Which U.S. city is the most like Seattle? (Spokane: to buy, college)

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

That's what I'm wondering. Outside of the downtown, Seattle feels rather suburban and residential. San Francisco never quite feels like that except maybe in the sunset district where it happens to also be cloudy 6 out of 7 days.

Yeah once you get outside of downtown/Belltown and immediate area around Capitol Hill, Seattle feels pretty low-key. It's about at the level of inner-neighborhoods of Denver or Portland for the most part until you get further out where it's standard low density suburban development(except for downtown Bellevue). San Francisco is very dense throughout the entire city--even the residential neighborhoods and rowhouse neighborhoods in much of the Sunset are fairly dense.

[JayZ750]

Originally Posted by Xanathos

and even the climate is fairly different in that in truly rains in Portland most of the year, whereas it mostly mists in Seattle.

According to wikipedia, the average annual rainfall for Portland is 37.5 inches, and the average annual rainfall for Seattle is 37.1 inches.

The city data graphs for each city do show Seattle as getting slightly less rainfall on average than Portland. Alternatively, Portland seems to have less snowfall and a larger number of sunnier days.

just informational...

[OregonYeti]

Tacoma?

[Anders15]

Originally Posted by Snort

Tacoma.

..aaaand here we go

[OregonYeti]

I didn't read through the whole thread, but I suspect that Tacoma has been suggested already ...

I'm new to the Seattle area, but I moved here from a similar climate. I was in Corvallis OR. I'm used to half the year being dark and drippy. I could list Corvallis' cool places but they are small-town and so while they are really cool, for the most part they are not the same kind of things as here in Lynnwood.

I do know Portland some, and to me there is one notable difference--here in the Seattle area we have Puget Sound, and in Oregon there's nothing comparable. Nothing at all. Oregon has the Columbia Gorge, and while Washington also has that gorge, it's way south of Seattle. Oregon has California nearby, while Washington has BC nearby. I'll take BC because I love to visit there. Well, Washington also has Oregon nearby, and need I say I love to visit there too ...

I do love my new home, even though the climate could use some improvement for half the year. I'm used to that. I don't think there is any place in Oregon or anywhere else that is much like the Seattle area.

[seattlenextyear]

Bellevue

[OregonYeti]

One more thing--in Oregon, the price on the shelf is the price you pay--NO SALES TAX on ANYTHING--in that way, Oregon rocks! I make more $ here in my new job, but it also costs more to live here, so I'm living about the same as I was.

[Xanathos]

Originally Posted by OregonYeti

One more thing--in Oregon, the price on the shelf is the price you pay--NO SALES TAX on ANYTHING--in that way, Oregon rocks! I make more $ here in my new job, but it also costs more to live here, so I'm living about the same as I was.

In Oregon, you give up to 11% of your pre-tax earnings to the state via income tax. I'd rather pay 9.5% of what I spend than 11% of what I make.

Oregon's system is great for consumerists who spend every nickel they have. Washington's system is superior for those of us who actually think having some money in savings is useful.

[OregonYeti]

9.5% vs "up to" 11% pre-tax

I'm glad you know more than I do, so that you can keep me informed.

[Xanathos]

Originally Posted by OregonYeti

9.5% vs "up to" 11% pre-tax

I'm glad you know more than I do, so that you can keep me informed.

Hey, just pointing it out. WHen I lived in Portland, I was giving up 35% of my check to Uncle Sammy, and then Kulongoski and the rest of his cronies took another 11% out of it (incidentally, that's the highest state income tax in the entire country). That's 46% of my paycheck that was gone before Medicare, Social Security and other misc. taxes got taken out of it. By the time it was all said and done, I walked away with, literally, less than half the money I made twice monthly.

So again I say, I would rather pay 9.5% of what I spend rather than 11% of what I earn, because I'm not a net deficit type. I'll never spend more than I have, which means that I'll always earn more than I spend. Therefore, 9.5% of expenditures will always be less than 11% of earnings. Not only that, but most of the goods I purchase, I purchase online - which I get tax-free, regardless. That whole "Hey, look at us - no sales tax!" thing was a lot more impressive back before e-commerce became an option.

This is one of those things that really needs more attention. Oregon wonders why it's economy is doing so much more poorly than Washington's, well, here's a huge start to it.