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Anyone lived in Seattle?

9 replies

Peridotty · 30/09/2021 02:15

Hi! I am thinking of moving to Seattle in a couple of years time. Anyone lived there? We have a young child. Our combined household income would be about $500k. I would like to know which parts to live in, if it's walkable, what the culture is like, is it easy to live in for a brit, is it interesting!! We prefer to use public transport if possible but with my job I will probably have to drive.

Thank you.

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RatherEmbarassed · 30/09/2021 02:41

Brit in Seattle reporting in for duty! Happy to help. May I ask why Seattle specifically? Would it be the city or could it be surrounding area? I ask because the city has got more 'rough' over the years, most people I know move out/ to the other side of the lake where it is "nicer" when they have kids. The scenery is stunning, I love living here, wouldn't do downtown though

Peridotty · 30/09/2021 02:50

@RatherEmbarassed
So glad you replied!! I want to move to Seattle because I can only be licensed to work in certain states with my degree (from the UK). One of those handful of states includes Seattle. My husband is a software engineer so I heard Seattle was a good place for that. I have never been. Just heard things about it: the rain, the homelessness, the beauty of the outdoors, good sushi restaurants.
In terms of area, I am open to living close to Seattle like Bellevue, Mercer Island, etc etc.
I actually don't know much about Seattle. Please enlighten me!! Thank you!!!! xx

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RatherEmbarassed · 30/09/2021 03:12

lol, rain, homelessness, beautiful outdoors and sushi is quite a good summary. Would you be coming from the UK? elsewhere in US? Other? The rain thing is a bit of a myth, well at least from a British perspective it's nothing unusual, the summers here are hot and beautiful, can be consistently 30C plus for weeks at a time. We went about four months without any rain at all this summer.

Homelessness is a major problem, if you'll forgive me a brief economics lecture (!) here, like in San Fran, big tech's big salaries meant that the average person can't afford to live here, so there is a stark have/ have not situation. So with a husband in the biz you would have a nice standard of living, but personally I can never quite shake the feeling of being very privileged.

Scenery really is stunningly beautiful, if you are into hikes and being out on the water in the summer this is the place to be!

Area wise I think you have the right idea, the areas on "the Eastside" i.e. on the East of Lake Washington are very nice, most have a nice walkable downtown that feels perfectly safe. Personally I'm not a huge fan of Bellevue, as it doesn't have as much of a centre, I would choose Kirkland, Redmond, Bothell areas. I live in Kirkland and work in the city centre, I wouldn't bother with the bus (maybe I have become a lazy car using american!) my commute is about half an hour drive, and I usually see an eagle or osprey and get a great view of the Mt. Rainier on the drive so it doesn't feel like a drag

And the sushi/ asian food generally really is excellent!!

Peridotty · 30/09/2021 04:29

@RatherEmbarassed

Haha so all those things are true! I have often heard of the homelessness problem to be compared to San Francisco's although I heard SF's is worse. I have been to SF and was dismayed by the level of homelessness and the number of people with untreated mental illness in general. I feel so sorry for them.

I would be coming from Boston, which I love because it is beautiful architecturally, has lovely gardens, lots of museums and culture, and is walkable throughout. But ultimately I can't stay here because they don't accept my qualifications.

wow to be able to see so much nature your commute sounds fabulous!

And thanks for the comment about Bellevue- I like areas to have a city centre.

What do you think about the schools?

Do you think visiting at Christmas would do it justice? I heard that September is the most beautiful but I can't go until Christmas time.

Thank you!!

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Deathling · 30/09/2021 05:04

According to Katie Hertzog (Blocked & Reported, my favorite podcast), it is extremely woke.

RatherEmbarassed · 30/09/2021 05:59

One thing I do miss a lot is the old buildings and architecture of Europe - and you definitely have more of that over on the East Coast, MA is beautiful!
Afraid I'm not much use to you on schools - don't have school aged kids, but I do know there are some very good (and expensive) private schools in the area (not surprising with Bezos and Nadella in the area!)
If you can hold off until the spring for a visit you'll probably get a better sense of the place than over Christmas, but I suppose you need to know what it's like year-round!

RatherEmbarassed · 30/09/2021 06:04

@Deathling is not wrong! I would use the words liberal and progressive personally but yes certainly people on the whole are very politically aware and some can be mistrustful of authority (remember when they declared a cop free zone "CHAZ" in response to George Floyd and police brutality). There is a strong LGBTQIA+ culture - again like SF on that one.

TimeIhadaNameChange · 30/09/2021 08:54

I spent two months there 15 years ago and loved it. Stayed near University Village. Am jealous!

Peridotty · 01/10/2021 11:59

@RatherEmbarassed thank you for all the advice!

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