Please tell me about OLYMPIA (Seattle, Tacoma: renting, houses, neighborhoods)

[CuppaTea]

Hello,

Someone suggested I look into Olympia as I am looking to relocate this Fall to a milder climate. I'm from the Midwest.

I'd love to hear opinions on every aspect of this area - weather, COL, scenery, neighborhoods, transportation options, arts and culture, shopping.

I'd be interested in renting a house there initially.

Pictures would be great, too, if you have any.

Thanks in advance!

[Hemlock140]

Hopefully someone there will respond. We pass by Olympia 4-6 times a year while on road trips to Oregon and/or California, but only recently decided to stop and check it out. The downtown is very cool, with plenty of shops and restaurants in older buildings. I know it's far more affordable than the Seattle area, and scenic with plenty of forested areas still, and lower Puget Sound waterfront.

[Jumpindogs]

Originally Posted by CuppaTea

Hello,

Someone suggested I look into Olympia as I am looking to relocate this Fall to a milder climate. I'm from the Midwest.

I'd love to hear opinions on every aspect of this area - weather, COL, scenery, neighborhoods, transportation options, arts and culture, shopping.

I'd be interested in renting a house there initially.

Pictures would be great, too, if you have any.

Thanks in advance!

Have you done an advanced search on the C-D forum for Olympia? You will find lots of previously posted opinions and most of your questions already answered. If you have specific questions after doing that there are lots of folks here ready to answer.

Have you looked at the C-D city function for Olympia? https://www.city-data.com/city/Olympia-Washington.html

That was my approach to using C-D to research Sequim and it worked out really well.

[CuppaTea]

Thanks. I looked at a few things...it seems it's rather rainy and gloomy much of the time there.

Is Sequim any sunnier?

[Seacove]

Western Washington is definitely gloomier, overcast skies and in December the days are only from 8:00 to 4:00. Sequim will be sunnier.

[Hemlock140]

Sequim sees the sun almost every day, but it may only be for an hour or two in the afternoon. They do get a lot less rain, but still see plenty of cloudy skies.If you want a lot of sun, there is no place in western WA normally. This year, however, where we normally only see the sun July-mid September, it's been sunny almost every day since mid April. We have also set records for days in the 90s while Sequim has stayed more moderate in the 70s.

[jlabsher]

We are looking at Olympia too and visited there in March, here are my takeaways:

1. Downtown could be nice, but there are a lot of dirty unwashed hippie homeless types who hang around on the streets. Think downtown Portland. The potential is there for an artsy type downtown, but kind of a bad vibe with them on most streets, they are harmless, but still not appealing. West coast has more and different homeless types than the midwest or east coast. You see many more young people who could work but choose not to.

2. There are some nice neighborhoods that don't fall into the cookie-cutter suburbia genre, but if you are looking for that, it is available too. We were looking for somewhere you can walk around, go to a coffee shop, grocery, etc. Sadly Olympia is not as walkable as I'd like. But there are some nice neighborhoods that have friendly people.

3. The city fathers are doing pretty good. The zoning is well planned, you have all the auto shops in one area, medical facilities in another, schools the same, shopping likewise. Not just one main thoroughfare with everything thrown at you.

4. We're originally from the midwest too, now on the east coast. People in Olympia aren't as friendly as you are likely used to, however they are friendlier than here. No jaywalking, running red lights, speeding, etc.

5. While mainly white, it does have a military base close by, so there is some diversity. Asian stores in neighboring communities, hispanics, etc. Depending on where you live in the midwest it may be more diverse.

6. State capital, so while it is a company town, the economy is stable and population is well educated. Not susceptible to things like Seattle experienced in the 70s when Boeing laid off a lot of people. Not a boom and bust type of town.

We are still looking, but Olympia is on our short list.

[jaguar3030]

Originally Posted by jlabsher

We are looking at Olympia too and visited there in March, here are my takeaways:

1. Downtown could be nice, but there are a lot of dirty unwashed hippie homeless types who hang around on the streets. Think downtown Portland. The potential is there for an artsy type downtown, but kind of a bad vibe with them on most streets, they are harmless, but still not appealing. West coast has more and different homeless types than the midwest or east coast. You see many more young people who could work but choose not to.

2. There are some nice neighborhoods that don't fall into the cookie-cutter suburbia genre, but if you are looking for that, it is available too. We were looking for somewhere you can walk around, go to a coffee shop, grocery, etc. Sadly Olympia is not as walkable as I'd like. But there are some nice neighborhoods that have friendly people.

3. The city fathers are doing pretty good. The zoning is well planned, you have all the auto shops in one area, medical facilities in another, schools the same, shopping likewise. Not just one main thoroughfare with everything thrown at you.

4. We're originally from the midwest too, now on the east coast. People in Olympia aren't as friendly as you are likely used to, however they are friendlier than here. No jaywalking, running red lights, speeding, etc.

5. While mainly white, it does have a military base close by, so there is some diversity. Asian stores in neighboring communities, hispanics, etc. Depending on where you live in the midwest it may be more diverse.

6. State capital, so while it is a company town, the economy is stable and population is well educated. Not susceptible to things like Seattle experienced in the 70s when Boeing laid off a lot of people. Not a boom and bust type of town.

We are still looking, but Olympia is on our short list.

What other towns are on your short list, and why?

[Dendrite]

Originally Posted by CuppaTea

Is Sequim any sunnier?

As Jumpindogs mentioned in her post, there is a lot of compiled "City Data" for most cities in the state on this site. It's really very helpful and is a great resource to address questions such as more sunny/less sunny, more rainy/less rainy as well as employment, housing costs and so forth. They even list earthquake events!

You can search C-D directly or I find it just as quick to Google whatever town I'm interested in. You asked about Sequim, so you could Google: city data sequim washington and up pops the direct link to the summary page.

Once you're on the demographics page (Sequim for example), scroll about half-way down the page to the Average Climate section. You'll see average temperatures, precipitation and so forth. Find the Sunshine graph and see how "sunny Sequim" compares to the US average on the sunshine front. You can also find the Cloudy Days graph and see what percent of the year are clear of clouds in Sequim.

After that do the same comparison for Oly and you'll have a feel for the weather differences between the two, or whatever other places you're interested in.

The only potential glitch that I've wondered about in using City Data statistics this way is where the weather data is gathered from. IOW, Sequim is a pretty small, somewhat isolated town. So is C-D's weather graph data taken from the town itself directly or is it averaged from larger adjacent weather stations? I've wondered about this but don't know the answer-

[jlabsher]

Originally Posted by jaguar3030

What other towns are on your short list, and why?

OK, here is my stream of consciousness subjective list. We really want to leave the mid-atlantic and head to the PNW, but looking for the perfect place is never easy.

• Wife likes Port Orchard - easy access to downtown Seattle on the Bremerton ferry, nice small town vibe, beautiful scenery, shopping, restaurants, and medical close by.
  
• Silverdale - nice and close but is kind of spread out
  
• Poulsbo - has more of a small town feel but is further away, harder to get to Seattle
  
• Port Townsend - beautiful, but far away, and you get to smell the paper mill.
  
• Tacoma was on the list until I heard about contaminated soil on here, google it.
  
• I like Bellingham - but it is pretty far from Seattle, actually closer to Vancouver BC, no problem going into Canada, but thanks to US paranoia, you can expect at least an hour trying to come back across the border. Bellingham is a college town, terminus of the Alaska car ferry, and close to Mount Baker/North Cascades. Beautiful country. It is getting crowded though.
  
• Love South Whidbey - but not a lot there, great location, close to Olympics and North Cascades, halfway between Vancouver and Seattle. North Whidbey is navy all the way, and the jet noise sucks. The navy has expanded their flying area and the long term residents are up in arms. Coupeville and Langley are nice but waaaay tiny (less than 2K people in town proper), so you have to trek to Oak Harbor to shop, eat, etc. and the food choices are not the best.
  
• Anacortes - Not a lot there, except the oil refinery and ferry to Victoria, BC and San Juan Islands. Was a blue collar maritime town and is becoming gentrified slowly.
  
• Camano island - beautiful, but nothing there but houses and one grocery store
  
• Mt. Vernon - used to be nice, but now overgrown and not dealing with growth too well
  
• Arlington - Looked good on paper, we visited and there isn't much there. Downtown is still dying small town America, and there are about 4 surrounding subdivisions with cookie-cutter places.

Most of the places we like are on or near the water, have stores, restaurants, etc. you can walk to, have mild weather, and have a decent multicultural/liberal/educated crowd. Otherwise we might as well move back to southern Illinois.

After we win the powerball we'll move to Ballard or Capital Hill and live the good life.

One other place to check out for info is Moderator cut: link removed, competitor site