Relocating family of 5 from South Carolina.

[gingerbreadlatte]

75K a year is very little for a family of 5 but it's doable if you squeeze into a small apartment (maybe 3 bedrooms) and budget at least $2K a month for rental. I'm assuming that you have good medical benefits and do not have to pay extra monthly for that apart from copays and deductibles. Grocery can be bought cheaply if you don't go for fancy stuff. We eat an asian style diet and spend $400 a month on groceries for my family of 6. I'd look in Kirkland (if your husband is working there) or Bothell or even Kenmore for a family friendly place with good schools. You probably won't be able to afford extras for the kids but it's doable.

[noah]

I've been following threads like this as we are in a similar boat. From the northwest and looking to return now that we have a young family (2 kids). Our income (only one of us works right now) is right there with the original poster. Obviously I don't have much local insight other than what I have observed on trips to visit family but a few things as I see them:

Seattle clearly is not cheap, especially for housing but its not D.C or L.A. We live in Atlanta which is known to be a low cost city and it is, but quite frankly housing costs in the city aren't that different than Seattle, especially if I consider suburban areas.

Seattle's job market is strong and the fact that its driven by high paying fields like high tech adds to everything but for example in my field (Accounting) on a weekly basis you see easily 3 times more jobs listed in Atlanta than Seattle and at least for my level the pay is the same. There certainly are jobs but like much of the Northwest it seems there are less than some other major cities around the country.

I have noticed that most posters on City data in both Seattle and Atlanta are high earners and as such sometimes the view of what it takes is slanted.

I assume the OP has older kids, and in any major city it is hard during those years financially for most except the very top earners but if families with half that income find away I am sure they can too.

Buying a house - Maybe I am dead wrong but it would seem possible to buy in not the best but a decent school district for say $300k in some Seattle suburbs, and with say an $80k down payment that is manageable. The price points we would be looking at in Atlanta quite frankly would be no different. Coming from SC as the OP is could be much different though.

Renting a house - It might be a little more suburban for the same money in Seattle but we rent a 1,100 sq ft house now that in today's market would rent for $1,400 here, as a previous poster mentioned $1,500 will get you 1,200sq ft in Greater Seattle. Another thing to keep in mind is that rents have risen drastically but with all the apartment building there are already signs that rents are softening, these things go in cycles.

The OP did say they would eventually be a two income family, which even with a below average second wage would easily put them above $100k.

Please tell me it is possible

[flyingsaucermom]

Originally Posted by noah

Please tell me it is possible

It's possible. I think everyone responding, myself included, said that it is doable, especially when expectations are clearly set. Our collective point was that there just isn't going to be extra cash sitting around.

[CAMama]

Definitely doable. We are on a similar income right now. Have a house, a sailboat, 3 little kids. We "scrimp" on things like cell phone (pay by the minute, works out to about $10 a month) and instead of cable, we have Netflix/Hulu. Our budget has $4000 going to our necessities-- mortgage, taxes, utilities, insurance, health insurance/HSA (we pay for our own), gas food, etc. And then about $1000/month for fun/emergency money (clothes, beauty, repairs, trips, activities, random stuff I buy online and at Target).

We are fortunate though to not have car payments, student loans, enormous medical bills, etc. We only save about $10,000 a year, which definitely isn't enough for college or retirement... or when the kids are older, frankly. However, we aren't panicking or anything because like OP, I will go back to work once my littlest is in school, even if it's just a part time retail job. My husband can also find a higher paying job because now he took a huge paycut to work from home (worth every penny at this stage in our lives, IMO).

Also, we are from Canada (Vancouver), so our outlook is probably opposite from most moving here. The weather is better, everything is 20% cheaper, gas is 50% less. I have been shopping a lot just because I can't resist the low prices. We could probably spend way less if I were to reign it in. I could see how someone might feel more restricted coming from a lower COL area though (I know I did moving from CA to Vancouver).

[Barberfamily]

Thank you to everyone posting! I'm so appreciative of all the insight. Yes the cost of living is way different but I'm comforted knowing the transition can be done. I'm good with being frugal for awhile until I'm able to get a job. I'm definitely going to start looking in the bothell, Duvall, Kirkland, Everett areas. It seems most people consider the northeast part of Seattle area preferable. We move out there May 1. If anyone has any advice with anything don't hold back! Neither my husband or myself have ever even visited the state of Washington so we are flying blind for sure

[NCDavid]

Originally Posted by Barberfamily

Thank you to everyone posting! I'm so appreciative of all the insight. Yes the cost of living is way different but I'm comforted knowing the transition can be done. I'm good with being frugal for awhile until I'm able to get a job. I'm definitely going to start looking in the bothell, Duvall, Kirkland, Everett areas. It seems most people consider the northeast part of Seattle area preferable. We move out there May 1. If anyone has any advice with anything don't hold back! Neither my husband or myself have ever even visited the state of Washington so we are flying blind for sure

Best figure out where you will be working before you settle out here. The Seattle area is quite different from SC and what looks like an easy commute on a map can be a horror in reality. There are no easy commutes in the Seattle area but trying to get between Seattle and the Eastside can be especially bad. Ditto moving north/south in the area. Trying to commute between Kirkland and Everett for instance would be a nightmare to most folks. Even going from Renton to Bellevue or Kirkland can be terrible.
My advice is that it would be prudent to at least visit an area before moving there. The Seattle area and SC are like different countries. Flying blind can lead to a nasty crash.

[west seattle gal]

Charleston is really gorgeous, and the SE is just so much more affordable. I wouldn't advocate moving here unless you really had to for whatever reason.

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by west seattle gal

Charleston is really gorgeous, and the SE is just so much more affordable. I wouldn't advocate moving here unless you really had to for whatever reason.

And the pay is LOWER. It is all relative. What you don't want to be is a low-pay worker in a high-cost area. If you've got the skills to advance, you're better off in a hot job market, even if the COL is higher.

[Iconographer]

I moved here from Georgia last September. Generally I found comparable housing to be about a third again more expensive than Atlanta. My daughter scored a 4BR ( albeit small ) house in suburban Edmonds for $1800 mo. and considered herself VERY lucky.