thinking of moving to Seattle area from alabama

[Seacove]

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

Blue-collar union jobs can pay well, but are hard to get if you're not already in the union. Non-union jobs don't, unless you've got a skill that is in demand. I'd hold onto that $26/hr where you are.

Cost of living is much higher here, so you'll have to earn much more here to live as well as you are there.

I agree. If you're goal in coming to Seattle is to make more money, not sure it would be worth it since the cost of housing is much more here.

[nick76]

I work a union job now but the problem is the product market has fell off. So my pay is still the same hourly but only half yearly because of lay offs. The company is also on a downward spiral. There is not many other jobs here at that pay so I started looking around for nice areas with a bigger job market. I looked in seattle area because I like a lot of the things to do around there and the people there don't live like it's 1950. I understand what your saying but money is not my main reason to move I just want steady work at a good enough pay to live comfortable and enjoy life. I have some additional help in some jobs there like with Boeing since I'm a disabled veteran. I like the outdoors and being near a city. Also alabama is extremely conservative and I'm more in the middle. They are so conservative that when it was said to have a state lottery here because the state has been broke for years the majority of the Senate said the wouldn't even here of it because it would cause the state to be overran with crime and everyone would just be addicted to gambling and wouldn't ever go to work. You want a good laugh look at some of the stuff the state has said on some simple stuff. They just past 2 years ago that you could make beer at home. There is just a lot of problems with here and I'm tired of listening to it all. The education system is bad with the exception of the main colleges.

[homesinseattle]

Come join us, make good beer at home!! There are so many "homebrew" stores here, you will love it.

[Hemlock140]

I don't know where you are from in Alabama, but when you compare on the
CNN Calculator for Mobile, a $50k ($26/hour) salary there means you must make $68,452 in Seattle to have a comparable income based on the difference in cost of living. That's about $36/hour. People do make it here on $50k, but just be aware that your spending power will be reduced. Hopefully you will find being here to be worth it.

[nick76]

When I ran the calculation for birmingham the only thing I seen that cost more was home prices but it did say the same as what your saying but I don't see where it's coming in at other than home prices. Also my job shows 26 hr but I make about 115000 a year with the overtime. That is the problem the job cut all the overtime so I went from 115000 a year to about 50k a year and I'm about to have to pay insurance so I have to down grade either way. So I decided to move to a more stable company and product. I'm in a steel mill in the pipe division that makes drilling pipe for oil. Oil has to be at 80 a barrel to keep orders coming in. The market just swings to much in the long run to depend on it.

[nick76]

Well just a update jobs have been looking good. One week after submitting my resume I've had 6 companies wanting me to interview with them. I've also had call from boeing about a job. The job market out there in washington is needing people bad that can do blue collar work. Most of the jobs have been north of seattle near Bellingham. I looked more in that area it's cheaper to live.

[seasallyttle]

Originally Posted by nick76

Well just a update jobs have been looking good. One week after submitting my resume I've had 6 companies wanting me to interview with them. I've also had call from boeing about a job. The job market out there in washington is needing people bad that can do blue collar work. Most of the jobs have been north of seattle near Bellingham. I looked more in that area it's cheaper to live.

It is cheaper to live up there and its a lot less crowded and more laid back. I hope it all works out for you.

[Cecilia M]

Originally Posted by nick76

Well just a update jobs have been looking good. One week after submitting my resume I've had 6 companies wanting me to interview with them. I've also had call from boeing about a job. The job market out there in washington is needing people bad that can do blue collar work. Most of the jobs have been north of seattle near Bellingham. I looked more in that area it's cheaper to live.

Oh that is perfect! I was going to say, I think you can make it here if you live outside the city. The city itself is very expensive, but it didn't sound like you were going for urban living at all. The areas outside Seattle are likely more expensive than Alabama (?) but much more affordable than living in the city.

If you are going to be up north between Seattle and Bellingham, just for fun, google the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival and look at some of the gorgeous photos of the tulip fields up there. That's a very nice farming area, gorgeous, has views of the mountains and proximity to the Puget Sound, San Juan Islands etc. From what you have said, you and your wife will be in heaven if you move up there. And you can still drive into the city now and then for the stuff you might want to do (shopping, sports, arts events etc).

[nick76]

We have watch a lot of YouTube videos on the different town. We did see the tulip festival it looked nice. The only job close to the city I'm looking at is boeing but it's hard to turn down the money they offer. We like a lot of Bothell area videos. If I go with Boeing thinking of there. Does anyone have any thoughts on bothell or Mukilteo.