So I'm thinking of moving to Seattle...good idea or bad idea?

[BreweryYardRat]

I've spent most of my 20s stuck in a small city in Florida that makes me miserable -- minimal job prospects despite having a double B.A. in English and History, sky-high housing/rent prices, limited dating pool (seems like everyone who has a lot in common with me is either taken or not interested) and honestly, I'm sick of searing heat and humidity every damn summer. I'd have bailed a couple years ago if it wasn't for a few financial setbacks. (Nothing like having to pay $1000 - $1050 in rent by yourself for five months in a two-year period to eat up your savings...)

I'm currently trying to learn Arabic in preparation for a Master's Degree in Middle Eastern Studies. UW has an excellent program, although it's really more like International Studies with a Middle Eastern concentration. On the other hand, rent's as bad in Seattle as in my current city, if not worse, and that's assuming I'm sharing an apartment. Job prospects might be better, but then again they might not.

I like the idea of living in a city with lots of grey skies & rain...but I also have three ferrets to feed, bills to pay, and the clock's ticking. I turn 28 in a couple of months, and I'm sick of being miserable. I don't want to move and then be miserable AGAIN, and jobless for an indefinite period to boot. (I can do my current job remotely, but my department manager hates me because I sided with someone who was sexually harassed by one of her cronies, so I get the feeling that I'm not going to be offered the opportunity to work remotely like other people who've moved out of state.)

So I'd like your honest opinion...should I pack up and make for Seattle in a couple of months, or should I find somewhere else to move to? (I'm also considering Portland, but that's a separate post in the Oregon forum. I got some good general advice about moving elsewhere in general, but I'm always willing to listen to more.)

[HassleCat]

1. Traffic is bad

Of course, that's true of any large city, but Seattle is playing catch-up with their transit system, where Portland has light rail lines running all directions. The weather in the two cities is almost the same. Back in the 1960s, every city decided it needed a theme song, so Seattle got Andy Williams to sing, "The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle..." and this was immediately mocked by, "The bluest skies you never see are in Seattle." But it's a nice place, fairly liberal, maybe not quite as left as Portland, but Portlanders have a tendency to take themselves too seriously simply because they live in Portland. See a couple episodes of "Portlandia" for examples. I like Portland because it's bicycle friendly, although all my old bike rides are now too heavily traveled by people in Beamers. Both cities are great for outdoor recreation - cycling, skiing, kayaking, etc. Oregon has no sales tax, which is another progressive point, but they have income tax, which Washington does not have. Anyway, I don't think you will go wrong in either place.

[ciaobaby]

2. Seattle is a great and beautiful city.

1. Rent is high
2. lots of corporate growth going on so getting a job should not be too much of a challenge
3. We are very liberal here
4. if you like grey skies & rain what are you waiting for.
5. Summers will be sunny and warm to hot.
6. Tons of stuff to do, especially if you like the outdoors, biking, hiking, kayaking......
7. It doesn't get much more beautiful than here.
8. I moved here over 10 yrs ago from San Francisco - I am so happy I did and would never go back.
9. Food is great.
10. Florida? - why is this even a question ????

(Actually I am not in Seattle, but on the east side of Lake Washington.....but you said you were 28 so it would be Seattle for you- start packing)

[mercuryblues]

3. I have been to Seattle

several times and loved it. remember the minimum wage is $15 an hour. If you could stand the commute, live outside Seattle. My daughter lived in Lakewood and her rent was 950 a month for a 2 bedroom/1bath.

[sense]

6. The minimum wage is Not $15 an hour.

They are working their way toward that. It will take years. Traffic is awful, rent worse. Most houses listed for sale sell for over list price. Jobs seem plentiful, but the populace is well educated, so there's stiff competition for jobs. It's a beautiful city, but if you're looking for a cheaper place to live Seattle is a really bad choice.

[The Blue Flower]

7. I left Seattle last summer after 16 years

Rents and housing prices have gone through the roof. Many long-timers from my sweet little neighborhood have been forced out by development that only the high-paid techies can afford. The number of homeless has doubled in the last 2-3 years because affordable housing is going away. Traffic congestion has worsened considerably. I loved it there for a long time, and loved my community. What the city planners are after is "densification", which is meant to prevent urban sprawl. But, geographically, there is no place to sprawl to. High housing costs have forced average working folks out to Puyallup and other urban centers, which means they have to commute farther to get to work. So that's another reason traffic has become so difficult.

If you want to move to the NW, and I definitely understand why you would, I suggest you try Portland. It's a terrific city and more affordable.

[BreweryYardRat]

8. Heh.

Funny, I'm also hearing that rent and housing prices are spiking in Portland. Still looking relatively cheap in comparison, though.

[He loved Big Brother]

10. Portland

Has light rail that goes absolutely everywhere, which makes it easier to live somewhere less expensive. I don't have a car because I gave up driving in Seattle a decade ago. I therefore always have to live in places where the rent is too high because the public transportation is pretty bad. Getting better, but nowhere near as good as Portland's. Or even South Florida's Tri-rail. Also, Oregon has enough blue-collar and hippie types that rent will be affordable *somewhere*, and there's more cooperative living situations if the economy does go bust. My advice would be to do what I am doing and make all your money in Seattle, then head to Portland on weekends and eventually move there.

[newthinking]

11. Property in all of the Northwest has been surging. Same thing that happened

to Denver 15 years ago. Then Colorado was the "hot place to go", now the Northwest is. Oregon has been the fastest growing state in the Nation for several years (% wise).

[oldandhappy]

4. Good for you!

Get yourself out of Florida. I am in southern CA so don't have much to say to your specific needs, however, having an opinion means I want to encourage you to pick up and come west. I hear lots of great things about the Pacific Northwest. Give it a shot. Do not under any circumstances let yourself get stuck in Florida -- give up misery for green trees and great people.

[larkrake]

5. It would be opposite

[He loved Big Brother]

9. I moved here from Florida.

I love almost everything about it, but it took me about ten years to get there. There's more money to be made, it's more technologically advanced, and it's beautiful. I will say, I was miserable, but it's nicer being miserable in Seattle than almost anywhere else I've lived (which is quite a few places).

The big cons- it's mostly white people, very lacking in diversity. It's gentrified as all hell. It's expensive, and people don't really help one another out much. Also, dating is hard. It's the sort of place where perfectly dateable people can be single for a long time. Making friends is sometimes even more difficult than dating. I hope you like karaoke.

I have also lived in Portland. Portland is much better. Seattle could learn a lot from Portland, but Portland doesn't have a thing to learn from Seattle.

If you end up here, message me and maybe we could grab coffee.

[lumberjack_jeff]

12. Consider Olympia or Bellingham. n/t

[LisaM]

13. Crazy overpriced and too many tech people.

Last edited Thu May 26, 2016, 04:50 PM - Edit history (1)

The vibe has changed considerably since I moved here. They are throwing up ugly, overpriced apartments as fast as they can knock down charming older buildings and the tech companies are all building downtown so it's become a wasteland of chain stores and overpriced bars. When I moved here it was more of a working class city. Now it's expensive and filling up with millennials. The music scene is long gone.

[The Blue Flower]

14. 100% correct

It isn't the place I loved for many years.