Seattle (east side) vs. San Antonio (northern)

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by scuba steve

Good to know that there are good Asian places out there. Unfortunately my fiance's idea of trying something new and exciting is going to Panda, but a year ago she wouldn't even think of going there so there's still hope.

Flights to Japan are strange sometimes... for some reason a coworker would always get routed through Detroit and then have to take a domestic flight to get home. Maybe it's one of those corporate cost cutting things. Who knows.

Maybe they've cut back in recent years. last time I flew was 2004, but flew 3-4 trips per year from 2001-2004. This was on Northwest.

[Mililani Gal]

Oh my goodness. Thank you, thank you, thank you. The information is wonderful. My husband was so impressed with the information provided.

We will include this in our ever expanding investigation file. We're visiting SA in July for 10 day to experience the heat and visit all of the various neighborhoods.

Some of our main priorities are an excellent public education system for our 2 young daughters (6 and 3), advantage of in-state tuition for University/Colleges, ability to get in the car and drive for weekend exploration trips, diversity in ethnicities and cultures, less expensive housing options, scenic beauty, and cost of living better than Hawaii.

The comments are very welcome and anyone that has more advice, please jump-in. All comments, good and bad, are appreciated.

[scuba steve]

Originally Posted by Mililani Gal

advantage of in-state tuition for University/Colleges,...

I looked into this about a year ago - my fiance is in college right now. UW would've been somewhat more expensive and harder to get into than public universities in Texas when you're comparing in-state vs. in-state. It's located in a big metro area and there are a lot of people that want to enroll with fewer options around the state, so that should make sense. All around Washington your choices are UW (Seattle), Washington State (Pullman, at the Idaho border), Central WA (Ellensburg - a couple of hours to the east on I-90), Western WA (Bellingham, 90 minutes north), and Eastern WA (Spokane, also along the Idaho border).

UW is nice and a lot of people like WA State - both are very good Div. 1 schools and I would've loved to have completed an MBA at UW. The others are much smaller.

Large Texas universities are TX A&M (College Station), Texas (Austin), and TX Tech (Lubbock), and TX State (San Marcos). Three of these four schools are within 3 hours of San Antonio, and all are Div. 1 except for TX State. Like UW and WA State, they also rank nationally. Locally there is UTSA which I think has an enrollment in the low/mid 20,000s. There seem to be too many Eastern, Western, and Central WA-sized schools in Texas for me to mention.

Community colleges are about the same between both places. She has experience with them in both cities, between Green River CC (Auburn, WA), Northwest Vista CC (San Antonio) and San Antonio CC.

[lemonfresh]

UTSA has an enrollment of just over 28,000.

[LiveUrban]

I would choose Seattle...

A much cleaner and efficient city. Better schools too.

[tmazzei]

I can second just about everything Scuba Steve said about both places. I like the sun in the winter in SA, but the summers here are brutally hot here compared to the NW.

Also, if you move to the Issaquah area and try to commute to UW (across Lake Washington), you'll be dealing with some major traffic. Our first apartment in the NW was near Issaquah -- DH worked south in Kent and I worked north in Kirkland -- and both of us would get home at night ready to strangle someone. When I found a job where I could telecommute, we moved to Whidbey Island and DH got a job in Anacortes and we moved away from the traffic. Whidbey, btw, is about the most beautiful place I've ever seen! But the cost of living is still super high.

[Mililani Gal]

The information being provided has just been awesome. Thank you.

We realize the two areas are very different, that is why it is difficult to decide between the two areas.

We're not sure where we would end up working but I do understand that it would be brutal to work in Seattle and live on the Eastside. We may not settle in Issaquah, it's just what we're looking at right now in terms of home affordability and schools. Even if we rent, because of our girls, we'll need to determine school districts before renting so that if we decide to buy we would put down roots in the same school district.

The other concern is that in San Antonio there are enrollment caps for schools. So, if we move to a certain area because of the schools, and the school is capped, our child would be assigned to another school, which may not be as good. According to my sister there is no such thing in "Seattle." We are aware of redistricting, but, we hope to stay well within district lines to avoid being "cut-out" of our chosen school district.

The cost of housing in San Antonio is just so appealing. The biggest unknown is what kind of pay can we get. For example, my research is showing that my pay in SA may drop 30%-40% but my daycare/preschool costs are going to be about $100 more a month. Our current grocery bills would be about the same as SA because my dad takes us to the military commissary. Hawaii law requires employers to pay for healthcare insurance if you work 20 hours of more, so we've got healthcare. We've come to realize that on the continental U.S. not all businesses provide healthcare coverage to their employees, even if they are full-time. I am the type of person that asks a lot of questions and does a lot of research before diving into important decisions, so I am grateful for this forum.

Again, thank you for all of the information about both areas. There is no better information than from those people who have lived in the areas being considered.

If anyone else wants to add their 2cents, feel free, all information is welcome!