West Side vs. East Side (Seattle, Yakima: appointed, to buy, community college)

[PNWGamer96]

Hello, I live in Yakima and have traveled a lot around the east side of Washington. I have to say I like the West side so much better. The trees, the rain, the stores, better news stations, etc. I really want to move to the West side when I get out of college and I was just just wondering where good places to live would be. I'm considering the Bellingham area, Seattle area, or the Olympia area. I would like to attend WWU for college and then plan to move to one of those locations after graduating. I really like the Seattle area for it's shopping and things to do. And I really like the Bellingham area for it's really nice forests and skiing areas. moderator cut:

[NW Crow]

Best wishes with your education and future planning. WWU would be a fine college to attend. It is good to think about what you want in the future and how to get there, though it is also good to have patience and openness to options.

Bellingham and Olympia have a lot in common in terms of population size, services and amenities available and cost of housing. Bellingham might pass Olympia on housing cost and might eventually pass it on population size too, though that is hard to say for sure. Both have a good amount of college age students if you put together all the colleges and community colleges in each and there are lots of recent graduates too for social activities. There is some difference between the cities in the mix of jobs available as Olympia obviously has a lot of state government jobs though each have some manufacturing, lots of retail and health care and education jobs.

Seattle and its many suburbs offer many different living options and the largest number of job opportunities and folks competing for them. If by chance you are interested in an information technology career, Seattle would have by far the most jobs for that though each city will have some jobs in almost every field. It will also be more expensive to buy a housing close-in. Hopefully you will get more opportunities to visit and get a feel for whether you want to live there in the future or just visit occasionally as you certainly can from Bellingham or Olympia. Maybe a Seattle suburb would give you a desirable mix of a smaller community with the advantages of the big city very close nearby. Lots of options.

From each you can sample the mountains and the Sound, though different parts. Olympia is further away from skiing but not too bad.

There are plenty of threads on each city, as you have time, look thru the pages of the forum or use the search tool.

While open-ended requests can sometimes draw useful information, if you have specific questions, try asking them too. Good luck gathering information and making decisions that work well for you in the future.

As you suggested yourself, you might end up wanting to try one or both of the moderate-sized cities and the big city and then decide which fits best for the long-run. You can change if your preferences change and you do the right work to make it happen.

[StealthRabbit]

You will likely fall in love with Bellingham and never want to leave (many students do this). Hopefully there will be a job / career / future for you there. (likely in 8 yrs).

My kids did Running Start and finished College with only having to pay for 2 yrs. One went to WWU and would love to return once the jobs / wages will support that idea.

Seek your heart and a career that will compliment your interests and skills. You will be able to be happy anywhere you land. (hint: you don't need to PLAN too well, as 'life-happens' IN SPITE of our best plans. No sense being disappointed, but its good to be prepared for variety / change)