⭐︎Advice needed for commute from Issaquah to Bremerton (Seattle, Tacoma: neighborhood, university)

[poopskooper]

You're certainly getting some good advice so far.

In keeping with what modc has said, I'm a believer in living as close to work as possible. The less time you spend commuting, the more time you'll have with family. Isn't that more important than sitting in traffic or riding for hours on a bus?

As modc mentioned, the Central Kitsap School District is a good district ...I believe it's the best in Kitsap county. Sure, it isn't in the top ten in the state but some of the schools within the district are excellent. I'd suggest maybe doing some research on the individula schools to perhaps taylor your home search to that particular area in the Silverdale area.

For instance, Central Kitsap High School is highly rated. However, the district as a whole is not quite as high in rankings but still gets a B+ from Niche (Click Here)

If you have a chance, look not only at the Central Kitsap School District website but search for other rating sites to get a better perspective on the district and the schools within the district. Again, it's not one of the best in the state but is certainly not the most undesirable. It's still considered a very good district.

Central Kitsap School District 401

[Hemlock140]

Try Gig Harbor, very close to Bremerton, good schools and affordable. There is a Catholic school near us, tuition is $22,000 plus books and other expenses, for Jr. High and High School. Elementary in Bellevue is $8,600. I wouldn't expect West side private schools to be much less.

[mhays25]

I'm going with the commenter that suggested actually being around your kids is important! School quality is a factor, but I don't buy that it's anywhere near as important as parents being around. Not to mention the financial savings, which can help with education too sooner or later.

[poopskooper]

Originally Posted by poopskooper

You're certainly getting some good advice so far.

In keeping with what modc has said, I'm a believer in living as close to work as possible. The less time you spend commuting, the more time you'll have with family. Isn't that more important than sitting in traffic or riding for hours on a bus?

As modc mentioned, the Central Kitsap School District is a good district ...I believe it's the best in Kitsap county. Sure, it isn't in the top ten in the state but some of the schools within the district are excellent. I'd suggest maybe doing some research on the individula schools to perhaps taylor your home search to that particular area in the Silverdale area.

For instance, Central Kitsap High School is highly rated. However, the district as a whole is not quite as high in rankings but still gets a B+ from Niche (Click Here)

If you have a chance, look not only at the Central Kitsap School District website but search for other rating sites to get a better perspective on the district and the schools within the district. Again, it's not one of the best in the state but is certainly not the most undesirable. It's still considered a very good district.

Central Kitsap School District 401

Sorry for the homophonic error (?) in my last post ..."taylor" ?? lol --I won't blame it on my attending a poor school district but just being in a hurry and not proofreading.

At any rate, I happened to run into quite a few reports of awards given to several of the Central Kitsap secondary schools as I was browsing the internet on a related matter such as this one, for example, from five years ago announcing that both Central Kitsap High School and Klahowya Secondary School (KSS is a 6-12 combined middle and high school) made the list of the America’s Best High Schools published by DC-based The Washington Post.

Central Kitsap schools nationally ranked

[Cafemoca]

modec, poopskooper, Hemlock140, and mheys25, thank you very much for giving me your thoughts on kids' school. I looked at the link that poopskooper noted and learned that Central Kitsap school district is actually very good! I am seriously going to look at the houses around Silverdale area.

I do agree with all of you that spending more time with kids is way more important than commuting long hours and becoming tired all the time. I am so glad that I asked people who live in Washington state on this.

Thank you for taking your time to look up schools and writing a very informative details!!!

[modc]

Great- I hope it works out for you!

i also wanted to add that an earlier poster said Catholic secondary schools were around 22k per year.

Whoa, I had no idea they were that expensive. I only knew about elementary schools and didn't realize the cost went up so much for jr high and high school. Would not have recommended that as a cheaper alternative to other private schools if I had known.

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by Cafemoca

Thank you everyone for replying! I truly appreciate your answers and opinions. Thank you for giving me a detailed commute info from Issaquah to Bremerton. It seems that both options are costly and the commute time is very long...

I appreciate your honest input and warning on this commute. I now start to realize it is too far to commute on a daily basis. I have heard that traffic in Seattle is terrible, but I was hoping I would get optimistic reply from people who lives in Seattle.

One of the reasons I picked Issaquah to live was mainly for our school age kids. I searched up good public schools in Kitsap Peninsula but no luck. I also looked up schools rated 8, 9 and 10 out of 10 on the Greatschool.com. The places with good schools were found in Ballard area, Mercer island, Bellevue area, Bainbridge Island and Issaquah area. I am also curious what University Place is like in terms of people, housing and school wise.

Do you have any suggestions where would be possible to commute from local people's point of view?!
Thanks!

Don't rely on just Greatschools rankings. I say "rankings" because GS' rankings here are 100% based on test scores, which are heavily correlated with family income. Check real "ratings" by Niche, SchoolDigger, USNews, etc., that rely on more than just test score.

Also note that the Opt-Out Movement is very big here, whereby parents are opting out their kids from taking of state-mandated tests, with their kids scoring zero - as many as 80-90% of juniors at some schools have opted out.

Newport HS in Bellevue, for instance, which is rated by USNews as the #2 high school in the whole state, is ranked by Greatschools as a "2".

Bainbridge HS is rated #5 in the state by USNews, and is awarded a "gold medal". Bainbridge Island is within somewhat reasonable commuting distance of Bremerton, although it is more expensive than elsewhere in Kitsap. 72% are taking AP courses.

Klahowya Secondary in Silverdale is rated #30 in the state, and awarded a "Silver Medal" as a "high performing school with lower college readiness". 52% are taking AP courses.

North Kitsap HS in Poulsbo is rated as #54 in the state by USNews, which awards it a "Silver Award" - 30% are taking AP courses.

Also, don't overlook Running Start, which allows students to earn college credits while in high school at Olympic (Community) College, with campuses in Bremerton, Poulsbo, and Shelton.

Running Start | Olympic College

[ChloeC]

Originally Posted by Cafemoca

Thank you everyone for replying! I truly appreciate your answers and opinions. Thank you for giving me a detailed commute info from Issaquah to Bremerton. It seems that both options are costly and the commute time is very long...

I appreciate your honest input and warning on this commute. I now start to realize it is too far to commute on a daily basis. I have heard that traffic in Seattle is terrible, but I was hoping I would get optimistic reply from people who lives in Seattle.

Issaquah to Bremerton?

Like someone else said... are you telling me I can die by hanging or by pills?

Yuck.

I have what I consider to be an easy commute from Renton to Seattle and it's 35 mins one way for the 24 mile trip in the morning... 45-60 mins in the afternoon. I also work a part time evening job at Amazon in Bellevue... and the ONLY reason I took the job was because it's 12:30am - 5:30am and 405 is clear and not the usual parking lot. It allows me to get home or to Seattle for my day job with relative ease.

Anyway, you'd be right... your commute isn't realistic. You'll be ready to jump off a bridge inside of 2 weeks.

[Cafemoca]

Thank you everyone! I did start to look at other website like Niche and school digger.com. Now I know why some of the schools in Bellevue area was rated low while many websites mentioned those schools as excellent schools. Thank you CrazyDonky for telling me that fact that some students are opted out for taking the state mandated tests.

I start to search housing and shops around Silverdale area, but the city seems not attractive to live in. For instance, I found so many negative reviews about shopping mall in SIlverdale. ( They say many stores are closing down... not much selections )

If there are choice, I want to research and consider all possible areas I could live to commute to Bremerton. Then, I want to finalize my decision.
Which area will be still commutable to Bremerton? Would you please tell me the realistic time for each way? (car, bus, and ferry,)

Bainbridge to Bremerton.
University Place to Bremerton
Ballard to Bremerton (Can you go even north?)
(Bellevue or Renton still Issaquah district are too far commute right?!)

or any other places I am missing?

[prosin]

Originally Posted by Cafemoca

I start to search housing and shops around Silverdale area, but the city seems not attractive to live in. For instance, I found so many negative reviews about shopping mall in SIlverdale. ( They say many stores are closing down... not much selections )

Silverdale is not the most exciting place; it is suburbia. But sounds like the information about the mall is outdated. A huge new Dick's Sporting Goods is opening in the fall, and they've done a bunch of improvements. H & M opened a large store last year. Victoria's Secret expanded and built a new Pink store, so they must have faith that the mall is improving. Here is a new directory: https://www.shopkitsapmall.com/sites.../KitsapMap.pdf

A huge new retail development called The Trails is still in the process of being built out: The Trails at Silverdale

Silverdale does have a small, cute Old Town with a nice waterfront park. It also has fairly new large YMCA that's worth checking out, too.

Some Web sites for information regarding the area:

Visit Kitsap: Welcome to the Kitsap Peninsula, Washington*Visit Kitsap Peninsula
North Kitsap Trails: North Kitsap Trails Association
County Parks: Kitsap County Parks Department
Silverdale COC: Silverdale Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center
Poulsbo COC: Home - Poulsbo Chamber of Commerce

Originally Posted by Cafemoca

If there are choice, I want to research and consider all possible areas I could live to commute to Bremerton. Then, I want to finalize my decision.
Which area will be still commutable to Bremerton? Would you please tell me the realistic time for each way? (car, bus, and ferry,)

Bainbridge to Bremerton.
University Place to Bremerton
Ballard to Bremerton (Can you go even north?)
(Bellevue or Renton still Issaquah district are too far commute right?!)

or any other places I am missing?

Bainbridge is a large island; how long it will take you to commute will depend on which part of the island you live. Only one bridge exists from the island to the Kitsap Peninsula, the Agate Pass Bridge. The bridge is at the north end of the island, so you would still have to drive through Poulsbo and Silverdale to get to Bremerton. For example, living in Seabold (community on the north end of the island), the drive time to downtown Bremerton would be about 45-55 minutes. However, living in Lynwood Center (at the south end), driving might take about 75-85 minutes, especially given ferry traffic on Hwy. 305. Kitsap Transit does have buses that run, but you would have to check with their Web site for further info.

I can't speak to the other locations as I don't live on that side of the water.

By chance, is this an opportunity at PSNS? If so, they have a Worker/Driver bus program through Kitsap Transit that runs all over Kitsap County and beyond. I highly recommend it, as parking around the shipyard is difficult.