Chehalis VS Longview help please (Seattle, Walla Walla: crime, Home Depot, unemployment)

[partyof6]

My husband has been offered a job and we have the choise of Chehalis or Longview, From what I have seen read looked up I think Chehalis is in the lead for me so far but this is a big move for us we have 4 kids 15,10,8,&3 we live in Walla Walla, know and want away from the very hot summers and want to be closer to the coast..... any direction would be helpful thanks

[Sandy Nelson]

Partyof6,
My advice would be to take Chehalis over Longview. The drive to the coast is only 20 min longer from Chehalis than from Longview, but the quality of life is higher.
If you have school aged children you'll want to compare the Chehalis school district with the Longview school district. Those statistics will speak for themselves. The Longview area is in a general depression with higher crime, higher unemployment, higher school drop out rate etc...
Although Chehalis is much smaller than Longview, it's close to Centralia. Both towns combined offer an outlet mall, a historic downtown, community college, good medical facilities and all the standard amenities such as restaurants, shopping (Wal Mart, Home Depot etc.) and recreation.
I hope this info helps you in your decission making. It would be a good idea to drive out and take a first hand look at both towns.

Sandy

[moonmaiden]

Both cities have their good and bad points. Chehalis and Centralia are just one big town now altho they still keep their division point LOL Centralia has a small junior college that brings a different flavor to parts of it with Chehalis being a tad more conservative. Longview also has a jr. college downtown but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference to the town.

Longview has more new growth as far as amenities than Chehalis but Chehalis isn't far behind. As far as which town I would prefer my own self, probably Chehalis. Schools are a tad better, crime is about the same - both are in counties that are VERY high in meth labs/users which always makes a difference to the crime level. I think Longview is a 'prettier' town but it's laid out like the spokes of a wheel which sometimes makes getting around in it rather funky, but you get used to it. Both are county seats for gov't etc. The only thing I can truly think of that might be of interest is that Longview sits in a kind of 'banana belt' and the weather is a few degrees milder than Chehalis. Both have the interstate running by/thru them and it's not far to Portland or Seattle via the interstate. People are maybe a tad more friendly in Longview but so much depends on how open and smiling you are, no matter where you go.

My personal choice would probably be Chehalis to live around again but that is a personal thing - got lots of relatives living around there <g> I don't think you can go wrong with either one - just follow your gut reaction and good luck!!