I want to move to Washington State

So I've been living in Arizona for about 12 years now and i think its time for a change. I was considering moving to either Washington or Oregon. I've visted Oregon once and I like it there but i kinda want to see what Washington has to offer. I am in the process of visiting Seattle, WA in a few months.

I am an Engineering Tech by trade and have 3 boys that are carefully spoiled by my lovely wife so I want to move to a palce where i'll be able to survive financially all while my wife stays home to take care of the kids. (So basically a one income family of 5 with a annual salary of 50k)

I live in North Phoenix (Happy Valley) and was looking for a city in Washington thats comparable to where i live. ( i.e the good/bad, rich/poor/blue collar neighborhoods)

Can anybody from WA chime in on where is good place to live in Washington? I was leaning more toward Tacoma and Redmond because i don't like too much of the city life. I rather live in the suburbs.

Thanks in advance!

 

I lived in Washington for 26 years great place to live...I don't live there anymore though, it really depends on what you want

Tacoma is a relatively nice place to live now... about 10 years ago it was a real crap place with high crime rate. I lived there for about 12 years. If you do decide to live in Tacoma live on the North side... north of downtown near UPS and Water, STAY AWAY from East and south side of Tacoma (gangland). The north is nice, older, clean, and safe

Tacoma now has a nice nightlife and a lot of parks and cool places. Plus houses are relatively cheap compared to Seattle.

I never lived in Redmond, but I heard its nice... a lot of smart engineering people due to Microsoft HQ. But it is expensive... most of the east side (east of lake Washington) is expensive but relatively safer and nicer.

If you want to live in Seattle the north side is the best, especially around the University of Washington, not the U-district itself, but Montlake, Ravenna, and those areas... keep in mind it would be expensive. Everett and North of Seattle is nice too... Edmonds and Lynnwood are nicer areas too

You can also look into south king county, which is cheaper and relatively lower crime rate. Kent and South Aurburn are okay areas.

Schools: most schools in tacoma school district are bad... theres a few nicer HS and MS and all the Elems are okay... it just depends on the location of the school. Seattle School district is crap... but different neighborhoods have better schools.



it really depends on what you are looking for...

In western washington, King and Pierce counties are the most populous counties and the majority of WA state residents live there. I only know about the PS area because thats where I lived.

STAY away from
Pierce county:
East Tacoma, Lakewood, Steilacoom, South Tacoma, Hilltop area, and Parkland

King County:
Rainier Beach, Skyway, Burien, Whitecenter, Central district, North Renton, Downtown Auburn

 

I used to live right next to Redmond. That whole area is way too crowded and the freeways are a total mess!! If I were you I'd move north a bit. With your background get on with Boeing up in Everett...lots of nice area's to live North and East of there. The sking, backpacking, fishing, climbing, and offroading makes that area a great place to live...just have to get used to the rain.

 

WA state is beautiful... especially during the Summer.... 9 months of crap weather and 3 months of gorgeous weather and scenery

it really doesnt rain that much... its just overcast and cloudy the majority of 9 months of the year...
eastern WA is hot during the summer and very cold during the winter... it regularly snows on the east side (over the cascades) during the winter.

 

I dont mind the weather at all! I'm originally from hawaii so im used to rain, however i've been in the desert for so long now that i actually miss the rain!

 

i've lived washington for most of my life and i love it. the rain can get kind of old, but any day with sun (like today, for example!) completely makes up for it! it's absolutely beautiful here. and if you and your family are into outdoorsy stuff, you can't find a better place. skiing/snowboarding, hiking, camping, great national parks, greenery and scenery... the works!

i live in bothell, wa (on the northeast corner of lake washington), and i much prefer the "east side" (read: bellevue, kirkland, bothell, woodinville, redmond) to seattle. with kids, obviously suburbs are going to be better. if you're looking for more space and a more laid-back lifestyle, north (into snohomish county) is probably more your cup of tea, like OffroadToy said. Bellevue and Redmond are very nice cities.

If you've got any specific questions about areas, etc. I'm more than happy to help out!

 

Well if you like rain , keep driving north , and move to southern BC

 

Portland gets more rain per year than Seattle, so there's that.

I live in Burien, and it's okay. Unfortunately, if you want a house, there aren't a whole lotta options in the Seattle area. I recently bought mine (1922, 1300sq. ft. 2bed, 1 bath, 1/3 acre) in a crappy neighborhood for ~$250K.

You won't find a house in Redmond for anything under $300K -- and that will be a fixer.

The majority of good schools are on the East Side (Redmond, Kirkland, Bellevue, Issaquah, Sammamish). There are some decent ones in Kent, Auburn and West Seattle.

The up-and-coming neighborhoods are in West Seattle, Burien (near the city center) and Lynwood. They have less expensive housing, but they still experience some "growth problems" like slightly higher crime rates and poorer schools.

I don't know much about Tacoma. I've heard it's improved greatly in the last couple years, but areas still have gang problems, and some issues with schools.

Outside of that -- the State of Washington is awesome, and there are a million and one things to do every day.

 

and they are calling for a heavy winter again this year...

 

I guess thats kinda what i was looking for. The up-and-coming neighborhoods. Or maybe a not so old neighborhood. I'll definatly look into those areas.



Thanks for all the info guys! Has anyone lived in/near Everett?

 

Have you ever been in the Kirkland area? How is that area lilke?

 

If your looking for a nice place to live, I would recomend a couple areas.

Bellingham, WA is a great place. Its huge, but it is really spread out so it doesnt seem like Seattle or Tacoma.

Sammamish, WA is a great place. A few years back it was voted the greatest place to retire in the world. It is a bit more expensive

Bainbridge, WA is small, but nice. Access to alot of great places and is very nice year round.

 

In my post above I mentioned I lived near Redmond...it was Bellevue to be exact. I moved there from Everett. I lived in both areas for around 15 years each. The Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond area (the East side) is nice but overpriced and crowded. Going North up 405 to Woodenville/Bothell area isn't too bad. The Everett/Marysville area is nice and probably a bit less expensive and areas East of there like Snohomish and Granite Falls will get you away from the crowds. Just keep in mind where ever you move to try not to get too far away from where your going to work at. The 405 and 1-5 drive is a real pain in the ass if you have to do it daily.

 

Kirkland is very, very overpriced. But that's because the majority of the community is along the eastern edge of Lake Washington, and a lot of people like to show off their boats.

It is definitely the center of Pomp-And-Circumstance in the Seattle Metro area. If you go just north of Kirkland, into the Juanita neighborhood, things get less showy, and a little more affordable.

I lived in Juanita for about 6 months before buying my house. I miss it. But I certainly do not miss 45-minute commutes to work (downtown). 405 is a mess during rush-hour.

 

I used to live in Walla Walla for about 6 six years, nice area, has a small town feel to it, but big enough to have everything that you need. You are surrounded by wheat fields on three sides, if you into the out doors there is tons of hiking, biking, camping ect to do. lots of trails to do for the taco. Either that or I would go to the coast and hang out in Oak Harbor, very beautiful, but a bit on the small side.

 

I guess i need choose what city i want to live in based on where i land a job. I am currently in the Aerospace industry and im sure i could find a similar position in Washington. The only aerospace companies i know if in Washington is Honeywell, Boeing and Rockwell-Collins. Is there any companies i am missing?

 

I personally think THE question to ask here is (for me at least, because commute time is a huge deal to me): How do you feel about commuting? A family of 5 on a $50k income is going to really limit where you can live. So the question is can you find a job near to a place that you can afford to live in?

Anywhere you live in or around Seattle is going to involve a pretty horrible commute if it requires freeway driving, and a $50k income for a family of 5 is most likely going to require that you live pretty far away from where you can find work.

My brother-in-law does an hour each way into Seattle from Gig Harbor, because that's where he can afford to provide his family of 5 a decent lifestyle, on $100k+ income.

 

There's probably a few more out there. I worked for Boeing for around 20 years while living around the Bellevue area. One thing about them (from my experiance) is you end up getting transferred around between the plants. When one project ends another starts up so you never know where you'll end up. In my years there I worked at the Renton plant, a couple plants in Seattle, and the Everett plant. You go where the work is and have to bite the bullet as far as the commute goes. If you do go with them my advice is to get situated between Seattle and Everett whether it be on the East side of Lake Washington or the West side...but be advised the traffic isn't fun.

 

Washington??? Move to Oregon!

 

Or move to Vancouver, WA -- no Oregon income tax, but you can jet across the river for any big purchases and take advantage of no sales tax. Best of both worlds!