Where to live between Seattle and Lakewood? (Tacoma, Renton: to rent, moving)

[djstatick]

Hello. My wife and I are relocating to the area from Baltimore, Maryland. We've already secured jobs... but they're a bit far apart. I'll be working in Lakewood, and she'll be working in Northgate. So, given that, what is a reasonable area to look so we'll both have reasonable commutes? I'm willing to drive more than she is. Also, we don't have kids or dogs or anything, so none of that is really an issue. Finally, I'd prefer to stay under $1500 monthly rent for somewhere that is at least 2BR/1BA. Ideas?

[Adrian71]

Wow, those are a long way apart!

The Renton area might work for you. Easily within your range for monthly rent. That would put you about 20 or so miles from the Northgate area, and maybe 30 miles from Lakewood. I don't know how long the commute would take to Lakewood, but I can get from Renton to Northgate in about an hour if traffic is moving at a decent clip on I-5.

Welcome to Seattle, by the way. We moved out here from D.C. about three years ago.

[poopskooper]

Man, yeah, that is a dilemma but I would agree, Renton would probably be a good compromise. Mileage wise, it would be closer to Northgate but as far as actual commute time during peak commute hours I'm thinking would probably about the same.

You would be fighting traffic on I-5 in the downtown Tacoma area and she'd be fighting traffic in the downtown Seattle area both of which could be horrendous at times.

Her commute from Renton to Northgate in the morning would be half with the inbound commute and half as a reverse commute once coming out of downtown Seattle. When she's coming back to Renton during the afternoon commute, it will be ugly as she'd be fighting traffic coming into town (most of the time stop-and-go from Northgate to downtown Seattle) and then would be in the thick of the commute from downtown Seattle to Renton. Your commute would probably be less congested (with the exception of downtown Tacoma) but a bit longer mileage wise.

However, anywhere in south King county would essentially have the same set of circumstances.

As I posted in another thread, you may want to monitor the daily traffic congestion even from the east coast before making a decision by watching the traffic cams on the WSDOT website as it will give you excellent real-time monitoring of the traffic conditions both by mapping and traffic cams. Click here for Seattle area and click here for Tacoma.