Washington State - best areas near Seattle?

[Andrew12gauge]

Well there’s a price for everything in almost all cases.

Yea the price of living in Washington is you earn 10% more but cost of living is 20% higher, and you give up a lot of freedom and your soul so there is that


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[bowhiker88]

Yea the price of living in Washington is you earn 10% more but cost of living is 20% higher, and you give up a lot of freedom and your soul so there is that


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I meant that you would move west of state line for a certain guaranteed amount of money.

 

[MountainTracker]

Here’s a tip from someone who grew up and moved out of WA.

Don’t do it!!!


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[bowhiker88]

Here’s a tip from someone who grew up and moved out of WA.

Don’t do it!!!


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I looked at available homes for rent and it’s definitely expensive but besides expensive there’s just a shortage of available homes it seems.

Looks like I’ll just pack my things and head out to Montana to hang with the boys!!

 

[SWOHTR]

Its been a decade so I am sure its only gotten worse but when I left in 2012 if I left home in south Everett to Bellevue around 6am it was a 40min drive in, if I left at 7am it was a 90min drive in. If I left work at 3:45 it was a 50min drive home, if I left just 15min later at 4pm it was a 60-80min, if leaving around 5pm it was 90-120min. Mind you while the time sucked every day it would have been FAR more pleasant to be driving steady state for 2hrs every day vs 90min of that traffic. The stop and go, stop and go, stop and go, stop and go... is infuriating, day after day. If one never had to commute there its a whole different ballgame on quality of life.

It hasn't changed much and your observation of the "Stop and go" remains accurate. I commuted from Everett area to Vigor Shipyard (south side of Seattle, past downtown). While the express and HOV lanes "work", they're not magical and may save 5-10 minutes on the commute as a whole.

I now commute from Arlington to Everett and it's much more pleasant.

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

Good advice so far, sounds like you've made the right decision to not pursue it.

I lived in Burien, Downtown (Pioneer Square) and Bellevue over the last 7 years before recently moving to Eastern Oregon. I'm not going back. ID or MT for me. Did anyone mention the increasingly ridiculous (and unconstitutional) gun laws, the anti-hunting commissioners, exploding predator numbers, and declining ungulate numbers?

 

[MountainTracker]

I looked at available homes for rent and it’s definitely expensive but besides expensive there’s just a shortage of available homes it seems.

Looks like I’ll just pack my things and head out to Montana to hang with the boys!!

Montana sounds like a much better option.


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[NRA4LIFE]

We've lived near Maple Valley for 26 years and love it. I've been retired for 7 years but my commute to Boeing field was not too bad, maybe 30-40 minutes depending on traffic. I was fortunate where I didn't have to use 405 or 5 if they were jugged up, which was kind of always. I can't really say what commute times are now as we do everything between 10:00AM and 2:00PM. My doctor and dentist are in Issaquah and I can tell you it is a PITA getting there and back as the traffic is nutty. Yes, the politics out here are not friendly to right thinking kind of people, but there are perks. We love fishing, crabbing, clamming, etc and there's not too many places where it is better.

As others have stated, there's a lot of place to live outside of the Seattle mess. However, you'll find it quite expensive here. We bought our house in '98 when prices were still somewhat reasonable. It is insane now.

 

[Jakebarnts]

I just left Washington state last April. Monroe,Wa to be exact. The foothills of the cascades. Hunting and fishing is mediocre are best anymore. Some decent blacktail hunting in the area. River Fishing isn’t what it used to be, steelhead and salmon can be good, when the Wdfw allows it.

My 36 mile commute to downtown Seattle for work(construction), would take me 1hr 15min in the morning, but you had to leave at 4am to secure parking (35$ for 8hrs)within a mile of the job site. That same commute home was 2 hrs at best.

The politics will forever be ruled by King county.

As far as living, I would recommend north of Everett.

Washington is beautiful. But the politics and people make it ugly. If you go to downtown Seattle, watch your step, human shit and bums everywhere.


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[bowhiker88]

I just left Washington state last April. Monroe,Wa to be exact. The foothills of the cascades. Hunting and fishing is mediocre are best anymore. Some decent blacktail hunting in the area. River Fishing isn’t what it used to be, steelhead and salmon can be good, when the Wdfw allows it.

My 36 mile commute to downtown Seattle for work(construction), would take me 1hr 15min in the morning, but you had to leave at 4am to secure parking (35$ for 8hrs)within a mile of the job site. That same commute home was 2 hrs at best.

The politics will forever be ruled by King county.

As far as living, I would recommend north of Everett.

Washington is beautiful. But the politics and people make it ugly. If you go to downtown Seattle, watch your step, human shit and bums everywhere.


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Thats absolutely ridiculous. Traffic is more of a concern to me than homelessness, crime, political agenda, etc.

I am very curious where members would collectively have a positive view of? Or where would they tell their younger sibling or close family member to live?

 

[Jakebarnts]

If you’re commuting into or through Seattle along I-5(even 405)traffic will be an issue. It’s wild. I liked the Monroe/Snohomish area. Anything east along highway 2 you will have traffic(read 4hrs to get from Goldbar to Monroe on Sundays during ski season or summer/camping season)…it’s like 20miles. But the two lane highway is the only way east of the mountains unless you head for I-90, so you’re kinda screwed. The amount of people that travel that corridor is pretty wild.

I loved the Sky Valley, but the rat race was enough for us to pull up stakes and head for Montana.

Plus, the resident hunting in Montana is pretty neat


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[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

Thats absolutely ridiculous. Traffic is more of a concern to me than homelessness, crime, political agenda, etc.

I am very curious where members would collectively have a positive view of? Or where would they tell their younger sibling or close family member to live?

Quite a few threads on that. No real consensus.

If you could move anywhere?

My wife, 2 boys and I are moving out west. We currently live in Ohio and want to experience everything life has to offer. We are avid outdoorsmen that love to hunt and fish. My wife loves hiking and enjoying the outdoors. We are currently set on Utah right now but we're not sure that is where we...

rokslide.com

Where would you move to out west if you could?

Just as the title states, where would you move out west if you were going to pack up and leave your current residence? I’ve been wanting to move out west for 10+ years. Every year I take trips to various states/locations out west like CO, WY, MT, NM, UT. Sometimes it’s to hunt, sometimes it’s...

rokslide.com

site:rokslide.com moving out west - Google Search

 

[dog]

I lived in Seattle almost 35 years. I recently retired and got out as soon as I could manage it. Over the time I was there things definitely went downhill drastically. I used to love it there spending most of my time fishing salmon on puget sound. Years of mismanagement has definitely taken its toll. There is still some opportunities if you’re able to move around to the areas they open for short periods and then close again. As been said politics is dominated by the left for many years and the results are not good. I understand the new mayor is trying to clean it up some but having been back recently I’d say he has a quite way to go. We seem to lose more gun rights every year which is disheartening. You can read about the hunting and fishing issues in WA by going to the HuntWa forum.

 

[gt3499a]

There are some reasonable tracts in the center of Camano, but the neighbors will turn on you if you show any conservative behavior

 

[lefthandedasian]

Thats absolutely ridiculous. Traffic is more of a concern to me than homelessness, crime, political agenda, etc.

I am very curious where members would collectively have a positive view of? Or where would they tell their younger sibling or close family member to live?

Basically it boils down to price, the more you pay the less traffic you have to deal with. Anything along the I-90 corridor is going to cost a little bit more but I'm my experience the traffic is much better than living anywhere on the I-5 or I-405. If you're not afraid of a long and fast drive you can try living east like in Cle Elum or Ellensburg. Aside from winter weather you're commute will be a blazing 80mph. it'll just take you 2 hours to get to Seattle due to the distance. The perks are it's cheaper and way more chill on the east side of the Cascades.

 

[bowhiker88]

There are some reasonable tracts in the center of Camano, but the neighbors will turn on you if you show any conservative behavior

Interesting thanks.

 

[Andrew12gauge]

Thats absolutely ridiculous. Traffic is more of a concern to me than homelessness, crime, political agenda, etc.

I am very curious where members would collectively have a positive view of? Or where would they tell their younger sibling or close family member to live?

I think the collective view is you shouldn’t live near Seattle but you don’t want to hear that


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[Fujicon]

The terrible commuting around Seattle is bad enough, but the state is now imposing a maximum $15 charge every time you drive 405. Their tolls just keep continually increasing on Seattle area freeways and bridges. The powers that be seem to enjoy bestowing a lot of pain on those that elect them.

Maximum tolls for I-405, SR 167 will increase to $15 starting March 1

Maximum toll rates for I-405 and SR 167 will increase to $15 starting March 1.

komonews.com

 

[bowhiker88]

I think the collective view is you shouldn’t live near Seattle but you don’t want to hear that


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I am indifferent on the relative distance to Seattle for areas that are within 1 hour drive. If its of the view that there are 0 livable areas within a 1-2 hour drive then no need to comment here. Never been to Seattle before, not really interested in left/right politics or policies/regulations out of my control, I don't have kids and my focus outside of work is rarely impacted by a far winged state government. Taxes is really the only thing I am worried about that concerns the government. this has been the case thus far. If I hate it ill simply leave.

I just want to hear locations and reasons for commenting that location. I appreciate comments with locations to avoid and why they feel that way. It is preliminary so I just wanted to see what are some good areas to begin a search. If I get to a point where I am closing in on a place to live I'll make sure I ask members for their opinion, and look for any glaring red flags. No where is perfect.

 

[Fujicon]

Thats absolutely ridiculous. Traffic is more of a concern to me than homelessness, crime, political agenda, etc.

I am very curious where members would collectively have a positive view of? Or where would they tell their younger sibling or close family member to live?

If traffic is your primary concern then Boise is the only major western city I know of that is actually building for tomorrow instead of yesterday. The transportation department in Oregon has been an abysmal failure. I grew up in Portland and even as a kid I couldn't understand why I-5 had only two lanes through downtown Portland compared to the three or even four lanes leading into the city. Guess what, it is exactly the same now as it was decades ago, no change. They are so ungodly backwards. Washington is almost as abysmal as Oregon, but at least Washington shows minimal effort to play catch-up with yesterday, though they never manage to address the traffic needs of today, much less a planned future. Boise is the exact opposite of Oregon and Washington. Their freeways are constantly expanding with future growth in mind. Like any city Boise gets a rush hour, but short of a major accident I've never had to reduce to crawling speed in Boise.