Washington city guide
Moving From California to Spokane, WA
Eastern Washington's largest city, with real hospitals, a full airport, and no state income tax, at a fraction of west-side pricing.
Housing comparison
California versus Spokane, side by side
- Median home value
- $725,800
- $363,500
- Median annual property tax
- $5,114
- $2,972
- Median monthly cost, owners with a mortgage
- $2,844
- $1,753
- Population
- 39.0 million (state)
- 230,293
Figures are US Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020 to 2024 5-Year Estimates for the city place. Property tax and monthly cost rows cover owner-occupied units with a mortgage, so they describe what current owners pay, not what a new buyer would pay at today's prices. California column is the statewide baseline used across this site.
Why Californians look at Spokane
Spokane is the largest city in eastern Washington and the service hub for the Inland Northwest, a region that spans north Idaho and stretches into Montana. It sits far from the Puget Sound housing market on the dry side of the Cascades, which is why its prices bear no resemblance to Seattle's while its taxes carry the same statewide advantage: Washington has no personal income tax.
The city has an actual downtown, a full medical center system, a research university presence through Washington State University's Spokane campus and Gonzaga University, and an airport with real jet service. That combination of scale and price is unusual and is the reason many California sellers land here rather than in a smaller eastern Washington town.
The tradeoff is climate and distance from the coast. Spokane has real winters with regular snow, and it is roughly a five hour drive from Seattle over Snoqualmie Pass, a route that closes periodically in storms. If your mental image of Washington is evergreen coastline, Spokane will not match it. It is closer in feel to Boise or Salt Lake City than to Seattle.
Spokane fits you if
- You want a real city, with a downtown, hospitals, and a university presence, at well below Puget Sound prices.
- You want Washington's lack of a state income tax without Seattle-area home prices.
- You are comfortable with a genuine four-season climate, including consistent winter snow.
- You want proximity to outdoor recreation, including the Idaho Panhandle lakes and mountains 30 to 90 minutes away.
Look elsewhere if
- You expect Puget Sound scenery or a marine climate. Spokane is dry, continental, and inland.
- You need to be near Seattle regularly. The drive is roughly five hours and Snoqualmie Pass closes in storms.
- You want the deepest tech or biotech job market in the state. That is concentrated on the west side.
- You are sensitive to wildfire smoke. Summer smoke from regional fires is a recurring issue.
Housing in Spokane
Spokane's housing stock ranges from early twentieth century Craftsman and bungalow neighborhoods close to downtown and near Gonzaga, to mid-century ranches on the South Hill and in the valley, to newer subdivisions on the city's edges and in fast-growing suburbs like Liberty Lake and Spokane Valley.
The ACS median home value for the city is $363,500, the median annual real estate tax for owners with a mortgage is $2,972, and the median monthly owner cost with a mortgage is $1,753. Washington has no state income tax, so property tax and sales tax carry more of the local funding load than in California, but the entry price on a home remains well below west-side Washington and far below coastal California.
Demand has picked up over the last decade as buyers priced out of Seattle and out-of-state buyers, including Californians, have moved in, but Spokane still trades at a fraction of Seattle metro prices and inventory moves at a normal, non-frantic pace most of the year.
Work and the local economy
Healthcare is the largest private employment sector, anchored by Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and MultiCare Deaconess Hospital, both major regional referral hospitals that draw patients from across the Inland Northwest and north Idaho.
Higher education adds real weight to the local economy: Gonzaga University, Washington State University's Spokane health sciences campus, and Eastern Washington University's Cheney campus nearby all employ locally and bring a younger population than a typical city this size.
Beyond healthcare and education, Spokane's economy runs on logistics and distribution tied to Interstate 90 and the BNSF rail line, aerospace and manufacturing suppliers, and a modest but growing tech and startup presence. It is not a deep market for every specialized field, so remote income or a field with local demand matters.
Climate and setting
Spokane sits east of the Cascades in a semi-arid, continental climate that behaves nothing like the Puget Sound's marine weather. Summers are warm and dry, winters are cold with regular snow, and the seasons are distinct in a way most of coastal California is not.
Snow is a normal part of the season from November into March, and while Spokane's totals are moderate compared to mountain towns, plan on winter tires, a shovel, and a furnace that runs hard for months. Nights below freezing are common in January.
Summer brings wildfire smoke risk from fires burning across the Inland Northwest and interior British Columbia, and air quality can degrade for stretches in July and August. This is a real and recurring downside, not an occasional one.
Getting around, care, and schools
- Commercial air
- Spokane International Airport (GEG) has nonstop jet service on multiple major carriers including Alaska, Delta, American, United, and Southwest to west coast and hub cities.
- Highways
- Interstate 90 runs east to west through the city; US 2 and US 195 connect north and south.
- Hospital
- Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and MultiCare Deaconess Hospital, both major regional referral centers.
- Public schools
- Spokane Public Schools, the largest district in the region.
- Higher education
- Gonzaga University, Washington State University Spokane, and Eastern Washington University in nearby Cheney.
- Setting
- Rolling terrain at roughly 1,900 feet, on the dry side of the Cascades in the Inland Northwest.
The trade-offs
- Winters bring real snow and sustained cold, unlike anywhere on the California coast.
- Summer wildfire smoke from regional and Canadian fires is a recurring air quality issue, not a rare event.
- Seattle is a five hour drive over a mountain pass that closes in storms, so treat the west side as a plane trip, not a day trip.
- The job market is real but narrower than Seattle's; specialized private-sector fields may have limited local demand.
Other Washington towns people compare
Vancouver
Washington's fourth largest city, across the Columbia River from Portland, with no state income tax and full access to Portland's job market and airport.
Bellingham
A coastal college town on Bellingham Bay, roughly midway between Seattle and Vancouver, BC, with a mild climate and a walkable core.
Richland
One of the Tri-Cities in southeastern Washington, anchored by federal cleanup work at Hanford and research at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, with a dry, sunny climate.
Gig Harbor
A waterfront community on Puget Sound near Tacoma, popular with equity-rich downsizers, with the highest home values among Washington's smaller cities.
Wenatchee
Known as the Apple Capital of the World, on the sunny east side of the Cascades where the Wenatchee and Columbia Rivers meet, at prices well below Puget Sound.
Statewide figures, tax detail, and the full Washington picture are on the Washington page. Compare property, income, and sales tax across all 49 destination states on Taxes, and see where Californians are actually moving on Stats.
Sources
- US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020 to 2024 5-Year Estimates, table B25077 (median home value), retrieved via Census Reporter, September 3, 2026.
- US Census Bureau, ACS 2020 to 2024 5-Year Estimates, table B25103 (median real estate taxes paid, owner-occupied units with a mortgage), retrieved September 3, 2026.
- US Census Bureau, ACS 2020 to 2024 5-Year Estimates, table B25088 (median selected monthly owner costs, owner-occupied units with a mortgage), retrieved September 3, 2026.
- US Census Bureau, ACS 2020 to 2024 5-Year Estimates, table B01003 (total population), retrieved September 3, 2026.
- Spokane International Airport airline directory, spokaneairports.net.
- Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center, providence.org.
- Spokane, WA climate normals 1991 to 2020, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.
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