26 y/o who prefers suburban/rural life moving from NYC. Where to settle?

[Blondebaerde]

Originally Posted by Zima1349

Thank you all for the replies. The more I think about it, the more it seems like I should focus on getting a job that's NOT in downtown Seattle, but in the surrounding area somewhere. Even Bellevue would be a great alternative - it sounds like there are plenty of places that are very nice and quiet, but still within reasonable commute distance.

Despite the traffic and apparent presence of the stereotypical corporate types, I'm still convinced that it's a whole different world from New York, and would be a great fit.

I hired a guy out of Iselin NJ back in 2006. Fired him two years later, but he's still around somewhere I'm reasonably sure. He seemed happy with his family out here and away from that disaster zone. Other than the "fired" part.

I am one of the stereotypical corporate types, if that is a euphemism for "person working in a professional capacity who is interested in upward mobility, a pleasant middle class lifestyle, and desiring the usual amenities and services that go along-with." At a cost, of course.

My first reaction, contrary to others, was Kirkland since you'll probably end up working at Microsoft some way or another, if not directly then for one of the very many vendor firms. Kirkland is definitely suburbia, but contains many or most of the amenities desired. If you can bear the cost, which is non-trivial.

I see little way of combining the following into the same location, greater Seattle metro: kicked back and rural/reasonable commute/access to areas of employment. Ten years ago, answer used to be "Duvall" but as others mention, that's now a challenging commute to and from Eastside. I wouldn't try commuting North Bend to Eastside or Seattle, due to the sheer distance, but people of sufficient will do so.

[sll3454]

My brother used to live in North Bend. He saw Mt Si from one side of his house and Rainier (I think) from another.

[sll3454]

Originally Posted by Zima1349

Thank you all for the replies. The more I think about it, the more it seems like I should focus on getting a job that's NOT in downtown Seattle, but in the surrounding area somewhere.

This definitely would open up more possibilities.

[Kalex]

Thinking about it more, take into consideration that the farther out you go, the less liberal and more provincial the world will be. Coming from NYC, much of King County will seem extremely rural. There are not tons of places where you can be very rural and keep the progressive attitude that King County is known for. I don't know if that's exactly what you're looking for, but I grew up in the boonies and came here escaping from that mindset.

I spent an enormous amount of time in Kirkland over this past year and would recommend against it if you're looking for more "country" and less snobby. Kirkland had the highest percentage of snobby types by a landslide outside of Seattle. It's a great little town and I enjoyed my zillion hours waiting for my daughter, but for rural that's not where I'd go.

I lived in NYC for 5 years and can't think of many comparisons, aside from the volume of jobs and variety of things to do. They are wildly different places.

[Kalex]

Originally Posted by AGRusco

Where in issaquah area do you live? thanks!

we live off May Valley Road, between 900 and Issaquah-Hobart. Issaquah address and schools, unincorporated King County, yesterday I was in South Lake Union in 25 minutes. It's not for everyone but is very very laid back with un-snotty people and quiet. The bears did come through yesterday and clean out everyone's garbage though