suggest a small town (Oak Harbor, Mukilteo: house, to buy, high school)

[rockyrus]

to buy house
is safe and hav reasonably good schools
healthy diversity

[mayfair]

Small towns in WA are not particularly diverse. You can find larger Hispanic populations in Agricultural towns in the Skagit Valley and Eastern WA. Other than that, rural areas in WA are very white.

[Diana Holbrook]

Yeah I guess I would ask for clarification on what you mean by small town and what you mean by diversity. People can vary in lots of ways I don’t want to assume. Sometimes it’s not how many differences there are as much as how tolerant people are of differences.

And we have towns that I think are too big that other people think are small towns :-)

So please clarify? Do we want a little town with one stop light, Or a little town that only has one Costco? :-)

[CrazyDonkey]

As already mentioned, outside the major metros, diversity is very relative (Native Americans, Hispanics). Look at North Bend, Mukilteo, Stanwood, Anacortes, Ferndale, Poulsbo.

[StealthRabbit]

East side, or west side? (Climate / density / services)
How small is small?
How far do you want to drive to Airport, Medical, Higher Ed?

What type of diversity? Cultural, financial, economic, age groups...

Age range for schooling needs?. (Remembering that WA offers free college instead of being stuck in a HS).

I have several 'small town favorites'. Such as Waitsburg, WA! My second choice is Rockford, WA. Almota is a very small WA town. (population <10?, but a really nice area and great neighbors!)

A good friend in search of a WA 'Small Town" recently moved to Royal City

Many love Winslow, Republic, Metaline Falls... every small town can be very different.

[happygrrrl]

Concrete

[homesinseattle]

Maybe a place like Oak Harbor, fairly small but reasonably diverse because of the Naval Air Station.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by homesinseattle

Maybe a place like Oak Harbor, fairly small but reasonably diverse because of the Naval Air Station.

Island County might not have the political or cultural diversity OP desires, but last I checked (2010?) it had petty highly rated schools!

I found living on an island not suitable to me, tho I was a farm kid who went to town a couple times / month, living by a ferry schedule was a tad too much for me. (Tho there is always the option to 'Drive-around' and avoid the ferry from Oak Harbor, it would get old quick (for me).

If safety is paramount. Island living can be very safe! (or not when it is not) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Norway_attacks

[MtnSurfer]

There are so many variables that make a nice small town for one family vs. the next. It's really hard to say without more info and some serious ninja mind reading skills.

What does diversity look like to you? In many small WA towns, diversity is the size of wheels on your truck and length of your beard. Maybe there's an EV car in the driveway to balance out the monster trucks. Or, one family member is Libertarian. That's sorta diverse, right? lol

Housing budget or the skies the limit?

Age of kids and type of schools? Elementary, high school, college? All the above?

Need a job or bringing it with you (remote work)? Or maybe retired and not a concern, don't care?

Anything else important, perhaps?

Derek

[wolfdog]

Originally Posted by homesinseattle

Maybe a place like Oak Harbor, fairly small but reasonably diverse because of the Naval Air Station.

Beat me to it. We love it here.