Seattle costs of living

[dreamer0423]

Originally Posted by amaiunmei

You can make more money doing ANYTHING other than caregiving in any capacity.

If you are a barista in this town, you can likely make $10k more a year.

If you are a waiter, you can make $20-25k more a year than being a caregiver/childcare worker.

That one fact ALONE severely constrains supply. It's a simple business concept. That is not taking into consideration other factors ... but basically, there is a sizable chunk of the potential workforce (mostly female) that sits on the sidelines for years because childcare is too expensive but they don't make enough $$$ to justify working so they stay at home with the kids.

So yeah, lots of women choose not to work & rely on the other person's salary (usually an IT salary). FYI

Originally Posted by elkotronics

This^^^^^.

I really think that to be a caregiver a woman has to really, really love children. That job would be the equivalent of stepping in to hell and staying in utter hell until shift time was up. For me.

Yikes. Lower pay and hell from kids all through the day. Imagine their whiny voices going on for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours. And you get a grand total of $9.00 an hour for your trouble.

I respect children workers and think that they deserve good pay.

Usually I think there could be walk home/ pooling options to optimise costs.

[Montezia]

I am a singleton but in your case I reccommend the suburbs of Seattle. I would check out Renton. It's close and cheaper. Kent, Everett and parts of North Seattle (Lake City seems to have relatively cheaper rent for Seattle) are also better places for family.

It's a long commute but a ton of people travel in between Tacoma and here regularly. I'm not suggesting you have to do it. With the cost of living here in Seattle (I live in North Seattle) I'm not sure I cannot reccommend Seattle for a family on an income less than 150k per yr.

Good luck and welcome to Seattle!

[dreamer0423]

Thanks Montezia.

I won't move if it means either long commute or not-great school, as they are very important to me and I get that where I am.

Not that I can't afford after school care, I am just having to consider doing something that I'm not accustomed to. In my current place my kids walk home with no problem.

For the standard of living that I mentioned in the beginning post, would you reckon that it would cost 120k per year (net) or more to realise?

[Montezia]

Yea. I make 60k here and get along great. But for me if I wasn't paying for classes at Gage academy (I really enjoy the school but not some of the people) I could afford a studio fairly easily. Although it would be a studio on the lower end. I also take the bus too which is good. Car expenses definitely would raise someone's living budget especially a family. 50 to 60k seems to be the minimum amount of money per year to be comfortable here. And on this income you aren't likely to be driving some expensive car.

It stands to reason that a family definitely could not survive on 60k a year w/o some form of welfare. The rent alone for a 2 to 3 bedroom is at least 2k a month. And this amount won't get you something too nice if you are lucky to find it. It's lower outside of the main Seattle area.

Food is also very expensive here even for one person. I used to live in nyc and I believe food here is more expensive than in nyc. The food is also of a higher quality too. School supplies and basic necessities for kids are expensive as well. Even thrift stores here are expensive.

So yea I would have to reccommend a family of 3 to 4 to have a household income of at least 120k to be comfortable here. Not rich by any means or even just barely getting by (that's not fun no matter where you live)

[dreamer0423]

Thank you Montezia for your response. It does sound expensive...

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by dreamer0423

My hubby is in IT (as anyone else it seems). I'm working out to see if it's worth the move financially.

I'm considering Lower Queen Anne (and aware that I may need to downgrade quality or upgrade costs) but looking everywhere just in case there's a better idea.

Lower Queen Anne has a lot of positives. It is close-in, has lots of transit options, and will shorten the commute to Downtown (20-25 minutes). The Seattle Center has lots of festivals, events, and other attractions, plus it is great for just walking - there's the Children's Theater. the Children's Museum, Pacific Science Center, a Children's Festival, Artists at Play (an artist-created playground), fountains and wading pools (water-play in summer), and music, dance, and drama venues. There are lots of inexpensive (for Seattle) dining options. Besides downsizing to a 2-bedroom (kids bunking up), you can step-down to one-car.

LQA does have some negatives. It is more expensive. It is denser and noisier, and has more homeless and petty crime than areas further out. It is not as convenient for commuting to the Eastside. For other close-in options, look at east Magnolia, the west edge of Queen Anne (one to three blocks off 15th Ave W), Squire Park, North Beacon Hill, etc.

[leastprime]

CoL in Seattle region really isn't too bad if you know where to shop. Just us 2.
Food General items: Fred Meyer, Costco, Smart Foods, Grocery Outlet
Meats and Fish: Asian Food Store.
Specialty Food: Asian Food Store.
Summer fruits: Local farmer market. We buy seconds. We used to farm.

Electricity: Cheaper Eastside Puget Sound Energy, than Portland General service area, Oregon midvalley Suburban.
Gas service: unknown, we live in a condo. In Oregon, we paid ~60/mn average, 1600sgft SFH.
Water and Sewer seems to be less expensive in Eastside vs OR.
Property taxes: Comparable millage rate. But since housing is more expensive in Seattle metro, the PT is higher. One of the issues in PT in Oregon is that population is growing with new families with kids and the cost of new schools is spread over fewer housing units be it apartments, condos, or SFH.

Good Luck.
YMMV, we are retired seniors.

[dreamer0423]

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

Lower Queen Anne has a lot of positives. It is close-in, has lots of transit options, and will shorten the commute to Downtown (20-25 minutes). The Seattle Center has lots of festivals, events, and other attractions, plus it is great for just walking - there's the Children's Theater. the Children's Museum, Pacific Science Center, a Children's Festival, Artists at Play (an artist-created playground), fountains and wading pools (water-play in summer), and music, dance, and drama venues. There are lots of inexpensive (for Seattle) dining options. Besides downsizing to a 2-bedroom (kids bunking up), you can step-down to one-car.

LQA does have some negatives. It is more expensive. It is denser and noisier, and has more homeless and petty crime than areas further out. It is not as convenient for commuting to the Eastside. For other close-in options, look at east Magnolia, the west edge of Queen Anne (one to three blocks off 15th Ave W), Squire Park, North Beacon Hill, etc.

Thanks CrazyDonkey. This is helpful. Given one day I may ask my kids to walk home, the crime rate is something I need to be mindful of.

Your suggestions are great. Opened up my eyes. I'll study those more. Magnolia looks gorgeous.

[dreamer0423]

Originally Posted by leastprime

CoL in Seattle region really isn't too bad if you know where to shop. Just us 2.
Food General items: Fred Meyer, Costco, Smart Foods, Grocery Outlet
Meats and Fish: Asian Food Store.
Specialty Food: Asian Food Store.
Summer fruits: Local farmer market. We buy seconds. We used to farm.

Electricity: Cheaper Eastside Puget Sound Energy, than Portland General service area, Oregon midvalley Suburban.
Gas service: unknown, we live in a condo. In Oregon, we paid ~60/mn average, 1600sgft SFH.
Water and Sewer seems to be less expensive in Eastside vs OR.
Property taxes: Comparable millage rate. But since housing is more expensive in Seattle metro, the PT is higher. One of the issues in PT in Oregon is that population is growing with new families with kids and the cost of new schools is spread over fewer housing units be it apartments, condos, or SFH.

Good Luck.
YMMV, we are retired seniors.

Thanks leastprime for your suggestions. I'll look more into these once I'm closer in that stage. You shopping habit sounds just like mine, so it sounds really practical to me.