What Are the Warmest Cities in Washington?

In this article I’m going to share with you my ranking of the warmest places in Washington state.

I created my list by researching data provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other climate data providers.

Below I’m listing the top 10 warmest places in Washington state that have the highest average yearly temperatures. Later in the article I share a table with 50 most populous cities in Washington state.

Top 10 Warmest Cities in Washington State

Here are the top 10 warmest places in Washington state ranked by their daily mean temperature. The differences between various top10 warmest cities in the state are small but they may still be helpful if you’re looking for the best weather possible.

For the top five cities I also give average winter and summer temperatures.

1. Kennewick – daily mean temperature of 55.2 °F

Kennewick has a semi-arid climate. It’s the warmest city in Washington state if we consider annual daily mean temperature. While Eastern Washington has colder winters than Western Washington, the rest of the year is much warmer, with average July max temperature reaching over 90 °F.

Kennewick, Pasco and Richland form an area called Tri-Cities. They’re one of the sunniest cities in Washington state because of their close location east of the Cascade Range. Due to a so-called rain shadow effect, the mountains block the precipitation. As a result, these cities (along with several other in the region, including Wenatchee and Ellensburg) not only have the highest average annual temperature but also enjoy way more sunny days than Western Washington.

Winter temperatures: highs of 42-48 °F, lows of 30-31 °F

Summer temperatures: highs of 82-91 °F, lows of 57-63 °F

2. Walla Walla – daily mean temperature of 54.35 °F

Walla Walla is a city of about 34,000 residents, located about 46 miles east of Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland. Similar to these cities, it benefits from the rain shadow effect and has much lower precipitation than the wet, western side of the state. Walla Walla is one of the northernmost locations in North America to have a hot-summer Mediterranean climate. Like Kennewick, it’s a very sunny city with hot summers.

Winter temperatures: highs of 41-47 °F, lows of 30-33 °F

Summer temperatures: highs of 79-90 °F, lows of 55-62 °F

3. Richland – daily mean temperature of 54.1 °F

Richland has a population of about 60,000 residents. It’s situated in a contiguous urban area shared between Kennewick, Richland, and Pasco, forming an uninterrupted city with over 300,000 residents. Due to proximity, all three cities share the same sunny and dry climate with less than ten inches of precipitation a year. Any slight differences in temperature are caused by various climate data providers.

Winter temperatures: highs of 40-48 °F, lows of 28-30 °F

Summer temperatures: highs of 80-89 °F, lows of 54-60 °F

4. Vancouver – daily mean temperature of 53.95 °F

Vancouver is located on the border with Oregon, a few miles north of Portland. Due to its nearby location, it’s considered a suburb of the city. Unlike the previous cities, Vancouver (and the rest of Western Washington) has much more precipitation. The other difference is that it has warmer winters with highs of 47 °F compared to 42 °F in the previous cities. It also doesn’t have such a blistering summer (highs reach 82 °F compared to 91 °F).

Winter temperatures: highs of 47-51 °F, lows of 34-35 °F

Summer temperatures: highs of 74-82 °F, lows of 53-57 °F

5. Pasco – daily mean temperature of 53.85 °F

Pasco has a population of about 77,000 inhabitants. Along with Kennewick and Richland, the city forms a metropolitan area the size of a mid-sized city. Pasco has the same climate as Kennewick and Richland, making it one of the sunniest cities in Washington. For the Washington state standards, Pasco has burning hot summers and cool winters.

Winter temperatures: highs of 41-50 °F, lows of 27-29 °F

Summer temperatures: highs of 83-93 °F, lows of 53-58 °F

6. Kent – daily mean temperature of 53.75 °F

Kent (and Seattle, which is immediately north) enjoys some of the mildest winters in Washington state with daytime highs between 47-51 °F. Its summer high temperatures reach 78 °F which is much more pleasant than the temperatures of the sunniest cities of the state. While Kent doesn’t get as many sunny days, it offers a mild year round weather that may be preferable over colder winters and much hotter summers of the sunniest places.

7. Seattle – daily mean temperature of 53.7 °F

Seattle, by far the most populous city of Washington state, ranks seventh. But as you can see, its daily mean temperature is virtually identical to Kent, Tacoma, Newcastle and Auburn. Consequently, we can consider these cities to have the same climate. While there hasn’t been much difference temperature-wise in this top10 ranking, the coldest cities of Washington state are much colder. For example, Ellensburg’s annual daily mean temperature is 47.65 °F which is a noticeable 6 degree difference. And to compare Seattle with Spokane, the second most populous city of the state, Seattle is 5 degrees warmer.

8. Tacoma – daily mean temperature of 53.65 °F

Tacoma is located about 30 miles south of Seattle. With over 220,000 inhabitants, it’s the third most populous city in Washington state. Like Seattle, it has mild weather year round.

9. Newcastle – daily mean temperature of 53.5 °F

Newcastle is situated about 12 miles east of Seattle, right by the Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park. It’s a small town of about 13,000 residents.

10. Auburn – daily mean temperature of 53 °F

Auburn is yet another Seattle suburb on this list, though it’s also near Tacoma. Like the other cities in this metropolitan area, it doesn’t have freezing winters and enjoys mild winters, making it one of the places with the best year round mildest weather in the state.

Video Summary of the Warmest Washington State Cities

50 Biggest Cities in Washington State Ranked by Daily Mean Temperature

Seattle is the seventh warmest city in Washington

I created the table below by researching data for the most populous municipalities in Washington state. When I couldn’t find data for a given municipality, I moved on to another. While the list includes 50 cities, some of the bigger cities may be missing because there was no data for them. Please check the closest geographically city then.

City	Average high temperature (°F)	Average low temperature (°F)	Daily mean temperature (°F)
Kennewick	66	44.4	55.2
Walla Walla	64	44.7	54.35
Richland	65.9	42.3	54.1
Vancouver	63.2	44.7	53.95
Pasco	67	40.7	53.85
Kent	62.2	45.3	53.75
Seattle	61.3	46.1	53.7
Tacoma	61.3	46	53.65
Newcastle	62	45	53.5
Auburn	62	44	53
Renton	61	44	52.5
Kirkland	60	45	52.5
Wenatchee	62.5	41.7	52.1
Bellevue	60	44	52
Mukilteo	61	43	52
Poulsbo	60	44	52
Centralia	62	41.9	51.95
Everett	60.3	43.5	51.9
Bremerton	60.3	43.5	51.9
Longview	61.8	41.9	51.85
Sunnyside	65.3	38.4	51.85
Snoqualmie	60.1	43.3	51.7
Redmond	60	43	51.5
Issaquah	60	43	51.5
Moses Lake	62	41	51.5
Oak Harbor	60	43	51.5
West Richland	63	40	51.5
Aberdeen	58.4	44.3	51.35
Shelton	60.9	41.7	51.3
Monroe	60.4	42	51.2
Bellingham	58.9	43.4	51.15
Anacortes	58.7	43.2	50.95
Mount Vernon	59.4	42.4	50.9
East Wenatchee	61	40.8	50.9
Yakima	64.3	37.3	50.8
Sedro-Woolley	59.8	41.5	50.65
Olympia	60.7	40.4	50.55
Lynden	58.5	42.6	50.55
Sammamish	59	42	50.5
Maple Valley	60.1	40.8	50.45
Kelso	60.7	40.2	50.45
Washougal	61.8	38.2	50
Port Angeles	55.3	44.6	49.95
Bothell	60.1	39.4	49.75
Spokane Valley	60.3	38.9	49.6
Arlington	58.7	40.1	49.4
Spokane	58	39.2	48.6
Pullman	59.5	37	48.25
Cheney	60.1	35.6	47.85
Ellensburg	60	35.3	47.65

Check the Warmest Cities in Neighboring States

If you’re interested in learning about the warmest cities in states neighboring Washington state, check out the following articles:

Also check my article on the warmest cities in the US in every state.