Moving to Seattle

In My Humble Opinion
1

OK, so I am about to pack my things and move to Seattle, I’ve spent some time there, but still am left with some general questions. I’ve read the older ‘moving to Seattle’ threads, but they are all circa-2001. I need some up-to-date information…

  1. Job Market - I realize Washington’s unemployment is slightly higher than most, but how hard is it to find an ‘adequate’ job really? Has the turnaround begun? I’m an engineer, but have no problem doing other more ‘menial’ work for the time being, surely it can’t be that bad???

  2. Weather - When I was there afew months ago it was beautiful and most locals I talked with said the rain isn’t as bad as its cracked up to be. I can handle overcast days and showers, but is the amount of rain ridiculous or manageable? Is it a ‘keep you inside rain’ or slight showers?

  3. Crime - I’m from Dallas, and lived on Gaston (yikes!) so I can handle some questionable neighborhoods, but I didn’t really see many ‘bad’ areas - do they exist? are there areas I should absolutely not live? South of Seattle seems to be the worst, but ultimately not that bad…

  4. Where to live - I’m 28 and would like to live in a somewhat ‘younger’ area, but without paying the hipster-tax to live in Capital Hill. What areas are on the fringes of this area? I hear a lot of good things about Fremont too, are the rents affordable (read: under $800 for at least 600 sq ft)? What is Ballard like? It seemed somewhat ‘industrial’, but with some potential if you knew where to look. I would like to have access to public transportation…

  5. Getting there - I’m coming from Houston, right around Xmas time with a fully-loaded Jeep with questionable brakes. I think coming up thru the plains and across the Rockies and into Seattle from the East is the fastest, but the thought of navigating the mountains in snow, ice and with bad tires seems like more trouble than its worth. Heading out thru West Texas and up the coast seems a lot more lesiurely and less weather-dependent. Comments?

I know this a long one, but I appreciate any advice you might be able to give.

Thanks.

2

I’ve lived in Seattle since 1990, and I love it. I hope some of our newer transplants will chime in soon.

So-

Job Market: not so great, but getting better. Depends on what kinds of engineer you are. If you’re in aerospace, don’t bother coming. Boeing hasn’t finished layoffs, hiring is not a realistic possibility.

Weather: We have a lot of rainy days. Other places get higher rainfall, we have many, many rainy days. Sometimes it rains hard, sometimes it rains not so hard. We get big wind and rainstorms in the fall, cold steady rain in the winter (but not all the time), and less cold steady rain alternating with lighter rain in the spring. You will learn the difference between “rain” and “showers” if you live here. There are few sunny days from late fall to spring. We get “sun breaks” which means that the sun is out for a while, then the clouds come back.

Another important consideration is that Seattle is very far north, so we have lovely long days in the summer and short days in the winter. You wake up in the dark, come home in the dark. It can be hard.

Crime: I grew up on the south side on Chicago. There is nothing like that here at all. There are some places I wouldn’t want to live, but I have friends in all parts of the city.

Where to live: Rents are high everywhere, but with the downturn in the economy, the worst is over. Capitol Hill is expensive, I think Fremont has gotten pretty spendy as well. Parking is a problem in both neighborhoods. Ballard is neat, but could be a hassle depending on where you find a job. Belltown and Queen Anne are nice, but a little yuppy. First Hill is next to Capitol Hill, cheaper but some iffier neighborhoods. A lot of people love West Seattle, but the bridge can be a major bottleneck.

These are mostly North Seattle neighborhoods - that’s what I know of the younger and cooler areas.

Getting here: Don’t come though the mountains!!! We are having a pretty severe winter already (much to the delight of the skiiers), but the passes can be quite bad with very little notice. They will require you to have chains or traction tires (sometimes 4 wheel drive is acceptable) if the state patrol decides that the weather conditions are bad enough. If you don’t have them, you don’t cross the pass until conditions improve. Could be days. Major hassle. Besides all that, there is now way I would be driving through snowy mountains with bad tires. Come to think of it, get new tires and avoid the mountains anyway.

3

Thanks for the info, very helpful…

I’m an electrical engineer, but mostly I do ‘systems engineering’ (read: paper shuffling, acting as a liason between real engineers and mgmt) so I think there should be plenty of opportunities. I’ve already tried aerospace and I’m planning on giving it a wide berth…

As far as rent, say I want to spend under $800 and be within a decent bike ride of some people my own age, some nightlife, etc…where do you recommend? What neighborhoods constitute West Seattle? What bridge are you reffering to?

How necessary is a car? I’ll have one, of course, but I prefer to walk/bike/public transport most of the time. Part of the appeal of Seattle is that this seems feasible…

Where is most of the nightlife and how is it demographically? I assume near the university there are all the student/frat boy type places, Capital Hill has the martini bars and higher end stuff. What about downtown? Live music?

4

  1. It’s no longer flat out horrible, but it’s still very, very bad.

  2. This is possibly the worst time of year to move here - as herownself said, we have very, very short days right now. Barely 8 hours in December when you’re planning on moving. And the sun doesn’t necessarily appear during those 8 hours. It can, and often does, go from night to cloud cover to night, and might do exactly that for the next 6 or so months. Not rain, but cloud cover. It almost never pounds, usually closer to a heavy mist, but when it stops raining, the sky does not clear. People who move here in October and November often don’t make it, it’s just a very long time without seeing the sun. It’s still beautiful, but a totally different kind of beauty than the blue skies of summer.

  3. Not that I can think of.

  4. Unless you live and work in Seattle, public transportation sucks. (Even if you do, it can still suck. Cars are not absolutely necessary, but really, really close.) Ballard is a great area. Everyone I know who lives there likes it. Nice nightlife, bars, feeling of community, etc.

  5. I have no idea. I’d probably go up the coast.

5

Actually, thats why I thought I would come now…to take the worst it can throw at me, and see if I hold up. Plus, since there aren’t a lot of people moving at this time, I bet I can get some good move-in specials at the apartment…

Personally, I like overcast days and the darkness I can handle (I lived in Pittsburgh for a while too). Texas had so many endless sunny days, I want a little change of pace (yeah, I’m weird).

Interesting about public transport, I thought it would be a little better. As long as I can walk or bike for the day-to-day stuff, I don’t mind driving to work. The traffic didn’t seem bad compared to Dallas…

Employment is the only thing that worries me, but it looks like the rate is only 1% higher than here in TX. Plus, I’m willing to settle for less. I’d be curious to here from anyone thats found a job there recently…

6

Summers are absolutely beautiful, but be prepared to deal with endless overcast days in the winter.

I would disagree with the transit system being horrible. It’s not as convenient as having your own car, but it goes all over the Seattle area, and it’s pretty cheap. Some employers will pay for a bus pass.

Traffic is a pain in the neck, but if you’re from Dallas, it won’t be anything you’re not used to already. You might be surprised by the freeways though: a lot of the times they narrow down to two lanes, and this is the interstate we’re talking about. Where you and I live, the interstates usually have about 4 or 5 lanes, but it’s not that way for much of Seattle.

Job market is what it is. Pretty crappy.

If you can get through the shitty winter, you’ll love the summer because then it’s sunny nearly every day, without the heat you get in Texas. Plus, there’s far more trees and of course the nearby Cascade and Olympic Mountains which you can see on most summer days, including the snow on top. Also, they have the Puget Sound and Lake Washington. What I’m getting at here is that scenery is far, far superior to anything in Dallas.

I can’t really comment on the night life, but it’s probably not as good as what you have in Dallas.

7

Oh and let me add this: housing is pretty expensive. It’s not the worst in the country, but it’s worse than Dallas for sure. Even long after the Dot-Com bust, modest homes are still $200,000. If you want to live in the better neighborhoods though, the price can be as much as $400-500,00 for a cracker box house. Likewise, rent ain’t cheap either. The real estate market may come crashing down though, so keep that in mind if you buy a house or condo.

8

I was there in the fall, and it was perfect then too, I can handle the overcast winters for more of the summers. When do the winter doldrums start to finally clear up?

I agree with you 100% on the scenery - thats the main attraction for me. I love the outdoors and wasnt really able to do much in Texas. I think in Seattle I could take an amazing weekend trip every Friday and never go to the same place twice…

As long as the nightlife is adequate, I’m happy, and from what I saw it was. How late are bars open there? 2AM like in TX?

I guess I will have to resign myself to the job situation, but I have enough cash reserves to last for a while. Any reason on why its so bad? Downfall of Boeing? What sectors are up, what are down? Does the unemployment rate run higher than the national average all the time, or is this just an anomaly?

9

I’ve been here for 7 years and I’ve about had it. But, I’m not connected to any sort of nightlife / social life, so things may be different for you. The winter is indeed hard to take, just because of the extremely short days* and almost total lack of sun, not to mention the constant wet – although as mentioned above, it’s
more of a steady mist than a downpour.

I’m just chiming in to talk about neighborhoods, really … Ballard is a good idea, although irritatingly far from I-5. (However: it’s perfect for a downtown commute via 15th Ave. NW.) West Seattle is a peninsula, accessible only by bridge (unless you drive miles and miles down to the south) so its charms are offset by its comparative isolation – unless of course you work there.

Greenlake is nice, but probably out of your price range. Greenwood could be perfect; you should check that one out. If you find cheaper rents out of town (as you will find, excepting the east side) Shoreline (Snoreline) is surprisingly close in.

All the interesting places to live seem to be north. Beacon Hill, just south of downtown, boomed with Amazon.com, but it suffers from being cut off from nightlife. Columbia City (a neighborhood in the south end) is fun, but kind of scary after dark in my experience. And again, it’s a few miles south of town … it seems most Seattle people think the world drops off into the void at I-90.

*Note that Seattle is the northernmost major US city.

10

Hmmm… I think it may be a ‘grass is always greener’ kinda thing. After 10 years of blistering heat and endless sun, I’m ready for a change too…

My impression was that north is the only place to live in the city, although I’m curious about downtown too. Does the city dry up after dark? It looked expensive to me.

Seems like a very sports-friendly (both professional and recreational) would you agree?

11

Yup, any place in downtown Seattle will be expensive to live. There are cheaper neighboring cities, like Lynnwood, which aren’t as trendy, but they are more affordable.

The Seattle area can be divided into Seattle and “The East Side”. The East Side refers to the eastern shore of Lake Washington. It’s made up of Bellevue (Blahvue) and Kirkland and a few other cities. It’s more conservative than Seattle, but parts of it are (somewhat) cheaper, and just as beautiful. I lived in Kirkland for a while, and it’s a fine if somewhat dull town. It’s not terribly expensive anyway. Really, it just depends on what you want in a neighborhood that will determine how much housing costs. Property on Lake Washington or Puget Sound will be astronomical as you would expect.

Seattle is a sports town, especially with the Mariners and Super Sonics. The fans are quite devoted. We also have the UW football team here, and their fans are pretty dedicated too. They’ll probably convert you into a Mariner’s fan.:slight_smile:

In all honesty, the nicer weather usually starts around mid-late June and continues through October, but of course it varies from year to year. Generally speaking, July-Nov is the nice weather.

I think you’ll like it, since you seem pretty tolerant of perpetually overcast days. It’s all worth it though, come summer time. And even the winters aren’t too bad, because you can always head up into the mountains and go skiing or snowboarding. The closest ski resort is like 45 minutes away I think.

12

I spent some time in the East Side when I was there (Redmond, Kirkland, and Bellevue), but found them to be a little too ‘suburban’. Still nice though. A quick look at some apartments in areas like Ballard and Greenwood show affordable rents and decent amounts of space. Plus it looks like they are close to some of the ‘cooler’ areas so I can kind of have the best of both worlds.

No state income tax right? Always loved that about TX, what about the sales tax?

And I’m sure it goes without saying that I will find the political climate a little more liberal that Texas, haha.

13

Right, except it’s made up for with insane fees for everything. I’d rather have a state income tax.

(The most insane fee was done away with a couple years back – the vehicle license fee, which had been one of the nation’s most outrageous. Now it’s $30, plus various inexplicable fees, to equal around $70. Still tolerable. But don’t try to rent a hotel room, or you’ll pay an extra 10% or so to subsidize our two new sports stadiums. Same goes for renta-cars.)

14

Most of those must be city or county fees. My registration is only about $35.

This is an interesting topic. Almost everyone I knew in Spokane four years ago has moved to Seattle. I’ve thought about it myself, mostly because of politics and the weather… right now it’s 12 degrees here, it’s been foggy for two days, and there’s been snow on the ground for a week. I’d rather have rain.

15

**
I was born in Seattle, and have lived here on and off over the years. I lived many other places too, and have found there’s no easy way to drive here in the winter.
You’ll hit snow in the Siskus coming from the south and possibly even in the Grapevine in the Angeles range.
Going north will be worse. Wyoming, South Dakota and Montana are bad (cold!) then you’ll hit the Cascades. They got 18" of snow last night and expect another 24" today.

16

I’m not familar with the Siskus or Angeles range, where do I run into those mountains? Should I bring chains when I come? I’m not very familar with winter driving, having lived in TX.

17

You should definitely have chains if you’re going through any mountain passes here.

Winter driving 101: Drive slower than you want to. Start braking way sooner than you think you need to. Try not to stop when you’re facing uphill. If you have a manual transmission, try starting in 2nd gear.

18

Some stupid questions about snow chains, since its been at least 15 years since I’ve seen anyone use them:

  1. I only need them for the drive wheels right? i.e, the rear ones on my non 4x4 jeep?

  2. As I recall, you just lay them out behind the wheels, back up onto them, fasten them some how and I’m all set?

  3. I use them only for climbs/descents basically? When there is a fair amount of snow/ice? Although I seem to remember ‘chain up areas’ at the start of the passes, so I guess it will be obvious where they’re needed. Do they not plow the passes?

  4. How far south of Seattle will I encounter these passes…

Sorry if these questions seem stupid, but we are lacking in both hills and snow in Dallas…

19

I just moved to western Washington about 7 months ago. I take the bus in from Federal Way to work in Seattle - I live too far south in my opinion.

When it comes to rent, anywhere decent in the downtown area is going to be expensive. I really like Belltown - but since my income is pathetic, I haven’t even looked into the prices.

I moved here from Utah (after a short stint in Vegas), so any rain is a lot to me! It’s been flooding lately, but I’m told that’s not normal. I personally like the weather. However, the short days during the winter does a take a while to get use to.

I drive a Jeep Wrangler, and I hate it because it absolutely sucks on hills…sucks! I don’t know what kind of Jeep you drive, but I’m just warning you. If your brakes are iffy, get them fixed…you need them here.

20

On Monday I officially became a Washington resident. Birch Bay is about 100 miles north of Seattle. So far, I haven’t found employment. And it’s been three days! (And six weeks of looking prior to moving up here.) I’ve been coming to Washington for a few years since my best fiend lives here. I ended up buying his house, which is why I’m in Birch Bay. I’m looking for work in the Seattle area. (I was a Data Management Analyst – basically I run data through programs, write extract programs, and analyze the results for accuracy.) 100 miles is a helluva commute. I’ll have to get a studio apartment and just use the house on weekends if I get a job there. Of course it would be better for me to get a job in Bellingham. (unless I could amazingly get a position in Vancouver. Yeah, that’ll happen.)

The weather has been great this week. Rain when I got here, overcast today. Tuesday and Wednesday were sunny and warm (highs seemed to be around 50°F). I washed the motorcycles yesterday; but as noted, it gets dark early this time of year and by the time I was done doing other things it was starting to cool off.

A note about YJ Wranglers: U-Haul requires a hard top if you want to rent a trailer. Also, a YJ is a short-coupled vehicle. That can make it a little dicey to tow a trailer under some conditions. I drove my XJ up, and it handled the trailers very well. (A little slow on the hills, though, hauling those heavy loads.)

I’m older than the OP, but only physically. I too, prefer “younger” areas. That’s not Birch Bay. But Bellingham is close, and it’s a pretty hip little college town. (Well, it has a college and a few cool spots anyway.) My friend was renting a 2BR house in B’ham two years ago for $700/mo. Housing seems to be getting more expensive there. (Another reason I’m in Birch Bay – a bit over $500/mo on the mortgage. :wink: )