Spokane or Tacoma? (Seattle, Puyallup, Millwood: rent, crime rates, homes)

[Mopac1980]

Which city is a better place to live between Spokane or Tacoma? Also which city has more crime between Spokane or Tacoma?

[GameHog9]

Depends.

If you wish to avoid traffic, expensive homes, rain (i.e., SEATTLE) then go to Spokane. If your looking for the big city fell though, Tacoma is 40 miles from Seattle.

As far as crime, I dont know. Im in Eastern WA and I can tall you this: I never hear about crime in Spokane, Id imagine it would be worse in Tacoma.

[rams]

Better place-Spokane.

More crime-Tacoma.

[Whyte Byrd]

They're both bad. I'd have to own an arsenal to live in either.

[fy10fyr]

Originally Posted by Public_Newsense

They're both bad. I'd have to own an arsenal to live in either.

Absolutely..... both cities are crime-infested hellholes. Gunshots are constantly ringing out, drive-bys don't even make the news because there are so many of them, and it's imposible to sleep with all the police helicopters flying overhead all night.

[Spokanative]

Originally Posted by fy10fyr

Absolutely..... both cities are crime-infested hellholes. Gunshots are constantly ringing out, drive-bys don't even make the news because there are so many of them, and it's imposible to sleep with all the police helicopters flying overhead all night.

Yeah, I agree. If you remember the Kurt Thomas film from the 80s ("Escape from New York") that is Spokane. I highly recommend you move to Tacoma. And make sure you tell EVERYBODY you know to not move to Spokane.

Check the facts on city-data : Tacoma has more crime by far. Tacoma used to have the nickname "The aroma of Tacoma" due to pulp mill nearby. I grew up in Spokane & didn't leave until going on active duty in my early 20s. After living in Chicago (sucks), Phoenix (was nice back then), San Diego (awesome) and Mississippi (the worst place on EARTH) I have chosen to move back to Spokane & rent out my place in San Diego. I could've moved anywhere in the country & this is where I chose to return to.

I do hope that if you move here you aren't Democrat. If you are, I would OVERWHELMINGLY recommend you move to Tacoma...

[Randy@Tacoma]

Originally Posted by Spokanative

Yeah, I agree. If you remember the Kurt Thomas film from the 80s ("Escape from New York") that is Spokane. I highly recommend you move to Tacoma. And make sure you tell EVERYBODY you know to not move to Spokane.

Check the facts on city-data : Tacoma has more crime by far. Tacoma used to have the nickname "The aroma of Tacoma" due to pulp mill nearby. I grew up in Spokane & didn't leave until going on active duty in my early 20s. After living in Chicago (sucks), Phoenix (was nice back then), San Diego (awesome) and Mississippi (the worst place on EARTH) I have chosen to move back to Spokane & rent out my place in San Diego. I could've moved anywhere in the country & this is where I chose to return to.

I do hope that if you move here you aren't Democrat. If you are, I would OVERWHELMINGLY recommend you move to Tacoma...

You are an idiot. You obviously don't know much about your own city. Spokane IS a majority democrat city.

I'm originally from Seattle, live in Tacoma currently, and am moving to Spokane to finish school at EWU.

Spokane is a wonderful city (except for the few narrow-minded creeps). As Seattleites are priced out of their own city, they'll realize how great Spokane is and they'll move there. I am. You should too!

[WendyK]

Originally Posted by Randy@Tacoma

You are an idiot. You obviously don't know much about your own city. Spokane IS a majority democrat city.

I'm originally from Seattle, live in Tacoma currently, and am moving to Spokane to finish school at EWU.

Spokane is a wonderful city (except for the few narrow-minded creeps). As Seattleites are priced out of their own city, they'll realize how great Spokane is and they'll move there. I am. You should too!

I'm pretty sure he was being sarcastic, kind of like the couple posts just before that one.

[weightyghost]

Can you give me any insight into living near Tacoma??? I am looking to relocate to the area. I have no problem with a 30-45 minute drive each day if necessary.

[tindo80]

Spokane CrimeMap

Site for a map of spokane crime rates. Im still looking up a comparable tacoma chart, but it looks like the number of crimes is slightly higher in tacoma, but still significantly lower when you factor in population (greater tacoma/south King Cty has nearly a million people, all of spokane county has 462,000.

I wouldnt measure on crime. Crime happens anywhere where a bystander is not taking care to protect themselves. Whether thats Spokane Valley or North Puyallup.

Ask yourself what kind of job you want/cant get, and what kind of scenery you want to live around. Spokane is limited on jobs, but has actual seasons (good and bad). Tacoma is within reach of pretty much any industry you can think of, is fairly overcasty/rainy, and has the puget sound. Both have mountains.

And dont listen to the guy telling you to move to Tacoma if you are a democrat. He is obviously part of the 'old guard' of Spokane. Spokane, like Tacoma is a majority Democratic city. Historically, the city was mostly a progressive city (Look up the wobblies and Spokane Union history), until the jobs started to disappear, and 'bitter old republicans' (no offense GOp'ers) took over in the 70s. The city probably 60/40 Democrat, whilst Tacoma is 80/20 Democrat.

Im looking at Spokane myself upon finishing school (along with several other places, MT, Couer D Alene, Alaska and Eastern Oregon). Hopefully the job market recovers are still has availability in those regions then.

Added: Found new sites. Apparently, the crime (violent) rate is almost exactly the same for the cities proper (not including any of the subdivisions or outer/nearby counties).

Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitors sites is not allowed
State: Washington (WA) Violent Crime Property Crime
City Population: 198,325

Murder: 13
Forcible Rape: 84
Robbery: 354
Aggravated Assault: 710
Burglary: 3,053
Larceny or Theft: 11,260
Car Theft: 1,593
Arson: 83
Data Source:
2003 FBI Report of Offenses Known to Law Enforcement

http://www.cityoftacoma.org/Page.aspx?hid=2035
January to December
Crime 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004** 2005 2006 2007 2008
Homicide 8 14 16 20 13 14 13 21 15 13
Rape 155 136 142 171 149 172 120 142 132 138
Robbery 687 745 743 715 739 723 690 680 644 615
Aggravated Assault 1503 1501 1210 1277 1253 1112 1191 1233 1300 1199
[/quote]

Granted these dont say much, because each city alone only accounts for a fraction of the overal regional population (for spokane its the valley, airway heights, CDA, Post Falls, Mead, Millwood etc/ Tacoma its puyallup, lakewood, milton, lacey, auburn, covington, maple valley etc). Also, the data is for one year of spokane, and several in tacoma.

Its something to work with.