Seattle vs. Boston (crime, assessment, stats)

[dricardi]

Any advice for someone looking to do the opposite? I've lived in the city of Boston for 7 years and grew up in a neighboring suburb. I am contemplating making a move and am seriously considering Seattle. From the comments I've read above, if you like one you'd like the other.

[1979]

Both have a lot of rain. Seattle much less snow.

[mike38rc]

I lived in Seattle for five years, 1995-2000, I now live in Boston. The cities are completely different. Seattle is much newer and cleaner. Seattle has wide straight streets, lots of concrete and it's very hilly. I lived on Capital Hill and found biking to be nearly impossible because of the hills. Boston is mostly flat with many biking options. Seattle and Boston are both very walkable cities however. There were two things that made me want to move from Seattle, the traffic and the weather. Seattle traffic is like pre-Big Dig Boston, it is awful. If you work in Seattle make sure you live in Seattle, if you work on the Eastside live there or you will get very frustrated. There are few public transportation options as the buses are stuck in the same traffic as the cars. The weather is an acquired taste, I never liked it. While it's much milder in the winter it is way too gray for me. Months on end of GRAY, and the summers are too cool. I thought of Seattle as a two season city, spring and fall. Boston is a four season city, but the winters are longer than the summers. Boston is also much more sunny and bright. The only thing these cities have in common IMO is that they're both on Interstate 90. I prefer Boston but I'm sure there are many who would disagree.

[lone traveler]

Originally Posted by Billiam98

You know what? You are fortunate that you are moving to the northeast. Sure, NYC and Philadelphia are really crowded and congested. But, Boston is a totally different city. I've been there and have relatives that live there and everyone I knows loves it. It is a little bit smaller than Seattle, and has about the same population density (about). A guy posted something way above me about saying this city has high crime and could be dangerous... no WAY. this city is as safe as can be. Seattle has the same amount of crime. Just remember that in any city you go to you can't be looking up at the skyscrapers and fiddling around, you can't act like a tourist or you will get jumped. Trust me, I used to live in San Francisco, CA. Crap like that happens all the time. SF is a far less-safe city along with all the other California cities. I reccommend that you move to Boston. It is a pretty and nice city with a lot of interesting history!

San francisco has a lower crime rate than boston for the last 10 years, we are on city-data.com check out the stats for yourself if you dont believe me

[mm57dot]

San Francisco and Boston are two of the smallest big cities in the country, both are 48 square miles in area. The difference is that San Francisco is far wealthier than Boston per capita, hence the crime stats. Boston is much more diverse in terms of class and race.

[meltinjohn]

Originally Posted by dricardi

Any advice for someone looking to do the opposite? I've lived in the city of Boston for 7 years and grew up in a neighboring suburb. I am contemplating making a move and am seriously considering Seattle. From the comments I've read above, if you like one you'd like the other.

My advice to you is go to Portland. Im from Boston area but went to Portland and was blown at the similarities it holds to Boston only more pot friendly and more bums I find and Old town is like a north end with no italian restaurants lol.

[meltinjohn]

Originally Posted by lone traveler

San francisco has a lower crime rate than boston for the last 10 years, we are on city-data.com check out the stats for yourself if you dont believe me

Arent the bums there the most in the country tho?
I hear it even tops Portland and speaking of which, Im shocked Portland hasnt been mentioned but SF has lol.

[vette-dude]

Originally Posted by dricardi

Any advice for someone looking to do the opposite? I've lived in the city of Boston for 7 years and grew up in a neighboring suburb. I am contemplating making a move and am seriously considering Seattle. From the comments I've read above, if you like one you'd like the other.

Yes, they are similar in alot of ways..but yes the winters in Boston are much colder than the Pacific Northwest, Seattle surely receives it's share and then sum of liquid sun, or as most call it rain...but snow is very rare in large quantity..the snow hits more in the eastern part of the state of Washington , such as Spokane..

There is a good number of threads of Seattle and it's beautiful scenery., oh don't forget your umbrella...

[russovr]

I moved from Boston (where I lived for 27 yrs) to Seattle two years ago. The difference is like night and day. I call Boston the "anti-Seattle". If you like people with "edge", then you will like Boston. Seattle is vanilla and Boston is Rocky Road.

Originally Posted by *hinalea*

How does Boston compare to Seattle?

Up until about 6 months ago I lived in Seattle and I loved it! My fiance and I moved to the Phoenix area (which I absolutely hate...it is way too suburban) so that he could go to school. When he finishes (September '07) we are moving. His job will probably require us to move to the Northeast so I am researching cities.

I loved Seattle...so if anyone else loves Seattle tell me what you think Boston is like in comparison!

Mahalo!

[gotigers123]

Originally Posted by MMfromBOS

San Francisco and Boston are two of the smallest big cities in the country, both are 48 square miles in area. The difference is that San Francisco is far wealthier than Boston per capita, hence the crime stats. Boston is much more diverse in terms of class and race.

Boston's definitely not any more diverse than SF. In fact, I'd argue the opposite.

SF:
White 45
Asian 33
Hispanic 14 (MUCH larger in reality)
Black 7

Boston:
White 50
Black 25
Hispanic 16
Asian 9