Spokane Area Neighborhoods (West Valley: renters, home, public schools)

[LesserSeneca]

Originally Posted by jrt1979

In the 20 years that I've lived off and on in Spokane, I've had probably about 20 vehicle break-ins and I've had 2 vehicles flat out stolen.

Holy crap! That's a lot. I guess that makes up for my living in Spokane off and on for over 35 years and never had a vehicle break in or theft. All of those years on the north side too.

[LesserSeneca]

Originally Posted by jrt1979

Retail and hospitality are Spokane's biggest industries.

notable Spokane industries are healthcare, Auto sales, and education.

Healthcare accounts for over 11,000 jobs in the Spokane area. And that's only counting full time jobs.


https://advantagespokane.com/major-employers-continued/


I'm not sure retail gets counted as high since a lot of those jobs are only part-time.

[jrt1979]

Originally Posted by LesserSeneca

Holy crap! That's a lot. I guess that makes up for my living in Spokane off and on for over 35 years and never had a vehicle break in or theft. All of those years on the north side too.

A lot of it has to do with what you drive and where you park (on the street, apartment, garage etc). You probably drive a vehicle that doesn't look appealing to thieves or you park in a garage if you've never woke up to a broken window on the north side. My wife has never had a vehicle broken into either, so I know it's possible. I've always driven trucks with toolboxes or work vans. These types of vehicles are absolute beacons for tweakers because they assume their are things of value inside that can easily be sold.

Toolbox/work van=tools=pawnshop=money=more dope.

Another factor is your hobbies. I do a ton of fishing and trail riding. Being that I live in a nice area these days, most of the break ins I've experienced in the last 10 years have been while I was parked in secluded areas doing outdoors stuff.

Spokane has a crazy drug problem for sure. I've lived and worked in Seattle, Portland, Atlanta, Dallas, Tucson, and San Jose. Outside of a few hardcore ghettos in Atlanta and Dallas, Spokane without any doubt has a worse problem with theft than any of those cities.

[jrt1979]

Originally Posted by LesserSeneca

Healthcare accounts for over 11,000 jobs in the Spokane area. And that's only counting full time jobs.


https://advantagespokane.com/major-employers-continued/


I'm not sure retail gets counted as high since a lot of those jobs are only part-time.

I don't know about the full time thing, but overall, retail and hospitality account for the largest section of the job market by a pretty large margin in Spokane. This was actually just in the Inlander a while back. Spokane actually has one of the highest restaurants per-capita in the U.S. as crazy as that sounds.

[LesserSeneca]

Originally Posted by jrt1979

A lot of it has to do with what you drive and where you park (on the street, apartment, garage etc). You probably drive a vehicle that doesn't look appealing to thieves or you park in a garage if you've never woke up to a broken window on the north side. My wife has never had a vehicle broken into either, so I know it's possible. I've always driven trucks with toolboxes or work vans. These types of vehicles are absolute beacons for tweakers because they assume their are things of value inside that can easily be sold.

Toolbox/work van=tools=pawnshop=money=more dope.

Another factor is your hobbies. I do a ton of fishing and trail riding. Being that I live in a nice area these days, most of the break ins I've experienced in the last 10 years have been while I was parked in secluded areas doing outdoors stuff.

Spokane has a crazy drug problem for sure. I've lived and worked in Seattle, Portland, Atlanta, Dallas, Tucson, and San Jose. Outside of a few hardcore ghettos in Atlanta and Dallas, Spokane without any doubt has a worse problem with theft than any of those cities.

I spend a lot time riding my road bike on the centennial trail, but I'm close enough that I just ride my bike to the trail. The only time I park in the actual areas you're talking about is at the Bowl and Pitcher and (now a days) you need a permit to go back there so you're right I'm insulated from much of the danger you were privy to. Yep, trucks with tool boxes are an absolute threat. I lived in Baltimore for 3 years. Have a son with special needs that spent a lot of time at Johns Hopkins. My conlucison is the exact opposite of yours, Baltimore, Biloxo, MS and certain places in SoCal that I lived in were far worse than Spokane when it comes to overall crime. But I certainly get your point about the tweekers, I'm insulated from that I suppose.


Sucks about all your cars and **** getting ripped off though, I feel for ya ma'man.

[LesserSeneca]

Originally Posted by jrt1979

I don't know about the full time thing, but overall, retail and hospitality account for the largest section of the job market by a pretty large margin in Spokane. This was actually just in the Inlander a while back. Spokane actually has one of the highest restaurants per-capita in the U.S. as crazy as that sounds.

I remember that article too, which is why I was careful to add the full-time thing in there. I knew Spokane had a lot of restaurants, but that is also an interesting tidbit about how many we actually have.

[jrt1979]

Originally Posted by LesserSeneca

I spend a lot time riding my road bike on the centennial trail, but I'm close enough that I just ride my bike to the trail. The only time I park in the actual areas you're talking about is at the Bowl and Pitcher and (now a days) you need a permit to go back there so you're right I'm insulated from much of the danger you were privy to. Yep, trucks with tool boxes are an absolute threat. I lived in Baltimore for 3 years. Have a son with special needs that spent a lot of time at Johns Hopkins. My conlucison is the exact opposite of yours, Baltimore, Biloxo, MS and certain places in SoCal that I lived in were far worse than Spokane when it comes to overall crime. But I certainly get your point about the tweekers, I'm insulated from that I suppose.


Sucks about all your cars and **** getting ripped off though, I feel for ya ma'man.

I'm just talking about theft. Spokane isn't even in the same universe as Atlanta or Dallas in regards to violent crime. I couldn't even imagine what Baltimore is like. I lived in Southern CA as a kid, but my parents got us out of there before my sister and I hit jr high. I remember the gang problem being huge in the 80's.

[Yeledaf]

Originally Posted by jrt1979

I'm just talking about theft. Spokane isn't even in the same universe as Atlanta or Dallas in regards to violent crime. I couldn't even imagine what Baltimore is like. I lived in Southern CA as a kid, but my parents got us out of there before my sister and I hit jr high. I remember the gang problem being huge in the 80's.

There are gangs in Spokane, too, up around Harvard Park and the Rockwood and Touchmark neighborhoods on the south side. Most of them are bluehairs, though, and they're really slow on those walkers and motorized wheelchairs. So no worries.

[Boxkicker]

Originally Posted by ChocolateLabs

Spokane biggest employers are healthcare then schools. No tech companies makes me think that there aren't many with college degrees.

28.6% of all adults have a Bachelor's Degree or higher in Spokane County and 23.3% in Kootenai County, ID.

[Boxkicker]

Originally Posted by ChocolateLabs

The overall crime rate in Spokane is 181% higher than the national average.
For every 100,000 people, there are 22 daily crimes that occur in Spokane.
Spokane is safer than 8% of the cities in the United States.
In Spokane you have a 1 in 13 chance of becoming a victim of any crime.
The number of total year over year crimes in Spokane has decreased by 12%.

Why would you want to live here if you are worried about crime?

I have been here almost 2 years and haven't been a victim of crime. I have lived all over the country (career military for 20 years) and this is by far not the worst place I have ever lived in regards to crime.

If you focus on worrying about being a victim, then you will miss alot in life.

If you don't leave things out, don't make yourself a target then you will probably have a better chance of not being a victim.

Could it happen even with precautions? Sure....but you could also be hit by a bus tomorrow (God forbid that doesn't happen).