Need info on Washington (Pacific: job market, schools, living in)

[FussyBaby]

Hello everyone. By chance can anyone give me some insight about living in Washington state. My boyfriend, my son and I have considered moving there. My boyfriend tells me that people there are social and nice. We live in Colorado now and people here can't even look you in the eye when they walk by. He also warned me about the rainy weather. I'm not a big fan of rainy weather but I'm willing to put up with it if there are other perks to Washington. Second I need to know about the job market there. I'm finishing my degree in management/marketing and my boyfriend has his management degree. Third I'm wanting a safe and nice place to live for my family so any ideas on areas to look into? Sorry so many ?s but I hope my boyfriend isn't talking Washington more then what it is.

[allforcats]

Hi. Your boyfriend is, I think, correct about the general friendliness and helpfulness of Washingtonians. I've lived in other parts of the U.S. and the world, and I wouldn't call Washingtonians chatty, or clubby, or social butterflies. Friendly, helpful, polite. Gentle. More reserved than some, much more helpful than others. Make sense?

Washington is really two quite different areas.
Western Washington is very green and treed. This is where it drizzles for nine months of the year, and where an almost-constant light breeze from the Pacific Ocean provides cool temperatures. There's usually very little snow in winter and no biting wind ever. It's also where the largest population centers are, and therefore the most aggregate employment, resources, etc.
Eastern Washington is on the east side of the Cascade Mountains, and contains lots of desert, scrub desert and very light vegetation. All year it's hotter there than in western WA, and there's little rain. Winter sees quite a lot of snow in many eastern areas. You can see on a map the major population centers.

For anywhere in Washington, I'd recommend that you click at the upper left-hand corner of any City-Data page here, click on City-Data.com, click on Washington (WA) and then on any city or town of your choosing. Those City-Data pages are chock full of tons of info.

I think perhaps folks on this forum could suggest hundreds of possible areas, but need somewhat more specific focuses to be useful. What kind of climate do you want? What kind of population density? What kind of employment fields? What kind of schools for your son? What kind of social life are you looking for? Hobby life? Vacation life? Scenery? And so on.

Washington is generally a very "safe and nice place to live", as you put it. But before you can choose cities, towns or communities, you should make pro and con lists for yourselves to narrow down what you want, and narrow down employment fields. Make sense? Happy thinking!