Possible Move to Washington State (Seattle, Tacoma: homes, transfer, neighborhoods)

[CrazyDonkey]

Olympia: Close to Black Lake/Columbus Park, Capitol State Forest, Hood Canal, Coast Beaches, ONP, Mt. Rainier NP, Mt. St. Helens. For more affordable rentals, look at Shelton, McCleary, and Elma.

[SciFiNerd1]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

If OP is serious about wanting a liberal political area (and neighbors), Bremerton/ Tacoma regions could be disappointing. (Military bases bring lots of jobs and voters).

Olympia is a sure bet.

The traffic and petty crime / homeless trouble near Narrows bridge / would be a negative. No sense dealing with negatives, if you can choose all positives. (very possible in western WA).

Agree with living close to employment. Bicycle / walk / home for lunch closeness.

Seattle central is quite bike friendly. Consider renting there for a 'honeymoon' period of time. You might like it enough to stay.

Left coast road trips... South on coast to San Diego, northbound through Sierras and Cascades (national parks / gold country)

Or... Ultimate... Alaska Marine Highway (Bellingham Ferry) one way, ALCAN highway return.

Enjoying North Cascades NP + Vancouver Island + BC + Alberta are pluses to WA proximity. Camping in Canada is pretty nice. Vancouver BC has lots of culture, food, and entertainment venues.

Shouldn't Olympia be less liberal due to the huge military base there? I know military families tend to be more conservative.

These are my reasons for wanting to live in Washington State. I do not know where because I do not want cities too small while being concerned about affordability in Seattle.

I feel that suburbs outside Seattle, Bremerton, Tacoma, and Olympia would be my best choices.

[SciFiNerd1]

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

Olympia: Close to Black Lake/Columbus Park, Capitol State Forest, Hood Canal, Coast Beaches, ONP, Mt. Rainier NP, Mt. St. Helens. For more affordable rentals, look at Shelton, McCleary, and Elma.

Olympia does sound nice for a small city. I hope it doesn't feel too small.

One of the jobs I applied for give me the option to pick Tumwater location if not Bremerton.

[Diana Holbrook]

Originally Posted by SciFiNerd1

Shouldn't Olympia be less liberal due to the huge military base there? I know military families tend to be more conservative.

These are my reasons for wanting to live in Washington State. I do not know where because I do not want cities too small while being concerned about affordability in Seattle.

I feel that suburbs outside Seattle, Bremerton, Tacoma, and Olympia would be my best choices.

Have time this morning for some more of my own opinions about some of these areas, if you may be focusing attention there.

The Military base impacts South Tacoma, Puyallup, Yelm, and to some degree Lacey. Olympia is a liberal city that has more in common with The Evergreen State College, Rachel Corrie and counterculture than military.

I live in Rochester, about 10 miles south of Tumwater now, but I grew up and graduated from Tumwater High School. I definitely think Tumwater is the best of the three towns (Lacey Olympia Tumwater), but I'm obviously biased.

Tumwater has a nice cluster of all the major shopping venues, with a new Costco, Home Depot, WalMart, Fred Meyer, and other grocery and drug stores all within a square mile of each other, right off the freeway. Nice suburban neighborhoods around. Not a LOT of Multifamily housing or apartments compared to Lacey, it's a shortage. Lots of new development planned out by the airport. Lots of the state government offices (DSHS, L&I and others) are actually in Tumwater. They began moving to Tumwater 25 years ago because the cost of new construction there was less than infilling new buildings in Olympia.

Tumwater has grown a lot since I lived there, but has had the best "urban planning" for both the layout of the town and the architecture and style. Planners began pushing for efficient zoning, red brick and green roofs and "pedestrian friendly" construction many years ago and that has resulted in a town with a cohesive look as you drive down Capital Boulevard, the old main drag.

IN contrast, Lacey has had enormous growth as well, but with no planning. Lacey is sprawling development and strip malls that go miles and miles. Lacey also has the most obvious homeless issues, with the sprawling camps in the freeway right-of-ways and greenspaces. Tumwater has much much less of this, what homeless camps there may be are much more rural and less visible.

Olympia, is, IMHO, still suffering in ways that will be difficult to recover from in a post-covid work environment. Lots of state and government related NGO office buildings, and not a lot of people in them. Perhaps some of those will become apartments for a new urban population, I don't know.


Not sure what exactly you're looking for in a city. I'm generally not a seeker of city entertainment, but if you can name something, I can try to see if we have it.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by SciFiNerd1

Shouldn't Olympia be less liberal due to the huge military base there? I know military families tend to be more conservative.

These are my reasons for wanting to live in Washington State. I do not know where because I do not want cities too small while being concerned about affordability in Seattle.

I feel that suburbs outside Seattle, Bremerton, Tacoma, and Olympia would be my best choices.

Olympia is very liberal. There may be conservative pockets. Olympia is the home to WA State's "alternative" university (like alternative school): Evergreen State University. Lots of outside-the-box students and faculty in the area. The college attracts a certain type of crowd: liberals, creatives, activists.

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by SciFiNerd1

Olympia does sound nice for a small city. I hope it doesn't feel too small.

One of the jobs I applied for give me the option to pick Tumwater location if not Bremerton.

On your previous questions: The two most "liberal" medium-sized cities in Washington are Bellingham and Olympia. Tacoma's Northend is also pretty liberal and worth taking a look at. Bremerton and Everett are much less liberal. Seattle is big and very liberal, but also very expensive.

Military families and retirees gravitate to where the commissaries and exchanges are, up by Tacoma.

Olympia is 61 miles to Seattle and 114 miles to Portland. Amtrak goes to both. So, a day or weekend trip is quite doable.

[StealthRabbit]

Olympia = State Capital (think Austin, but far more liberal due to long term enclave of WA lib government and Evergreen college). Not much military in Olympia, but WA (and PNW) is not in your face about political views and alignmnet (as is Texas, and western Oregon - think Salem). I wouldn't worry about military on the east side of sound, but Bremerton / Silverdale have a far higher % military, so that might influence your neighborhood (but never WA state politics. It's been woke since long before woke. )

Washington has had the longest current streak of Democratic governors in the nation, with the last Republican to hold the office being John Spellman in 1985.

With 3 counties able to swing the vote and will of the 39 counties, you're safe in WA. (California, north)

[SciFiNerd1]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

Olympia = State Capital (think Austin, but far more liberal due to long term enclave of WA lib government and Evergreen college). Not much military in Olympia, but WA (and PNW) is not in your face about political views and alignmnet (as is Texas, and western Oregon - think Salem). I wouldn't worry about military on the east side of sound, but Bremerton / Silverdale have a far higher % military, so that might influence your neighborhood (but never WA state politics. It's been woke since long before woke. )

Washington has had the longest current streak of Democratic governors in the nation, with the last Republican to hold the office being John Spellman in 1985.

With 3 counties able to swing the vote and will of the 39 counties, you're safe in WA. (California, north)

One of several reasons I find very appealing about Washington State is that its state politics match my views. To be honest, I have never lived in a blue state. I understand that blue states are much more expensive but they also tend to be better in equality, quality of life, and better services overall.

I am trying to be realistic. I would appreciate your honesty. Is $72,000 single income salary doable to live a decent life in Olympia Metro area with the prospect of buying a house some day?

Here are my most recent updates: I didn't get the job in Everett, WA. I still have not heard from the ones in Bremerton and Tacoma yet. I will be having an interview with the one in Tumwater on July 5th so wish me good luck.

[Diana Holbrook]

Originally Posted by SciFiNerd1

I am trying to be realistic. I would appreciate your honesty. Is $72,000 single income salary doable to live a decent life in Olympia Metro area with the prospect of buying a house some day?

You would be a bit above the median for Olympia. Very doable to afford a decent life in the Olympia/Thurston County area.
We have a wide variety of living options here, from Condominiums to acreage and everything in between. Right in town, to something that feels quite rural but is within 30 minutes of town. Small surrounding towns where you can still get more bang for your buck. Just depends what kind of lifestyle you're interested in.


I would expand your search area to include outlying areas and other surrounding small towns if you aren't finding things you like in your preferred price range IN Olympia or Tumwater city limits.

[SciFiNerd1]

Originally Posted by Diana Holbrook

You would be a bit above the median for Olympia. Very doable to afford a decent life in the Olympia/Thurston County area.
We have a wide variety of living options here, from Condominiums to acreage and everything in between. Right in town, to something that feels quite rural but is within 30 minutes of town. Small surrounding towns where you can still get more bang for your buck. Just depends what kind of lifestyle you're interested in.


I would expand your search area to include outlying areas and other surrounding small towns if you aren't finding things you like in your preferred price range IN Olympia or Tumwater city limits.

That is good to know. I am open to small towns as long it is not too far from the city. I will look into surrounding towns.

What does it mean when people say that Joint Base Lewis-McChord AFB slows down I-5 North between Olympia and Tacoma by one hour even if it is only 32 miles apart?

For an army base, I would think that it is off the freeway down the road like most are.