Most Affordable Suburbs? (Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma: apartments, rentals, house)

[MrFreeze2014]

Hi, everyone.

I live in Minnesota and I'd really like to move out of the frozen North after I finish school at the end of this year. I'm hoping someone here can tell me where're the most affordable suburbs in Washington. Although I plan on having a job lined up before I even move out there, I think the major cities might be too expensive, but I'd like to be as close to one as I can afford to be. I'm not totally sure what my budget will be, but I'm hoping to find rent for around $600/mo, maybe $700. Keep in mind, I don't expect to have my own place to start off. I fully expect to have roommates in a shared house or apartment. I'm okay with that. Everybody seems to think these cities are prohibitively expensive; yeah, if you're looking to live alone, but it seems like any place is more affordable if you're willing to share it. Eventually, I want my own place, of course, but I'm used to having roommates, by now.

But I digress. Does anyone know where I can live for $600-$700/mo - with roommates - that's close to a bigger city?

Thanks, everyone. I appreciate your help.

[Hemlock140]

This is not the frozen north, in fact last winter we had no snow in Western WA
and very little even in the mountains. It's been in the 90s for a week.

Look at the listings in Cheney, WA. As a college town there are many shared rentals at $300-400, and apartments for $600-700. It's only 20 minutes from Spokane, and does get much colder in winter with an average of 40" snow over 34 days.

[StealthRabbit]

Most any suburb in WA (not including nearby Seattle) will work for a 'shared' space under $600/ month.

Name your weather (Climate) / school / career / entertainment / recreation / employment needs and we can fix you up.

What is your skillset?

[CrazyDonkey]

The most affordable suburbs (Lynnwood, Federal Way, etc.) can be difficult to live in without a car - you'll be working or riding transit (work, shopping, appointments, etc.), but not much else.

Most room shares, on the other hand are in the central Seattle area (Capitol Hill), U District, Queen Anne, Ballard, etc.), where you can easily live without a car. It'll also give you much better access to the Seattle area job market. Living without a car can easily save you $500+/month. That should allow you to raise your budget up to $850/month or so:

https://seattle.craigslist.org/searc...?max_price=850

You can probably find a room-share in a walkable Tacoma neighborhood for $500/month that won't require a car. Tacoma has a significant job market, but not near as big as Seattle's - you can commute to Seattle on Sounder, however.