highly educated workforce
Growing population

The not so good

Rent well above the national average
High home prices
High student-teacher ratio

How Martha Lake compares

Median household income

Martha Lake$124,494

Washington avg$98,141

US$80,734

Median rent (per month)

Martha Lake$2,185

Washington avg$1,760

US$1,413

Median home value

Martha Lake$785,400

Washington avg$564,600

US$332,700

What it takes to move to Martha Lake

Based on Martha Lake's median rent, home value and household income

To rent

$4,370

up front: first month plus a typical one-month deposit

Income to keep rent under 30%: $87,400 a year
48% of Martha Lake renters spend 30% or more of their income on rent

To buy

$157,080

a 20% down payment on the median home

With 10% down: $78,540
Homes cost 6.3× the typical local household income (US: 4.1×)

Moving costs, closing costs and taxes not included.

The details

Cost of living▲ 55% above US

$2,185/mo median rent

Rent is expensive here, at $2,185 a month median and well above the national average. This is the kind of city where housing costs deserve serious budgeting before committing to a move. Home prices are steep, with a median around $785,400. Renting first to get a feel for the city before buying is often the more practical route.

Median home value $785,400 · 48% of renters cost-burdened

Job market

4.7% county unemployment

Unemployment in Snohomish County is 4.7%, close to the national average of 4.3%. That's the county-wide rate; BLS doesn't measure a place this size on its own.

Snohomish County (county-wide)

Safety

104 violent crimes per 100k, whole jurisdiction

Martha Lake doesn't have its own police department, so there's no crime rate for it alone. The figures shown are for the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office jurisdiction as a whole, which runs below the national average for violent crime and covers many communities. Individual neighborhoods can differ a lot from that overall rate.

Property crime 627/100k · Policed by Snohomish County Sheriff's Office (county-wide rate) · 2025 data

Getting aroundNear US average

28 min average commute

Commutes run about average, at 27.8 minutes. Fine day to day, but it adds up over a year, and where someone lives relative to where they work starts to matter. 7 in 10 workers drive to work; 26% work from home.

How workers get to work

Drive alone

61%

Work from home

26%

Carpool

10%

Public transit

1.4%

Other

1.0%

Walk

0.8%

Climate

Summers are comfortable, with highs around 71°F, and winters are chilly but manageable, with lows around 37°F.

Average month

High °FLow °FPrecip (in)

30-year averages, 1991–2020

Education & workforce▲ 40% above US

50% bachelor's degree or higher

This is a highly educated city, with over half the adult population holding a college degree. That tends to shape the job market and the broader culture, and it's a solid indicator of a strong professional scene.

Schools

1 public school inside the boundary

There is 1 public school inside the boundary and 1 private school. The student-to-teacher ratio is 23:1, above the national average of 16:1.

Parks & recreation

The nearest national park or historic site is Klondike Gold Rush - Seattle Unit National Historical Park (18 miles away). There are 7 national parks and sites within a day's drive.

Bottom line

Martha Lake's strongest points are household incomes running above the national average and a highly educated workforce; the main tradeoffs are rent well above the national average and home prices well above the national average. A year of median rent ($2,185/mo) equals 21% of the median household income here, about the same as the 21% typical nationwide. It tends to suit remote workers (26% of workers here already work from home) and college-educated professionals. It may be a harder fit for renters on a tight budget.

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