*Very* quiet places to live near Seattle/Bellevue?

[Xanathos]

It's not as hard as people here are making it out to be.

If you can afford it, Mercer Island (especially the South side) is like a tomb at night. Sammamish away from 90 is also very quiet. Most of Newcastle is very sleepy and has no noise to speak of. Same story with Clyde Hill and Medina.

The trade-off here is, of course, that I just listed the 5 most expensive places in the region. If you can't afford that (and at $1,500 a month, you can't - hell, you can't afford a single family home in the ghetto for that), I'd recommend one of those noise-making clocks that does ocean wave or rain noises. Or find a quiet roommate or somebody renting out their mother-in-law home attachment.

[Haakon]

Since you're into software you've probably heard "you can have it fast, cheap, or good - pick 2". All of the things you want aren't compatible. If you aren't going to find Bellevue/Redmond, cheap and quiet and short commute in one package. You could find a place around Carnation or Black Diamond that would be very quiet and in your $1,500 price range, but you'll have a long commute. Or somewhere in Bellevue that can be very quiet and a reasonable commute but it won't be anywhere near $1,500.

If your hard requirements are $1,000-1,500 / month and very quiet you might as well cross off Seattle/Bellevue/Redmond and prepare yourself for an hour, or more, long commute, or even better find a job that allows telecommuting.

At my house it's quiet enough that at night that sometimes I can just hear a train whistle that's almost 10 miles away and during the day routinely measure the ambient sound at 25 db (it's 60+ db in my office in Bellevue), tree frogs are usually the loudest thing out here, but I have an hour long commute. You can find nature and quiet, but you'll probably have to travel for it.

[Tac-Sea]

No such thing in this area, even in the mountains. And you will not find anything within commuting distance at that price except places in bad neighborhoods with loud neighbors. Heck, I live in an upscale neighborhood of expensive houses and my neighbors and their kids are loud as f.

[MehAboutDenver]

I'm sorry but you should rethink your move if you need quiet. I live in a small town on the east side and it's the loudest place I've ever lived and I used to live in downtown Denver. It is very populated here and even though we currently live in Bothell, my husband's commute to Redmond can be up to an hour on a crap day. Issaquah, Woodinville and Redmond are all very populated. You won't escape traffic noise unless you can afford to live two hours away near the mountains.