What it's like to live in Sunnyside
Sunnyside is a small city in Washington with rent below the national average, home prices that remain within reach, and crime rates well below the national average. Those factors carry real weight for anyone weighing where to move next.
The tradeoffs are worth naming plainly. Sunnyside deals with county unemployment above the national average, household incomes below the national average, air quality that falls short of national benchmarks, and college degree attainment below the national average.
The good
- Rent below the national average
- Affordable home prices
- Low crime rates
The not so good
- Above-average unemployment in the county
- Below-average household incomes
- Air quality concerns
- Low college degree attainment
- High student-teacher ratio
- High poverty rate
How Sunnyside compares
Median household income
Median rent (per month)
Median home value
What it takes to move to Sunnyside
Based on Sunnyside's median rent, home value and household income
To rent
$2,052
up front: first month plus a typical one-month deposit
- Income to keep rent under 30%: $41,040 a year
- 41% of Sunnyside renters spend 30% or more of their income on rent
To buy
$48,140
a 20% down payment on the median home
- With 10% down: $24,070
- Homes cost 4.0× the typical local household income (US: 4.1×)
Moving costs, closing costs and taxes not included.
The details
Cost of living▼ 27% below US
$1,026/mo median rent
Rent here is genuinely low, with median rent around $1,026 a month. Factoring in local incomes, the value gets even better. Money stretches further here than in most of the country. Home prices are reasonable, with a median around $240,700. Not a steal, but not intimidating either.
Median home value $240,700 · 41% of renters cost-burdened
Job market
5.9% county unemployment
Unemployment in Yakima County is 5.9%, well above the national average of 4.3%. Moving with a job already lined up matters more here. That's the county-wide rate; BLS doesn't measure a place this size on its own.
Yakima County (county-wide)
Safety▼ 57% below US
141 violent crimes per 100k
Pretty safe, all things considered. Violent crime sits below the national average, nothing alarming, just ordinary city-life awareness.
Property crime 2301/100k · Sunnyside Police Department · 2025 data
Getting aroundNear US average
25 min average commute
Commutes run about average, at 24.6 minutes. Fine day to day, but it adds up over a year, and where someone lives relative to where they work starts to matter. Nearly all workers drive to work.
How workers get to work
Climate
Summers are warm, with highs around 85°F, and winters are cold, with lows around 23°F and snow a regular occurrence. It's a dry climate with limited rainfall.
Average month
30-year averages, 1991–2020
Healthcare
1 hospital
There's one Medicare-certified hospital inside city limits, rated 2.0 out of 5 by Medicare. Hospitals in neighboring towns aren't counted here.
Medicare-certified hospitals
Education & workforce▼ 73% below US
10% bachelor's degree or higher
This is a working-class city, and college degree rates reflect that. Trades, manufacturing, and service industries tend to dominate the local economy, which is a strength for some fields and a real constraint for others.
Schools
8 public schools inside the boundary
There are 8 public schools inside the boundary and 1 private school. The student-to-teacher ratio is 18:1, slightly above the national average of 16:1.
Parks & recreation
The nearest national park or historic site is Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail (51 miles away). There are 3 national parks and sites within a day's drive.
Bottom line
Sunnyside's strongest points are rent below the national average and home prices that remain within reach; the main tradeoffs are county unemployment above the national average and household incomes below the national average. A year of median rent ($1,026/mo) equals 20% of the median household income here, about the same as the 21% typical nationwide. It tends to suit people watching their budget and anyone prioritizing low crime. It may be a harder fit for anyone moving without a job lined up.
Other places near Sunnyside
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