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I'd prefer Spokane. Really nice setting. Great city and metro. Tacoma is just too close to Seattle and its negative aspects for my liking. Just a personal thing. Plus I prefer Spokane's climate and sunnier sky's to Tacoma's cloudy, wet, cooler climate.
Housing, amenities, downtown, quality of restaurants and shopping, climate? I hope you will weigh in!
Housing - Probably Spokane wins here especially for the cost
Amenities - Tacoma especially when you consider Seatac and everything available in the Sound
Downtown - Close but I prefer Tacoma
Restaurants - Tacoma especially when you consider nearby areas
Shopping - Spokane wins this unless you count the areas surrounding Tacoma in which case, Tacoma wins
Climate - Tacoma is more moderate but the lack of sun for me personally gives Spokane an edge here
To me, the access to so much in Tacoma and a world airport nearby gives it the win for me.
It's not a large metropolis, but it holds its own as a mid-size city. Clean, nice parks, plenty of entertainment for its size. It's in the transition area between high desert and the Coeur d'Alene Mountains. Lake Coeur d'Alene (.5 hr away) is just beautiful.
Spokane is indeed the largest metro between Seattle and Minneapolis, excluding Boise, but that is on a different west-east plain.
The city has some fantastic neighborhoods, mostly on the "South Hill". The eastern suburbs "Spokane Valley", have been exploding in growth. What were once open areas east of Spokane to the Idaho border are now filling in so quickly that there is little open land remaining.
All that said, I am not a huge fan of Spokane. I don't care for the chilly, snowy, grey climate. And there are certainly some sketchy areas of town.
At the end of the day, however, Spokane is a major MSA in Washington State and should be noted as such.
My vote goes for Tacoma.
Even if we're just comparing cities and not metros, Tacoma offers more IMO. The COL is higher in Tacoma but still relatively affordable for being on the west coast. Decent nightlife, beaches, parks, a large part is walkable, bike friendly, and it has a community feeling of a small town while still offering urban amenities. You're closer to PDX and Vancouver if you want a weekend getaway, as well as the coast, and California. The art scene is very alive in Tacoma and the city is building rapidly in many different neighborhoods, making it feel more urban by the day. Also the weather is much more mild year round.
To me it's easy but I may be biased because I'm from Tacoma. I think it's extremely underrated.
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