Spokane vs. Vancouver for single, 23 year old male (Seattle, Tacoma: apartment, how much)

[WashingtonBound]

Hi all, was considering moving out west from the east coast (Richmond, VA). Both of these places are a little less expensive than where I'm living now and Spokane is the least expensive of the two, but I'm hearing it's more of a conservative, family area. I'm a 23 year old single male that is pretty liberal so I was wondering should I just move to vancouver or could I find something in Spokane to my interest?

[StealthRabbit]

Need to know a bit more info to advise you.

Both places lean a tad Right (by left-coast stds), definately they are far left from my previous location (CO / WY / NE).

Neither place will your vote count for any State or national elections (2-3 counties rule in OR and WA, 95% of each state (job creators) get no representation)

Portland being so close to Vancouver you can immerse yourself in liberal rhetoric 24 / 7 (most news / radio / tv is from Portland )

you like grey cold winters or grey wet winters?
Dry HOT summers or cool potentially wet summers?

Frequent Sunsets or frequent dark dreary nights

Prairie Dog or Mole?

Mtns / lakes / rural to your liking or urban / beach / river?
Quirky redneck bars or tattooed 'gothic' salad servers?
burgers and Bud light or Salmon and Micro brews?

[WashingtonBound]

Well I can definitely say I don't dig the redneck vibe, it's one of the main reasons I'm leaving the south.

I'm more of an urban type person, that would prefer rainy summers over dry, hot summers.

[Count David]

upwardly mobile or clock puncher?

[Inkpoe]

Vancouver is a conservative family area as well.

If you consider yourself more of an urbanist with a preference for rain, Seattle, Tacoma and Portland would provide that.

[Sobefobik]

Originally Posted by Inkpoe

Vancouver is a conservative family area as well.

If you consider yourself more of an urbanist with a preference for rain, Seattle, Tacoma and Portland would provide that.

I agree. Neither Spokane nor Vancouver really seem to fit the bill for you. If you are liberal and like urban, Seattle and Portland are going to fit your needs more. If you want the rain and cooler summers, cut Spokane out (and the whole east side of the state for that matter).

If you're intent on living in Washington, you might be happy with Vancouver because of the close proximity to Portland. If you go that route, stick to west Vancouver and the downtown area. It is a bit cheaper than Portland, but you'll lose the advantages of living in downtown Portland (and it's really not that much more expensive in the long run.)

[WashingtonBound]

How much more expensive would it be to live in downtown portland?

[Sobefobik]

Originally Posted by WashingtonBound

How much more expensive would it be to live in downtown portland?

It depends on what you're looking for. If you want a brand new, modern 1 bedroom apartment in the Pearl District, it's going to cost you $900+. If you go for a studio or 1 bedroom in a historical type building, it's going to run from $650 to $750 for starters (I recommend Goose Hollow, PGE Park, 23rd District, some parts of Irvington, Belmont, and Hawthorne. The Pearl is great if you can afford it). But you can still live directly outside of downtown, still taking advantage of the Max lines (trimet.org), and you can get it for slightly cheaper.

Downtown Vancouver is also nice, but it's not really going to save you much money. Not far from downtown you hit suburbia...cheaper but won't offer what you want if you like urban.

[Or3g0n]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

Need to know a bit more info to advise you.

Both places lean a tad Right (by left-coast stds), definately they are far left from my previous location (CO / WY / NE).

Neither place will your vote count for any State or national elections (2-3 counties rule in OR and WA, 95% of each state (job creators) get no representation)

Portland being so close to Vancouver you can immerse yourself in liberal rhetoric 24 / 7 (most news / radio / tv is from Portland )

you like grey cold winters or grey wet winters?
Dry HOT summers or cool potentially wet summers?

Frequent Sunsets or frequent dark dreary nights

Prairie Dog or Mole?

Mtns / lakes / rural to your liking or urban / beach / river?
Quirky redneck bars or tattooed 'gothic' salad servers?
burgers and Bud light or Salmon and Micro brews?

Potentially wet summer in Seattle? Seattle averages near 1 inch of rain during any of the Summer month. Its NOT WET. It's DRY.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by WashingtonBound

How much more expensive would it be to live in downtown portland?

Actually there are a lot of people living under bridges in Portland. It is not that bad,, river view, no taxes!

Originally Posted by Or3g0n

Potentially wet summer in Seattle? Seattle averages near 1 inch of rain during any of the Summer month. Its NOT WET. It's DRY.

Have you spent much time in Spokane during summer?? How many yrs in Seattle for summer? From my 60 yr limited history, I would say Seattle has a far higher chance of being cool, dreary, & wet, in Summer; than does Spokane.

YMMV, (here on the we_tside, I was using my woodstove this week to chase off the cool, damp chill.)