Will I Be Able to Afford to Live near Seattle? (Issaquah: houses, buy)

[carroll4628]

Originally Posted by ncrunner77

Have you considered lower cost up-and-coming tech-centric metros? I would say "hubs" but some aren't there yet -despite what city boosters claim/advertise. We considered Seattle for about 1 minute before reality set in and we concluded we couldn't swing the housing costs while still enjoying life. We (family of 4) ended up in Raleigh, NC area and love it! Much better income:housing cost ratio. We actually have money to save and have fun with = freedom. We plan to just visit Seattle instead....yes, think it's becoming that kind of place.

This. Why not look at Austin (even Dallas), somewhere with a low COL to start out. You definitely would be able to live on one income.

Yes, there are tech families with a SAHP all over the eastside making due (the younger ones mostly living in apartments or renting townhomes). Lower cost housing can be found in Duvall, Carnation, Fall City. The houses are just so expensive here. People do it, but if you're willing to be financially disciplined, you can make it work.

[leastprime]

Glassdoor is your friend.
Seattle will have beginning pay of about -25% to -30% of Bay area, accounting for no income tax in Washington and lower housing costs. The difference may be disappearing- you will need to check.

Never let anyone steal your hopes and dreams.


YMMV GL

[leastprime]

Tao of Clams
Clams will go and grow where food and living conditions are good.

For you, people will move to where they think they can be happy with a job. Housing will be secondary.

I imagine that you will eventually do what everyone else does-Rely on your instincts and make it happen. Isn't America Great?
Easy to get jobs typically don't pay well. It's OK until you get some experience, then people either get promoted/raises or move to green pastures.

Have a portfolio of work, preferably outside interests and some CS projects from school and for experience. Build networks and contact alumni in locale.

Extroverts win more frequently in my experience.

[Ira500]

The "near Seattle" part can be far less expensive than the "in" Seattle part. Yes, seattle has expensive suburbs, especially on the east side, but south and north of seattle it is considerably less expensive. In the north, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, everett, etc. are much less pricey than Seattle, and in the south, Renton, Tukwila, Kent, and Burien are less costly.

[mhays25]

Unless you don't need a car, in which case things even out.

The typical new 300-unit luxury highrise apartment in Seattle has 200 or 250 parking spaces. The typical 40-unit micro has 0 to 20. Lots of people don't have cars here. And that's a big part of how people afford local rents.

[KonaldDuth]

Originally Posted by mbpharoh

Do you know what entry level product development managers make (marketing side) in Seattle? Sorry to thread jack

Every profession has a lot of variance in income, depending on what company employs them, how much experience they have, where they live, etc. For example, some doctors make over $1,000,000/yr and some make "only" $120k/yr. As a general rule, professionals in Seattle get paid on the higher end of the spectrum due to the fact that there are many lucrative companies here. The main determiner of your income is going to be your ability to get hired by a lucrative company.

[cmswazey]

300k a year? No. But probably at least 110k, at the VERY least.

[harrishawke]

Originally Posted by KonaldDuth

It depends on whether your husband is the type of C.S. graduate who can get a $100k+ job right out of undergrad school. The companies that have such level-1 $100k+ software engineering jobs are the ones you've heard of (Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, etc.) and are very competitive to get hired by since they have thousands of applicants for every open position. If he can't get hired by one of the big ones, then there are plenty of consolation prize tech jobs. For instance, he might be able to get hired as a support engineer at Amazon for $75k or work for one of the bogus contracting firms that orbit Microsoft (they have names like Wicresoft, Chinasoft, etc.) for as low as $12/hr.

If you want to raise a family in Seattle Proper, you'll need a household income of $300k or more.

What data do you have to back this up? I thought that sounded about right, but other city-data people living in Seattle are saying the median income is 75k and their easily able to raise a family with just 125k annual income.

[flyingsaucermom]

Originally Posted by harrishawke

What data do you have to back this up? I thought that sounded about right, but other city-data people living in Seattle are saying the median income is 75k and their easily able to raise a family with just 125k annual income.

It's subjective and it depends on one's tolerance and lifestyle. $300k is not a typical household income even for Seattle. It's definitely on the higher end.

Check this out. It's for Issaquah (considered a "nice" suburb of Seattle).

[url]http://www.city-data.com/city/Issaquah-Washington.html[/url]

[harrishawke]

I would suggest your husband get a job offer in hand before you make the plunge. Much anecdotal evidence that CS grads are "a dime a dozen" in Seattle. The ones lacking in job experience are going to get preferential treatment if their degree is from UW.

Whats wrong with the Minneapolis/St Paul region? All the data points I've seen point to great wealth accumulation vs a "keep up with the Jones" rat race that is Seattle.