Considering a move to the Olympia area (Seattle, Tacoma: apartments, city hall)

[Deacon328]

I work for the state of Washington, an opportunity may arrise that would allow me to move to the Olympia area. I am way out west now on the Olympic Peninsula and ended up not liking it out there. WAY to much rain and the town closes up at 7 pm. I'm not a partier or anything but would like some activities after work, cultural or otherwise.

I would be working in downtown Olympia.

My questions are:

If I don't mind about a 30 - 40 minute commute what are some good outlying areas to live?

Is the traffic in the morning/afternoon (8 - 4:30) bad?

Are there towns or area that I should avoid?


Would like a house but will settle for a duplex or larger apartment.

Late forties, single and like outdoors type actiivities. (Hiking, want to learn to sail and self admitted metal detector nerd)

Thanks everyone

[poopskooper]

Why would you want to even consider a 30-40 minute commute? I would think you'd want to find a place within Olympia itself if you will be working in downtown Olympia. Central Olympia is great as is anywhere within the Olympia city limits. Living in Olympia or Lacey you still will be close to rural areas for recreation. I see no reason to live 30-40 minutes away unless you specifically want to live in a very rural area away from urban or suburban areas. If so, there are lots of places to consider such as Yelm, Tenino, Rainier, and rural areas outside of Tumwater, etc.

Thurston county is definitely not crime free but I don't really think there is anyplace to avoid.

There is a slight "rush hour" in the Olympia/Lacey/Tumwater mini-metroplex but it can't be compared anywhere with the congestion in the Seattle/Tacoma areas and their immediate suburbs.

[Bill Loney]

Agreed. No reason to commute. Olympia is a cool town.

[Deacon328]

I understand what you are saying about the commute, right now my commute is 1 1/2 hours each way, so 30 minutes would be like a dream. The facility is literally located in God's country in the wilderness, nearest decent town is 55 miles on curvy roads.

My only issue I forgot to mention was that I need a shop or at least single car garage. I do some charity work with dogs with physical challenges and I need some space, that's why I wanted to go rural. I moved here from St. Louis and a majority of the apartments or condos near the city center don't have garages, guess I was assuming Olympia was the same.

[lady fern]

I would look on the outskirts of Olympia to the south or west. You should be able to find something reasonable with a garage.

[argonaught]

I've lived here in Olympia (an 8-minute drive from downtown, just north of Priest Point Park) after having lived in Portland for five years. As has been noted, there are good places to live both in and outside of Olympia proper, but bear in mind that home prices in town and on the outskirts are notably higher (I'd say about 25% just off the cuff) than if you choose to live in a nearby outlying area (Rochester, Tenino, etc). If you don't mind the commute and need or want to save a little money on home price and property taxes, bear that in mind.

I can't comment so much on the rush hour traffic since I work at home, but I can tell you that it can get congested on I-5, particularly around the exit to get onto Hwy 101. If and when I find myself in that area around rush hour, I'll frequently get off of I-5 a few exits in advance of where I was going and take local roads.

Some folks will tell you to avoid Centralia as it's something of a heaven for the meth crowd. I don't know about that from personal experience, but I can believe it based on certain areas. (By all means though, DO go to the Olympic Club in Centralia!) Tumwater is worth checking out (it's basically a suburb of Olympia, but don't let them hear you say that), and if you're up for a drive or living in the area then the Chehalis historic downtown area is nice enough, but small, and there's really not much going on of note in the other outlying towns except for a rural, country vibe. Shelton is considered to be a little more "out in the sticks" with all of the preconceived notions of the kind of people who live in the sticks, but I'll let you discover on your own whether that's true or not.

The one area of downtown which no one here has mentioned but really should is 4th Ave. It's full of folks who are "colorful bohemians" or "unsavory ne'er-do-wells", depending on who you talk to; which is to say, a lot of poor vagrants (and college kids from Evergreen dressing the part for a year or two) congregate there (especially around the locally-famous artesian well, and ironically by the new City Hall building). There are also some clearly meth-addled folks, too, which I attribute to the fact that Olympia is right on the 1-5 corridor, and the only big town of note between Portland and Seattle. There isn't trouble with them very often, but it's not exactly unheard of.

Fourth Ave is the main drag in Olympia, with several shops and restaurants, so it's difficult to avoid it altogether, but it's interesting to note that almost none of those human variables exist just one street away on 5th Ave. Fifth Ave will also lead you to Heritage Park which surrounds Capitol Lake -- that's a nice place to walk or run, lay out on the grass, and relax.

Oh, and about the weather. Olympia is in a narrow band which gets significantly more precipitation per year than even other parts of WA state, including Seattle. That translates into a lot of overcast skies and misty, light rain for eight months of the year. Hopefully you enjoy reading books by the fire, gaming on your PC, and/or are impervious to depression!

If you do end up coming out this way, then welcome, and enjoy. There are some fine things to see and do in the area.