Best areas between Seattle and Tacoma for young people? (Bellevue: apartments, homes)

[kza98113]

Myself and two friends (all of us 22) are moving to the area in March from Chicago. We are trying to find somewhere between Seattle and Tacoma that is a young area, and will open us up to both job markets (reasonable commute, etc.). Any suggestions on where to look? We've checked out Federal Way, Kent, etc. Let us know which places are the best to live for people starting out in their early 20's. Or if we should be in either city instead. Any opinions please!

[Count David]

Tacoma has a job market???

I kid, I kid.

The bulk of the jobs are in Seattle proper, and on the Eastside (Bellevue, et al).

I personally would focus my search on those two^, as opposed to Tacoma.

[Alcon]

I'm not sure if I've seen any evidence that the Tacoma job market is holding up remarkably worse than Seattle's. Housing prices are actually holding up better last time I checked. An atypical number of small businesses are opening, for reasons no one is quite sure of. I'm open to being wrong, though.

It depends, honestly, what you want as a young couple. Vibrancy? You're honestly out of luck, unless you want to live near Seattle or even Tacoma. These are intensely suburban cities, a few with some boutique downtown areas. Places like Kent and Federal Way are basically a crow's nest of lower-middle class homes, working-class apartments, and nicer homes in very suburban (even woodland) locales. This is an area for people who want to live on the cheap, or in a sedate area.

If neither of those spark your interest, find a nice, affordable place in a respectable neighborhood and focus on deciding what kind of distance you want from Seattle/Tacoma.

Hope this helps!