Best city for young family seeking employment (Seattle, Tacoma: apartments, to rent)

[retiredboomers]

Hello, my son and his family are going to move to Washington in a month. Currently one of them is working remotely so they will have an income for some time. Their current monthly income is about 3200 a month. They would like to find employment in Washington. They are looking at Olympia but I am wondering if that is a good city in Washington to find a job. Currently they are employed by a university doing IT and administrative work. They also have 2 young children so schools and crime are important. They want to be by hiking trails and nature.

[StealthRabbit]

Olympia area (or commutable) is probably a good choice considering they will have a much lower housing budget than would work in Seattle area.

I expect there will be lay-offs of state workers (Olympia), otherwise they might gain employment there. But... with state / Corp layoffs, come more IT 'contractor' positions... +/-

Centralia is commutable from Olympia, but if they are coming for the hiking / terrain / peacefulness of WA, they should stay clear of I-5 locations and find a nice little community back in the woods. (Eatonville?)

Steer clear of Grays Harbor and Longview (low housing costs / high(er) crime / drug problems)

What climate to they prefer? (Wet, moderate, and dark,(West side of Cascades) or dry, (hot and cold), and gray (East side WA))

Vancouver / Camas WA is worth a look, as they can also work in metro Portland (9% Oregon income tax)

Best bet in WA is to work from home.

[retiredboomers]

I would say moderate. They love taking their kids to parks and putting them in a stroller and walking nature trails. Thank you for your quick reply.

[StealthRabbit]

Biking with a young family is very nice as well, BUT roads are narrow and dark, so really need a nice community with lots of trails. (North Bonneville, WA) HS internet there! Really nice views and constantly changing weather. (and quite inexpensive)

[Diana Holbrook]

The Olympia/Tumwater/Lacey area is a good strong jobs market, and there should be good opportunities in IT for the foreseeable future, with more people working from home.

Of the three cities, I might recommend Tumwater over Olympia, and that's not just because I'm from there. It's because much of the recent new shopping is in Tumwater, with Costco, Fred Meyer, Walmart, Home Depot all within about a mile of each other... pretty much anything you need is there, and Tumwater School District is a good district, in my not-so humble alumni opinion.

The other benefit to Tumwater, over Olympia, is Olympia's current homeless situation. Olympia has a homeless problem. Unfortunately in Olympia, there are very visible and garbage-strewn homeless camps, in the woods and bushes all alongside the freeway and in a few other locations. While there are occasional camps and issues in other parts of the cities and county areas, I think Olympia has been the most burdened by it, with the least effective plan for dealing with it. They need to get their act together and I don't know when to hope that will happen.

Even in Olympia, the main problem is largely contained within a few locations, it's not everywhere and it is fairly easy to avoid the problem areas, but it's an eyesore that depresses me. It was not always like this. It has exploded on us in the last few years, and I'm afraid the solution is still being argued about. I wouldn't rule out the whole city by any means, there are good areas in Olympia, you just need to be careful to look around for camp activity or traffic when looking. I think the West Side of Olympia is better.... many areas outside of town are nice, if they want a more suburban feel.

There aren't a lot of camps, or any, that I know of in Tumwater, and I think those that do spring up in Lacey are dealt with a little better than Olympia. Of course, the solution there may be to kick them out so they go back to Olympia. I don't know any more.

For us, living in the area (we actually live about 15 miles south) we feel safe enough traveling anywhere, and do most of our shopping either in Tumwater or South of here in Centralia.

You should have access to good cable internet unless you're quite rural, and even then, it depends on the location. For example here, we have cable out at the main road, but not up our long private lane... and the cost to bring it up the lane is on us... so we still get by with DSL internet and satellite TV.

Lots of nature trails out here... lots of places to do biking. Lots of places where old rail lines have been converted to bike paths. There are a lot of rural roads that don't necessarily have bike lanes or shoulders, that's true, but people do it and most of us go around them safely without problems.

I think that covers it for now... better stop before it's too long to read! Ask if there are other questions, happy to offer opinion and help!

[Ruth4Truth]

OP, I don't know why you're second-guessing Olympia. As others have said, there are lots of government jobs, and there's also a university there; Evergreen State College. They can start reading the job listings there today, if they want. Tacoma also has a branch of the University of Washington. I don't know how practical a commute from Olympia to Tacoma would be (it's an easy drive during non-commute hours), but others here could speak to that.

Olympia is a bit rainier than Seattle, but given that the climate is getting drier late spring through early fall, IMO more rain isn't a bad thing. It keeps the fire risk low, and the need for summer water rationing will be lower than elsewhere.

[retiredboomers]

One thing I noticed when looking at apartments in Tumwater and Olympia many people complain about mold and ants on apartmentratings. Is this a huge problem?

[Diana Holbrook]

Well, Washington is damp by nature, and closed spaces will mold when it's damp... but I have never had mold in my house. Barring a leak or accident, chronic mold is usually a defect in the design of a space or a building construction fault.

Ants... house ants, are a result of leaving food out. Carpenter ants are a building maintenance issue.

Neither should be normal in well kept apartments with fairly clean tenants. But lots of bad apartment reviews are written by people with a grudge... so I'd take them in combination with what you can see in person.

[Garethe]

Olympia is great, but I would expand outward at least a little bit, possibly up toward Tacoma/Pierce County. Covid related budget shortfalls have led to a hiring freeze, but government jobs are not easily obtainable by people anyway, the process can take weeks to months, and few can go that long without money to put food on the table.

Tacoma will at least have a good temporary/temp2hire/contract career path to pursue which is great for people transitioning, it's also not unheard of to get into government positions this way, I did at one time years ago, IT professionals should not have any problem.

As to apartments/condos/flats, mold is a problem pretty much everywhere, no matter how cheap or expensive, it's a damp climate, with 100% humidity for much of the fall/winter/early spring seasons. I've also managed buildings before and I will tell you what I used to tell tenants, do not ignore it. You see mold, get some hot water and a little bleach, and scrub. Stay on top of it and it's manageable; keep closet doors open if possible with air circulating through them, mold can appear anywhere, but it especially likes dark, closed off places like basements.

As to ants: hard to completely eliminate, but don't be afraid to ask managers and current tenants what's going on. Complexes without an effective vermin control program will suffer the most; because the worst thing they can do is leave it to the tenants to deal with. Retail sprays like Raid and baits can make it worse. If you are absolutely bug terrified or squeemish as I am, look for a condo to rent, it's an investment for most, so more incentive to control such situations.

Hiking anywhere in Western Washington won't be an issue, lots of urban trails as well.

Can't speak about schools though, I have no children. But I'm sure others can.

Hope this helps!

[CrazyDonkey]

Tacoma and Puyallup are worth looking at, since there are good scoring schools and you can commute on Sounder commuter rail to IT jobs in Seattle.