Best area to move to - Pasco? Or Kennewick? (Yakima: apartments, for rent)

[mzkttee]

My family is relocating to the area (will be working in Pasco), and I'm wondering what the area is like. Kennewick seems to have really inexpensive rent, but it is a nasty place to live?? From what I've seen so far, West Pasco is a good area, but what about the rest of Pasco? I'd prefer not to have to move twice, once we get there and see what the area is like. Any recommendations? (As for rent, I'd prefer to keep it around $850.)

[GameHog9]

I live in Pasco

The West side is very nice, generally Road 40-ish and up.

The East side, however... you will hear people say that it is a rathole (particularly people on this board)

I have seen comments saying that it is a gang infested, crime-centered, ghetto. All of that is just bull.

First of all, the so called "gang" problem is nul. There are no real gangs here (especially if youre coming from Cal)

Secondly, the whole crime thing is a myth. Living here in the East Side, I can honestly tell you that the worst thing that happens is egg tossing and tagging.

And thirdly, if youve ever been to NYC, LA, or even Yakima, youll recognize that it is no where near the true description of a ghetto. The poeple that call it that are sitting on 700K homes and have never been to the Bronx (Like I have).

They say the same about East Kennewick. Now, I'm not saying to run ove to this side and buy a house, Im just letting out my frustrations.

Anyways, Ken is bigger, but both are fine. The shopping doesnt matter since Everyone goes to Columbia Center on Ken anyways for all their major needs. If you live in Pasco, then you would use Rd 68 more, which offers Wal-Mart, Sonic, Lowes, etc. Pretty standard Suburbia stuff.

As for homes, here on the east side in Pasco, it is 100k, and the father West you go, it generally turns into 250-300k homes. Not very expensive (Im assuming Ken isnt all that diferent). It really does depend on where you buy a house. If you do decide to buy in Pasco though, I do recommend the 36-44 area. Nice, calm, quiet. The only downside is that the airport is next door. Or you could look at 100. In Kennewick, the hotspot is the Southridge area (on 395), which is also a buisness/shopping center, so that a nice treat.

The reason I know all this is because I work in carpet, so Ive been all over the place.

If you need anymore info, PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO ASK
(Sorry, I just had a caramel smoothie from Sonic)

[Moon Waffle]

For the most part I will echo GameHog's comments.

A good general rule is that the further east you go (in BOTH cities), the "less desirable" the living becomes. However, even at its "worst" the Tri-Cities is MILES ahead of most areas in the country in terms of quality of life. The furthest reaches of East Pasco are still FAR better than many other places/cities I've lived in.

The further West, the more expensive. West Pasco is practically all new in the past 5 years. West Kennewick has the retail center (mall, most restaurants, etc.)

[mustang34]

Parts of West Pasco are cheaper than Game Hog said. Rd. 68 has a lot of starter homes for about 130,000 and up. And lately there are some nice apartments, but I have no idea on the price. Far East Pasco are the newest areas, also starters and some nicer homes, but pretty far from most things in the other cities.

[kennewickkayla]

kennewick is the bomb! it has all the shopping and good schools. it has very affordable homes and lots of different neighborhood choices. we love our home that may be considered "east kennewick". our home was built in '62 and has way more options and charm than any new home that was quickly and cheaply slapped together like those you will find in west pasco. we have nice big trees in our yard too..this is why we will never consider a new home.

[GameHog9]

^ Id really like to see more diversity here.

So far its just Hispanic, Russian, and Germanic. I really do despise that "stare" people comment on (I see more often in Richland).

Really, I guess people stare here because they are not used to seeing diversity,therefore, "Look! ASIAN!! You don't see one of those everyday..."

Kennewick gal is right though, East Side Ken has lots of trees, something not so common on this side of the river (They really should plant trees on the freeways).

[Moon Waffle]

^I think your assumptions are incorrect. I've lived in Tri-Cities for a good portion of my life, and grew up here. The "Tri-Cities Stare" is a common thing, but I don't think (generally speaking) that it has anything to do with race. I'm sure there are exceptions, but I think for the most part people here just stare, and that's all there is to it. I notice the same thing and I am white. "Why are you staring at me!?!?!" I find it to be the most amusing when I'm passing someone on the freeway and they just STARE at me from inside their car. Very, very strange.

[M3 Mitch]

If you are going to work in Pasco, you might as well live in Pasco. Any part of Kennewick you name, you can find a similar enough part of Pasco that's pretty much identical.

What no one has mentioned yet is that if you commute between Pasco and Kennewick, you have to cross either the "Blue" bridge or the "Cable" bridge, certainly the Blue bridge has it's fair share of wrecks and so traffic jams. And of course once you are on the damn thing, you can't turn around or get off..

Not a huge deal, but, why set yourself up for this hassle, if you can avoid it?

Check out Burbank as well if you want to consider a smaller town right outside of Pasco.

[mzkttee]

Thanks for all the feedback! I've been watching the traffic on wsdot, and the traffic doesn't appear to be too bad at all.

[GameHog9]

^
It isnt. Really.

The problem is that 60,000 cars cross the Blue Bridge each day, and when one of them crashes....

You must understand, its only a 4 lane bridge (I think they want to expand it).

In any event, they want to build another bridge, and when that happens all our problems will go poof