Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hello everyone, I'm not a frequent user of city-data so please forgive me for any mistakes I make!
My wife and I are considering relocating to Seattle from Houston. I work in the IT industry and my wife works in Accounts Payable/Receivable. We are in our early 30s and have been fortunate enough to travel the United States and Canada for the past 7 years about 3 times a year. We love to do photography, hike, explore, and enjoy sports a good deal. We have no kids, we do have a dog (boston terrier) and two cats that would be joining us.
Things that are important to us:
1. Location - would prefer no more than a 30 minute commute to downtown. I do not like to live in downtown areas in general, would prefer a quiet and safe (as well as low crime) apartment complex if possible. Would prefer to be close to hiking (do not mind driving to get to the area of hiking), dog parks, and shopping.
2. Affordability - looking at maybe $1400 - $1600 a month for 2 bedroom and would prefer something nice and somewhat modern. Would prefer not to live in an old beat up complex.
3. Location part 2 - would love to be somewhere where there are lots of trees and have the pacific northwest vibe that we've grown to love so much. We've been to Vancouver Island, Seattle, Olympic National Park, and a few other places and just love the trees and the ferns..have really grown to appreciate the rainforest.
Things that are not important to us:
1. Schools - we do not have children and do not plan on having any. A lot of people will based recommendations off schools, this is not the case for us.
Questions:
1. How is the Seattle job market been the past 10 years? We chose to check out Seattle because of our love for the pacific northwest and seems to have a large job market compared to somewhere like Portland that may be more affordable but a smaller market.
2. What's the latest on the Seattle freeze? Is it still a thing? We don't have many friends here in Houston even though we're from here so even if that was still a thing, I don't think it would bother us very much. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy good people but they aren't as abundant as they use to one might say, lol.
3. Last but not least, are there any areas you would recommend based on what was stated above? I have a contact who recommended Kent, West Seattle, or Shoreline. I'm curious as to what you guys think.
I think way too many Texans are coming to Washington. Thirty minute commutes would depend on where you work. Our traffic is truly terrible because so many people keep moving here. I'm not joking, you would have to see the commute to believe it. The pricing you are looking at would work for Kent but most people don't want to live in Kent if they can afford to live somewhere else. As for the Freeze, if we're grumpy, it could be because everyone keeps moving here and making our traffic terrible!
"In other words, an average of 236 people are moving to the Seattle area each day"
During rush hour, Kent might be close to an hour to downtown. Some parts of Kent will be further. West Seattle might be 30-45 minutes on a good day. When the tunnel goes into effect, it will take longer and be tolled. Shoreline might be your best bet, but 30 minutes will be a good day.
Door to door is really the commute number you're looking for. If you live close to I5 in Shoreline, you might get downtown in 30 minutes, but then it might take you another 20 minutes to get to your office and parked.
Try Greenwood and Crown Hill on the NW side. You might have a very hard time getting a 2 bedroom on your budget, though. For lower rents, try Shoreline, Burien, parts of West Seattle.
No one is exagerrating when they tell you how bad our traffic is or how expensive it is. It takes me 15 minutes to go less than 4 miles to work.
Last edited by RustinginSeattle; 11-07-2016 at 08:11 PM..
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,551 posts, read 81,085,957 times
Reputation: 57744
Yes, I'm afraid you would have to pay nearly double that rent to be within 1/2 hour of Seattle. The average two bedroom in Seattle is $2,795, Eastside apartments within that distance are more. You have to go an hour away to get that low, and that hour can be 90 minutes or two hours at peak commute times.
Yes, I'm afraid you would have to pay nearly double that rent to be within 1/2 hour of Seattle. The average two bedroom in Seattle is $2,795, Eastside apartments within that distance are more. You have to go an hour away to get that low, and that hour can be 90 minutes or two hours at peak commute times.
I own my house and live an hour north of Seattle, so I don't know jack about Seattle rent prices, but I do listen and read, and I know rents are skyrocketing. But...when I saw that average rents go for almost $3,000, I had to look this up on Zillow. So right now I'm on Zillow and I see a 2 bedroom in Queen Anne for $1725 a month. All the apts are tiny, and this one is no bigger - 850 sq ft, but it IS Queen Anne. 1945 10th Ave W APT 2, Seattle, WA 98119 | Zillow
I'm looking at maybe 40 or more apts for rent in Seattle proper (relatively close to I-5 between Northgate and Ravenna/UW) in the $1,250 - $1750 range right now on Zillow. Here's a relatively nice place a couple minutes from Greenlake - 2 bedrooms and 1050 sq ft for $1595. Granted, there aren't as many to choose from in this price range, but there are still a lot of choices. 2015 NE 89th St, Seattle, WA 98115 | Zillow
Now, when I enter this range - $3000 - $4000, I see probably 30 or more, and they're clustered right in downtown. I'm sure those are the high rises I see advertised in Seattle Magazine, you know, the ones with all glass walls with the view of the Olympics and a sanguine ferry coming from Bainbridge. Sure, the average might be $3000, but that doesn't seem to be representative of the inventory which appears to consist of much lower rents than $3000 because there are so many luxury high-rise apts now, and they totally skew the "average" price for what is actually available for the average person.
OP, Queen Anne is expensive real estate in Seattle, and Greenlake is a desirable area because of the shops and recreation so close by.
I think way too many Texans are coming to Washington. Thirty minute commutes would depend on where you work. Our traffic is truly terrible because so many people keep moving here. I'm not joking, you would have to see the commute to believe it. The pricing you are looking at would work for Kent but most people don't want to live in Kent if they can afford to live somewhere else. As for the Freeze, if we're grumpy, it could be because everyone keeps moving here and making our traffic terrible!
"In other words, an average of 236 people are moving to the Seattle area each day"
Note, that's not Washington State, that is Seattle specifically. We are a small geographic area, constrained by mountains and water. Take pity.
I just came back from visiting your fair city. I really liked it but don't worry I dont plan on moving there anytime soon. It's funny that this is what Texans said about out of state people moving in during the oil and gas boom years. Now it seems people are looking to escape the downturn in Texas, especially Houston. Rents were getting crazy in Houston for a while there too, now you can get 3 months free at some places. By the way I would be more worried about Californians since they are used to the high cost of living.
I just came back from visiting your fair city. I really liked it but don't worry I dont plan on moving there anytime soon. It's funny that this is what Texans said about out of state people moving in during the oil and gas boom years. Now it seems people are looking to escape the downturn in Texas, especially Houston. Rents were getting crazy in Houston for a while there too, now you can get 3 months free at some places. By the way I would be more worried about Californians since they are used to the high cost of living.
Glad you enjoyed your visit; it's a stunningly beautiful place. California is the largest contributor to our growth but Texas is second, surpassing Oregon even. The difference is most are moving specifically to the Seattle area, which is geographically very small. Texas has no such geographical constrictions so they don't see the level of density we are experiencing with all this growth. Traffic continues to deteriorate and those same constraints make it challenging to add additional highways. Time and again we see posters asking for 30 minute commutes with little understanding how close they would need to live to their work in order to make that happen.
Jealous. I wish I could escape H-town and return to the Pac NW, though I now fear that the COL there has surpassed what I will be able to afford. At least I had a good 25 year run there.
If you have the means, I would come back to Seattle and stay in the metro area for at least 14 days to get a real feel of the place. Wake up early and test the traffic and price the apartment market for yourselves.... This will give you a realistic ideal on the real PMW lifestyle. Living here vs. visiting here are totally different. IMHO. As for the cost of housing, what you what to pay for a two bedroom apartment isn't going to work in any areas that are close to downtown... Maybe for a studio apartment in an older building or one of those newer "micro apartments." Most, to include myself, either live south or north of the city to find a decent apartment or reasonable single family home.
I live in the southeast area of Auburn (Lakeland Hills) and I really like the area since its semi-peaceful and very green. Also, I'm about 10 mins. away from the Sounder train, which will take you to downtown Seattle.
I'm a "city-boy" at heart and living in Auburn is working for me since I do drive to Seattle in the evenings for entertainment when the traffic isn't bad at all or to Tacoma, which is closer than Seattle.
Granted that I do not work in Seattle, but was born and raised there, I made it a point to find employment south of the city so I can save some time in the daily commute since quality of life is more important than $$$ to me... Spending over two hours in traffic daily is something I don't want to deal with. Since you work in the IT field, you might want to look at Bellevue, which is across Lake Washington, but it isn't a cheap place to live either... Welcome to the PNW!!!
1. Location - would prefer no more than a 30 minute commute to downtown.
"Downtown" is too general an area for a commute time radius to be calculated. The areas that are within a 30-minute commute of Pioneer Square are a completely different set of areas than those that are within a 30-minute commute of South Lake Union.
Quote:
2. Affordability - looking at maybe $1400 - $1600 a month for 2 bedroom and would prefer something nice and somewhat modern. Would prefer not to live in an old beat up complex.
Not gonna happen for $1400-$1600/month.
Quote:
3. Location part 2 - would love to be somewhere where there are lots of trees and have the pacific northwest vibe that we've grown to love so much. We've been to Vancouver Island, Seattle, Olympic National Park, and a few other places and just love the trees and the ferns..have really grown to appreciate the rainforest.
There is no such place within a 30-minute commute of downtown.
Quote:
1. How is the Seattle job market been the past 10 years? We chose to check out Seattle because of our love for the pacific northwest and seems to have a large job market compared to somewhere like Portland that may be more affordable but a smaller market.
The job market is competitive. There are a lot of H1B Visa workers, a lot of top-tier companies.
Quote:
2. What's the latest on the Seattle freeze? Is it still a thing? We don't have many friends here in Houston even though we're from here so even if that was still a thing, I don't think it would bother us very much. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy good people but they aren't as abundant as they use to one might say, lol.
The absolute worst part of Seattle is the people. They are territorial, intolerant, opinionated, boring, sociopathic, elitist.
Let me put it this way: if you had a heart attack on the sidewalk, the average Seattleite and their dog would just walk over you.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
