What are the best places to live near Yakima Washington even if I have to commute 30-45 min? (Naches: school district, living)

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by lisadrfam1

Thank you very much to all the nice people who responded to my post. My husband will be working in wapato I figured it was close enough to Yakima. We will be visiting Wapato area sometime next week. I heard that Wapato is not a safe place to live. Moving from Tucson Az. There are good and bad in all towns, gangs,drugs,violence. I don't wan't my kids to get caught up in all of that. We are very fortunate to have a grat school district in our town. What about Kittitas? sorry about the spelling. Thanks again!

Don't know much about Kittitas; the only times I was there was on a school bus at night for sporting events. If you're working in Wapato, that's kind of a long commute from Ellensburg. Living in Wapato wouldn't be my choice. In your situation, I'd pick Prosser. Very straight commute, very rarely impacted by adverse weather. You'll have to huff feedlot but it can't be helped--just think of all the beer those hop fields make possible.

[rkcarguy]

Originally Posted by j_k_k

Plus, on the ridges between *** and E-burg, there is a sort of vortex that attracts all of the world's worst drivers. The locals know what to do, but the truckers don't care--one truck going 45 (in a 70) will gladly hog the passing lane going uphill to pass another truck going 42. RVs climbing the hills slow down to geologic time. While it's surprising how often the ridges are bare and dry in winter, they can be very dangerous when it's windy and snowy. You really, really would just absolutely not enjoy going into a skid headed down a 5% slope (I think at least one of the ridges exceeds this, could be more).

I think trucks enjoy getting side by side over that pass, which is also noted on the map as "rattlesnake hills". I've been over that several times in both a sports sedan and a truck full of dirt bikes and found myself sliding all over on the dust/sand on the road, and getting about 4mpg on that long ugly climb respectively.
Wapato is a bit ghetto, that was one of those "remove the stereo face hide valuables under the seats and set the alarm" type place when we stayed there a couple years ago.

[lisadrfam1]

Thank you I will check into Ellensburg and Prosser for sure, we will be going to look around next week.

[KAILANI]

I don't know much about the commute times, but I go out to MOSES LAKE every summer, and I like it out there. It looks like they are really trying to revamp the town, there's new stuff out there every time I visit! The people are so friendly. Prices are affordable, a lot of new home construction. The main street is pretty cute..
I love the lake! Great place for kids to grow up on!!

Anyone know how far the commute would be???

[fy10fyr]

Originally Posted by KAILANI

I don't know much about the commute times, but I go out to MOSES LAKE every summer, and I like it out there. It looks like they are really trying to revamp the town, there's new stuff out there every time I visit! The people are so friendly. Prices are affordable, a lot of new home construction. The main street is pretty cute..
I love the lake! Great place for kids to grow up on!!

Anyone know how far the commute would be???

Moses Lake is way too far from Yakima to commute.

[KAILANI]

Thanks, I wasn't sure..

I wish I could own a summer home in Moses, what a great place!

[zonagirl07]

we moved to tacoma two years ago.hate it.to close together and to wet!!!!Went to Yakima for the first time and it was almost like AZ but no raging heat.We are also thinking of relocating there,I need vitamin D.Serious sun difficeincy on the west side of WA!!!I miss the sky but I saw it today.I hear the North side,north of twentieth street and the norheast of Yakima are okay.Hear terrace heights is okay.Don't go south of first street cuz you will think you are in south tucson.Also hear Selah is allright.Went through it and it seemed interesting.Everything is seriously different here but when i came over the mountains I almost felt at home.Room to spread out and even to park your car.Alot of blue sky and sunshine.Feel free to pose any questions from one tucsonan to another.Didn't look at dates you have probably been here already.......Anyway good luck with your decision.

[donna garner]

Selah is the greatest place to live anywhere near Yakima. Low Low crime rate! A city of around 5,000 people the greatest school district ever. We have our own city government so you can access and participate in your community and what you want it to be. We have locally controled school district with our own school board . No segregation. We have a wonderful park and recreation dept that does all kinds of kid and family activities. We have a senior citizen center and a youth center run by a partnership of the community, the city, and the school district. All kinds of sports activities are supported by our community. We access the freeway at the north and south end of town that can take you directly to wapato for work. Our schools are small, we have lots of churches and our business district is growing. We have two major grocery stores and 4 gas stations lots of expresso stands. Ha. The realestate market holds or grows its value better than any other community around inc. Yakima.

[Billard]

We are in our late 50's and are looking to relocate to central Washington area. We have always lived in Olympia and need to get out of the constant rain! We have been considering Yakima and some areas close to Yakima.
The problem is that everywhere we we consider there appears to be huge gang and crime problems. Toppenish sounded great till we found out how much crime it has. We heard Selah was better. We also heard Ellensburg was good too but don't want to settle in a college town. Is there any nice, safer, good area to enjoy the Central Washington landscape and weather?

[skinem]

Billard, as has been said on this thread, if you are looking close to Yakima, the places that have the kind of weather you are looking for and are safe is Selah, Naches, Highland, Gleed areas. A lot of folks get out in the West Valley area. Of these places, I've found that Selah seems to have a greater sense of community.
I'd just ditto what donna garner said a year ago about Selah...great schools, good people. It's amazing the difference the ridge separating Yakima and Selah makes...


I think Wenatchee might also fit what you're looking for, but winters are a bit tougher there than in the Yakima area.