Help me pick a Washington City (Seattle, Tacoma: hair salon, condos, low crime)

[supersavina]

I'm looking for a city that meets this criteria as closely as possible:
-low crime (less loud and unrefined people who steal)
-well-kept, upscale feel
-suburban or mid-size
-good place to meet a working professional husband in his 30s (more or less)
-less kids and dogs, more cats (more or less)
-green living, vegetarian-friendly sorta people who also shop at Nordstrom (less dreadlocks and pot)
-pretty, green, good access to hiking
-good, newer housing stock

[NWbyNW]

Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Mill Creek, parts of Everett, parts of Seattle, certain aspects of Bellingham. If you want me to go more in depth or have specifics further, I can go into them. Just ask.

BELLEVUE




Meet Bellevue. It is an upscale and urban city just east of downtown Seattle. Lots of young professionalism, middle class, and wealthy people live in and around Bellevue. Some of the smaller communities around Bellevue are known for their extremely wealthy, but nice green neighborhoods, like Clyde Hill, Medina, and Yarrow Point. Downtown Bellevue is the eastside's shopping center and is highly developed with new sidewalks, landscapes, and ongoing construction projects. Suburban neighborhoods surround Bellevue. If you got the money, and want a cool city/mountain view home, check out Somerset Hill. Otherwise a more green vibe area would be homes around Bellevue's Crossroads Mall to the east. Bellevue has been in a building boom for over ten years now.

-low crime
-well-kept, upscale feel
-suburban or mid-size
-good place to meet a working professional husband in his 30s (more or less)
-less kids and dogs, more cats
-green living, vegetarian-friendly sorta people who also shop at Nordstrom
-pretty, green, good access to hiking
-good, newer housing stock

KIRKLAND





Kirkland is just north of Bellevue. Downtown is an urban center with lots of small shops, and the Kirkland waterfront is a popular hot spot, especially during the summer. The neighborhoods surrounding Kirkland's downtown vary from urban to suburban. The city is mostly wealthy and many of the people work at jobs with Microsoft or other high tech jobs in Bellevue. Crime is low, and the city is well kept up, and always changing. A construction boom has also been going on, transforming the downtown corridor the past several years.

-low crime
-well-kept, upscale feel
-suburban or mid-size
-good place to meet a working professional husband in his 30s (more or less) (Bellevue)
-less kids and dogs, more cats
-green living, vegetarian-friendly sorta people who also shop at Nordstrom (Closest Nordstrom in Bellevue, 10 mins away)
-pretty, green, good access to hiking
-good, newer housing stock (In areas, mostly new condos downtown)

REDMOND



Home to Microsoft, downtown Redmond is under a building boom with mid rise condos rising right up out of the ground. Traffic is currently a mess, but they promise this will be fixed. The Redmond Town Centre is am upscale shopping center in the heart of downtown with two outdoor (some covered) layers of shopping fun. There are many nice, quiet neighborhoods around the city. Did I mention many city streets are tree lined? Nice big wide sidewalks for peaceful walks. The city is very safe and you are also very close to Bellevue if needed. A quick drive out of Redmond to the east reveals untapped valleys of farmland and forest.

-low crime
-well-kept, upscale feel
-suburban or mid-size
-good place to meet a working professional husband in his 30s (more or less)
-less kids and dogs, more cats
-green living, vegetarian-friendly sorta people who also shop at Nordstrom (One in town)
-pretty, green, good access to hiking
-good, newer housing stock

MILL CREEK



A smaller town to the north of Seattle, and south of Everett. Mill Creek is ranked one of the top cities in Washington State. The downtown is clustered around a main street that winds between trees and trails. Small shops dot the main street and surrounding downtown you got tons of nice neighborhoods that come complete with amenities such as wide trails, tennis courts, and more. The city was built as a planned community, so the neighborhoods are well made and now have mature trees too. There are also many newer developments. Downtown is adding some more urban living as well.

-low crime
-well-kept, upscale feel
-suburban or mid-size
-good place to meet a working professional husband in his 30s (more or less) (maybe?)
-less kids and dogs, more cats (In areas, but is also an area where kids live)
-green living, vegetarian-friendly sorta people who also shop at Nordstrom
-pretty, green, good access to hiking (East county has it all)
-good, newer housing stock


EVERETT




Don't let Everett scare you. It's roots are purely blue collar, and hard working. But there are very nice areas people often overlook. Downtown is nice and filled with many nifty shops. The waterfront is continuing to change, and a summer farmers market is hard to be matched by anyone as it sits perched right on the docks between sailboats and fishing boats. Yes, some people give Everett a bad rap, but they just think of it's past. It is still a mostly middle class city, but I am going to focus on the neighborhoods to the east, near Mukilteo. They have great access to the shopping needed in downtown, or nearby Everett Mall or Alderwood Mall. These neighborhoods sit on forested hills with sweeping Puget Sound views of various islands including Whidbey, Camano, and Hat Island. The Cascade and Olympic Mountains are in view at all times, and the sunsets are truly stunning. You also are nearby Mukilteo for their farmers market and ferry rides to Whidbet Island for a peaceful day of island life in Langley or Coupeville. The city of Everett has events year round, and over 110 parks, including beach access at Howarth, Harborview, and the massively forested and trail laden Forest Park. It also has a pool! A free ferry ride to Jetty Island in the summer takes you to an island getaway with sandy white beaches, free of charge. Downtown is also seeing a building boom with more mid rise buildings being built.

-low crime (Parts of Everett have higher crime, but the areas I am talking about are very low, and police response is among the quickest in the state, taking only a few minutes.)
-well-kept, upscale feel (Crew are seen daily planting trees and flowers, cleaning streets, etc. The city has it's own gardens to plant trees.)
-suburban or mid-size
-good place to meet a working professional husband in his 30s (more or less) (maybe? Near Boeing)
-less kids and dogs, more cats (In areas, but is also an area where kids live)
-green living, vegetarian-friendly sorta people who also shop at Nordstrom
-pretty, green, good access to hiking (Yeah, literally all around you.)
-good, newer housing stock (Just look in the right areas)

BELLINGHAM



Bellingham is far from the buzz of Seattle's metro. It is a different pace of life to say the least. Things go by slower here. Luckily these far northern town has all the shopping amenities needed and a popular downtown filled with life. Many quiet neighborhoods exist including the serene Lake Whatcom, along the waterfront in Fairhaven, or up Alabama Hill with great views of downtown, Lummi Island, and the San Juans. The mentality of this town is very unique, as you can't go anywhere without seeing a "GREEN" bumper sticker. People are all about eating local, going to Trader Joe's, walking their pets, or driving a Subaru or hybrid. Great paths including trails all around the city and the popular Lake Padden loop. One of the states biggest farmers markets happens every Saturday in downtown during the on-season. Bellingham is very nature friendly, very green, and a hidden enclave of that culture in Washington State.

-low crime
-well-kept, upscale feel (It is a more "natural" place, but there are some newer upscale areas around Barkley Hill.
-suburban or mid-size
-good place to meet a working professional husband in his 30s (more or less) (Probably not)
-less kids and dogs, more cats
-green living, vegetarian-friendly sorta people who also shop at Nordstrom
-pretty, green, good access to hiking
-good, newer housing stock (Varies of course)

[NW Crow]

That was a generous detailed response NWbyNW.

Olympia could be another option.

[PS90]

Originally Posted by supersavina

I'm looking for a city that meets this criteria as closely as possible:
-low crime (less loud and unrefined people who steal)
-well-kept, upscale feel
-suburban or mid-size
-good place to meet a working professional husband in his 30s (more or less)
-less kids and dogs, more cats (more or less)
-green living, vegetarian-friendly sorta people who also shop at Nordstrom (less dreadlocks and pot)
-pretty, green, good access to hiking
-good, newer housing stock

It's funny. This OP does not want to live around people that are "loud and unrefined", or have dreadlocks or smoke pot, and does not want to live around kids or dogs - and no one bats an eye.

But the couple of times recently that an OP has posted that he wants to live in an area with "low diversity" - the liberals on here jump down his throat and start throwing around their favorite word ("bigot" - of course).

Just think that's funny, is all...

[Count David]

The only answer to this query is Bellevue IMO.

[supersavina]

Thanks NWbyNW!

I'm actually female. I never said I wanted to live in a place with low diversity. Just a place where the first language is English so there is not such a cultural divide present.

[xboxmas]

In addition to what NWbyNW said, I would recommend Issaquah. Here are pictures I could find:

Issaquah:




As soon as you leave the city limits, you are literally in the foothills so there are a lot of great areas for hiking.

[supersavina]

Issaquah looks pretty nice. I wonder if it might be a bit too far from choice amenities. One thing I love about living close to a city is having so many restaurant options. But thanks guys, that'll do it.

[xboxmas]

The next city over from Issaquah is Bellevue, which had the Bellevue Square shopping mall. So it's pretty close to big city conveniences.

[Blondebaerde]

Originally Posted by NWbyNW

Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Mill Creek, parts of Everett, parts of Seattle, certain aspects of Bellingham. If you want me to go more in depth or have specifics further, I can go into them. Just ask.

BELLEVUE

KIRKLAND

REDMOND

MILL CREEK

EVERETT

BELLINGHAM

Quite the detailed answer, thanks for the work! That took some time and thought.

Having lived in two of the above, will suggest OP did not mention much about "proximity to the (only) major metro area in WA State, Seattle." That matters for a host of reasons.

First thought was Bellingham, that being a city not particularly near any other city but meeting many (most?) of OP's criteria.

Of those mentioned by the quoted response, to be clear Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, and Mill Creek are part of the contiguous Seattle metro area. Arbitrarily, I suppose, or we could say that Kirkland and Redmond are satellites of the city in its own right Bellevue.

Mill Creek is north end, Everett a hop and skip further north but IMO something like part of the Seattle metro area, if we could consider Tacoma to be similar to the south.

I have no complaints about Kirkland (at-present) or Mill Creek (in the past), though the latter was something of an unpleasant-but-do-able commute to either Seattle downtown or eastside (Bel-Kirk-Red-Issaquah). Did that commute a decade.

Being a resident, I'm a Kirkland-booster and wholeheartedly recommend it for the amusing downtown vibe (six hair salons, last I counted, in several blocks?). The Lake WA views are gorgeous year-round. Outside the condos, close to downtown, is a curious mix of older and newer homes. Million dollar renovations, no exaggeration, next to dumps that should be burned down in the name of neighborhood renovation. Somehow, it's all rather endearing and I couldn't be dragged away from the place.