Moving to Seattle, need some advice... (violent crime, house, neighborhoods)

[skogerboe]

Hey, I am 23 single male and I am just about to graduate from school in Colorado. I have lived here my entire life and I need a change. I was thinking about moving to Seattle, I have been there before and I love it, specifically the rain. I do not have a job lined up and would most likely not get a very high paying job, well not a first at least. I was curious if the cost of living would be too much for me to handle. I want to live in a youthful area, near downtown or UW. Are jobs hard to find and would a mediocre job set me back? Where is a good place to live? What kind of prices should I expect? Just lay it on me, thanks

[Heiwos]

It's good you like rain! My advice: First check out the recent threads from other similar queries. Lots of great neighborhoods for young folk listed therein, including pros and cons. Then do a craigslist search to see prices in those neighborhoods, possibly including sharing situations. (Sharing a house is often the best bet at your age, IMO.) Then check the major job sites for what you'll be doing for a living, to get a feel for what's available. Like most of the country, Seattle is tanking economically. We should fare better than most of the other states though, due to some luck and pretty good state / local management. You'll notice on those other threads that the UW area (U-District) is hardly mentioned. That's because it's a hellhole relative to the other neighborhoods; it's frequently in the paper for violent crime, and has drugged-up panhandlers galore. I would get the job first, and then finalize the neighborhood choice based on bus routes to work.