Pacific Northwest: Portland vs. Seattle (place, downtown, statistics, beach)

[TJCalif]

Oh, that's right. Dell is in Round Rock, TX. I must have heard about Michael Dell living in Seattle once or attended school there.

I can imagine that floating homes are expensive. Waterfront living is a luxury anyway plus Seattle has one of the highest housing prices in the country.

There are many surburbs in Seattle that sound like great places to live such as Marysville, Mukilteo, Mill Creek, Lynnwood, Shoreline, Bothell, Woodinville, Redmond, Kirkland, Bellevue, Newcastle, Sammamish, Issaquah, and Renton.

Everett is okay with Everett Mall but it has 90th highest crime rate in America. That's pretty disturbing.

Which parts of Seattle are the best and parts to be avoid?

I would appreciate any shared comments/complaints about any of the surburbs including Seattle above.

Of course, I can't afford to live in luxurious enclaves such as Yarrow Point, Clyde Hill, Medina, and Mercer Island.

[DJKirkland]

In my opinion the best suburbs are Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond - after that might be Issaquah and Sammamish. Bellevue is the most urban, Kirkland has the nicest waterfront downtown area, and Redmond is really turning out to be a great area as well. They're more expensive than the other burbs you listed, but you can still find deals, especially right now with so many apartment buildings coming on line that started construction during the boom.

[tablemtn]

Please tell me which city do you think is the best and list your reasons.

It really depends what you want. Portland is - generally - smaller and more-sluggish (economically) than Seattle.

Part of this is simply an attitudinal difference - many Portlanders look up to Seattle and have nightmares about its 90 miles of sprawl reaching up from south of Tacoma past Everett. The fear is that the same thing would happen to Oregon, and everything from the Columbia River down to Corvallis would be paved over, and a great deal of the Willamette Valley's farmlands would be chewed up.

Hence, Portland has (since the 1960's at least) been concerned with ways of limiting growth. The ultimate nightmare for Portland leadership is that the city becomes "the next LA," but "the next Seattle" doesn't appeal that much more to them, either.

So, if you need a dynamic job market or you want to pick up a huge house for a low price, I would avoid Portland, or line up a job before moving.

[pw72]

That's a good analysis.

I agree, Seattle's economic future is brighter. But with that it brings higher prices, more traffic, etc. That is a choice one has to make.

One myth that needs to be debunked is that the Seattle metro is completely paved over from Olympia to Everett. Not so. Still a lot of undeveloped land, especially north of Tacoma in Fife and a small area between Federal Way and Tacoma. I'm sure once the economy recovers, much of this area will be ripe for development.

[TJCalif]

I want to ask about West Seattle.

I found nice, attractive and affordable townhouse on 35th Ave. SW in West Seattle 98126 right on the borders of West Seattle, High Point, and North Delridge neighborhoods.

Is the area pretty safe to live and beautiful with its close distance to Puget Sound and Alki Beach?

Is the area easily commutable to Downtown?

Is the commute from West Seattle to Everett for work doable or insane?

One more thing...

Can somebody explain to me what is "Seattle Freeze"? Is it what I am thinking about that happens to be similiar to "Minnesota Nice"?

If it is, is it really hard to make good friends/networking with Seattleites?

What about women? Are they reserved/hard to get a date? Just curious.

[CharlotteNCRepublican]

Seattle, easily.

[Jumpman023]

I live in Portland and yet I still say Seattle. Portland is too anti-growth and anti-business to do anything economically relevant and will continue to stagnate despite having all the opportunity in the world to do well. As soon as I'm old enough to live on my own, I'm dumping P-town for Seattle. Don't get me wrong, Portland is cool too, but while many dislike how yuppified and more corporate Seattle is, this will help Seattle progressing on the national stage while Portland continues to hide in national obscurity in our upper northwest corner.

[jm31828]

Originally Posted by TJCalif

Oh, that's right. Dell is in Round Rock, TX. I must have heard about Michael Dell living in Seattle once or attended school there.

I can imagine that floating homes are expensive. Waterfront living is a luxury anyway plus Seattle has one of the highest housing prices in the country.

There are many surburbs in Seattle that sound like great places to live such as Marysville, Mukilteo, Mill Creek, Lynnwood, Shoreline, Bothell, Woodinville, Redmond, Kirkland, Bellevue, Newcastle, Sammamish, Issaquah, and Renton.

Everett is okay with Everett Mall but it has 90th highest crime rate in America. That's pretty disturbing.

Which parts of Seattle are the best and parts to be avoid?

I would appreciate any shared comments/complaints about any of the surburbs including Seattle above.

Of course, I can't afford to live in luxurious enclaves such as Yarrow Point, Clyde Hill, Medina, and Mercer Island.

I just moved to the Seattle area 7 months ago, and we did a lot of research on the different suburbs, both before moving out and then did a lot more research and exploring after doing so. In my experience all of the suburbs you mentioned above are great. The ones on the east side- Bellevue, Redmond, Issaquah, Sammamish, Kirkland- are going to be quite expensive and out of your price range unless you're bringing in quite a bit of money- in those areas the typical house is still going to cost over $400K, with many of them well beyond that. We found Lynnwood to be a great place- it's a good location because it's about the same distance to downtown Seattle or the job centers on the east side (Bellevue/Redmond/Kirkland), and housing is cheaper there than in many other areas. It's also great because it has tons of shopping as it is one of the big retail hubs in the Seattle metro, and it's a clean, safe, nice-looking town in most areas.

[TJCalif]

Originally Posted by jm31828

I just moved to the Seattle area 7 months ago, and we did a lot of research on the different suburbs, both before moving out and then did a lot more research and exploring after doing so. In my experience all of the suburbs you mentioned above are great. The ones on the east side- Bellevue, Redmond, Issaquah, Sammamish, Kirkland- are going to be quite expensive and out of your price range unless you're bringing in quite a bit of money- in those areas the typical house is still going to cost over $400K, with many of them well beyond that. We found Lynnwood to be a great place- it's a good location because it's about the same distance to downtown Seattle or the job centers on the east side (Bellevue/Redmond/Kirkland), and housing is cheaper there than in many other areas. It's also great because it has tons of shopping as it is one of the big retail hubs in the Seattle metro, and it's a clean, safe, nice-looking town in most areas.

Thanks for your helpful post! I did noticed that Lynnwood is exactly halfway between Everett and Downtown Seattle while not being too far away from Puget Sound.

I was given suggestions to avoid Lynnwood unless I live near Highway 99 since there are rough areas in Lynnwood. Same thing applies to Shoreline and Mountlake Terrance.

What is your answer to that question or could that be because of that person's preference not to live in areas with more diverse population? I'm just testing to see if it's true or biased.

[searpr]

I'm originally from Portland, lived in Seattle for two years, and I prefer Seattle. Seattle is more mainstream. Portland's unofficial motto is "Keep Portland weird!" It's a little *too* weird for me (and I grew up there).