So tell me about Covington... (Seattle, Bellevue: crime rate, houses, school district)

[VeronikaW]

I've been sort of enchanted by Covington since 4th of July, when we saw that the people there really get into the holiday. Plus it has this sort of almost skanky, but almost nice, 80s community vibe that I dig.

So, I'm wondering, what's crime like? Is it considered a good or bad area? What are the schools like? How's the commute from there to downtown?

Thanks!

V. =)

[Ira500]

Covington? It's not bad, but...a place to be enchanted by? I loved that description " almost skanky, almost nice"...
Anyway, commute can be brutal and traffic can be awful. Schools are part of the Kent School District, nothing to write home about.
Crime? I just did a little research, and the results are interesting. They break it down into personal crime and property crime, and how many incidents of each per thousand of population.
Seattle has 7 in personal and 76 in property, Mercer Island has 0 personal and 21 property, Bellevue has 2 personal and 41 property, Issaquah has 1 personal and 86 property, Maple Valley has 1 personal and 24 property, Kent has 6 personal and 73 property, and Covington has 3 personal and 43 property.

My immediate thinking is: if I wanted to live in that area I'd strongly lean toward Maple Valley, or at least in the Tahoma ( Maple Valley) school district. It's a much better school district than Kent's, and the crime rate is less.

[VeronikaW]

Thanks, Ira. I wish I could rep you more. You always have the best answers. It does seem a bit skanky in Covington. Sort of like parts of Huntington Beach (well, most of inland Huntington Beach) back home. I don't think I'd ever sell my husband on a commute from anywhere near there, but it's interesting to find out about places.

Thanks for the school district info, that's a major concern.

V. =)

[Ira500]

Not that there's anything wrong with skanky...
About schools, one tool is the WA Report card:
Washington State Report Card

I know that test scores aren't everything, and not everything can be gathered from numbers, but looking at the numbers you could see why a parent would prefer to send their kid to a Mercer Island school instead of a Tukwila school. ...
And it does tend to be the better the school district the more expensive the houses, but not always.
Some parts of Seattle have bad schools and high home prices, and some parts of the Maple valley area have great schools and lower home prices.

[VeronikaW]

Thanks, Ira. After our visit home last week, staying in WA looks a bit better (lots of family drama back in the OC).

V. =)