How is Lynnwood?

[pnwguy2]

Lynnwood is a definite middle class city with lower housing costs than the eastside, and south into Shoreline and Seattle. However, commute times to Seattle or Bellevue are hellish.

[elevationnation]

Common theme is traffic. I live just south of Shoreline and I can tell you I-5 N and I-5 S look like hell most times of the work week. Even on Saturdays it is hell. So if you are working in Bellevue, then I would say no to Lynnwood. Lynnwood is nice, and pretty safe by all accounts, but again you will be relying on your car for sometime until light rail makes its way to Lynnwood. Bellevue has it's own traffic nightmare to deal with. I would suggest something closer to Bellevue just so you don't spend most of your free time in the car.

[homesinseattle]

O.C. Ogilvy. My Phinney Ridge neighborhood close to Green Lake in Seattle is very progressive and very safe.

[jm31828]

I lived in Lynnwood for 4 and a half years, just moved away last year. We loved it there- great town, it has almost everything you could ever need shopping-wise. It's also a great place for getting to other places, since of course it sits right at the I-5/I-405 split. If you live in the east part of Lynnwood in the Alderwood area (east of I-5) it is clean and rather new looking so you avoid any of the stuff that gives Lynnwood a bad image in some people's minds. (most think only of the Lynnwood you see around Highway 99- we hardly ever went to that part of town)

We only moved away because we needed a bigger home and the one we really liked happened to be in Bothell, and during that investigation found that the school district over there was a couple notches higher than the one Lynnwood sits in. Otherwise we miss living there, the Alderwood area was great- it was nice and we had almost everything we could have wanted within walking or very short driving distance. And we never saw/heard of any crime in our immediate area.

[GaryS35]

Originally Posted by Blondebaerde

It's as "safe" as any lower-mid income, blue collar neighborhood. Might want to do a crime stats analysis using C-D data, comparing to other neighborhoods like Edmunds, Mill Creek, Shoreline, and Bothell. All nearby. As long as you love monster truck pulls, NASCAR, and "dah Hawks" you'll be safe-enough.

Trailers nearby? Trailer parks, I assume? Sure, plenty in town. That's the chief draw of Lynnwood.

Lynnwood is wide roads and strip malls, as well as a more built-up area around/including a mall. It has no traditional Downtown. It seems relatively safe but fairly bland, although there is some good Korean food. And by 2023 there will be a grade separated rail line into Bellevue (and Downtown Seattle) from there.

As someone already mentioned, Renton is also relatively cheap, is not too far from Bellevue, and actually has some decent urban bones. Burien has a nice, walkable Downtown area with pretty good bones, but it's a little further. Both are also a bit less safe than Lynnwood (although I wouldn't call either one dangerous to live in).

[GaryS35]

I should also add that politically it leans left but is more moderate than Seattle. According to this link Lynnwood is about 40% Republican and 58% Democrat. Snohomish County in general is more conservative than King County.

[Adrian71]

There's really nowhere you can go in the metro Seattle area that isn't "safe" by big-city standards. There are sketchy areas here and there, but nowhere are you going to be dodging bullets or fearing for your life if you make a wrong turn into an alley.

Progressive? That describes the whole area. The eastside is probably a little more conservative-leaning, but even then you're talking about moneyed Republicans with fairly liberal social views. You'd have to look hard to find anything remotely like Atlanta around here, in terms of social and political attitudes.

Lynnwood is OK, but it's about as "bland suburbia" as it gets around here, with more strip malls than you can shake a stick at. If that's your thing and you like having plenty of shopping nearby, you'll like it. The commute could be a drag (depending on what you're used to; we came here after living with D.C. Beltway traffic and don't find it so bad here), but that would be the same anywhere around here, unless you live very close to where you work or you can take public transpo the whole way.

I'll second Renton. I live there. The southside gets an unfair bad rap for being seedy, but it's not that bad at all. Our neighborhood is diverse, clean, and quiet. The south suburbs are more working-class than other parts of the metro area, but all that really means is that single-family houses sell here for "only" $400K, instead of $500K or $600K in another suburb. The 5/405 split happens at the south end not far from here. 405 to Bellevue/Redmond can clog up during morning rush, but if you get an early enough start, it's not too bad. We drive over 405 every morning, and if we get out the door at 6:45 or so, we see that traffic is slow but moving along, but by 7:15 it's slowed to a crawl.

[O.C. Ogilvy]

Originally Posted by homesinseattle

O.C. Ogilvy. My Phinney Ridge neighborhood close to Green Lake in Seattle is very progressive and very safe.

Maybe I should have used the word "city" instead of "neighborhood". I do understand that Seattle, like L.A, is defined by its neighborhoods. I didn't mean to offend the good people of Phinney Ridge!

[Jiff]

I've lived in Lynnwood for 25 years, and it works for me. Got a house on a big private lot for less than anywhere nearby. Most everything I need is within a mile or two, including freeways. Haven't heard of much crime. Somebody rustled through my unlocked truck in my driveway once.

Yes, most people need a car. Regarding, "need a car for sometime until light rail makes its way to Lynnwood." That's not going to make any difference on whether you need a car. You'll just ride it instead of a bus. I'm not sure about the trip time from Lynnwood Transit Center to Bellevue, but to Seattle in morning rush it's 25 minutes and afternoon it's more like 35 to 40.

[Ira500]

Originally Posted by GaryS35

Lynnwood is wide roads and strip malls, as well as a more built-up area around/including a mall. It has no traditional Downtown. It seems relatively safe but fairly bland, although there is some good Korean food. And by 2023 there will be a grade separated rail line into Bellevue (and Downtown Seattle) from there.

As someone already mentioned, Renton is also relatively cheap, is not too far from Bellevue, and actually has some decent urban bones. Burien has a nice, walkable Downtown area with pretty good bones, but it's a little further. Both are also a bit less safe than Lynnwood (although I wouldn't call either one dangerous to live in).

Depending on where in Renton you are, it can be a pretty convenient commute to either DT Seattle or DT Bellevue. I live a little over a mile from downtown Renton. I'm there frequently. I think it has character. And some great places to eat. I've always liked older downtown areas.
Downtown Burien is great! I've been preaching the gospel of Burien for years (Hiking trails, Puget Sound beaches, and the best tacos in the Seattle area. What more do you need?)
But the commute to Bellevue would be no picnic.