Puyallup: Pros & Cons (Seattle, Tacoma: rent, new house, safe neighborhood)

[gchanel5]

What are the pros and cons of living in Puyallup?

How is the school district?

Is it a safe neighborhood?

[chlee007]

Never been to Puyallup other than the fairs nor know anyone who has been attending the schools there, so I'll leave the school part and other details for others. But from what I've known, I say it's not really a bad neighborhood. The pros will be the living cost. The rent in Pierce County will most likely be cheap, but the problem of living there will be commuting as it takes forever to get to and from Seattle if you live down there in Puyallup, and if you decide to go busing, there won't be many buses that goes there that will take you to where you want to be, and be warned, the Pierce County metro got some real @ssholes as buss drivers. I have experience of getting cussed out by the bus driver when I try to get to Milton to get cheap cigarettes.

[RDH35]

I currently live in Puyallup/South Hill and even though the traffic on the main drag (Meridian Ave) sucks, traffic sucks period everywhere in the Seattle area. Individual Schools can be iffy depending upon where in Puyallup you end up. We are in the South Hill area nearer to Graham. We love the area and the school is pretty good. You can check out Great Schools.org for more info. Zillow also will tell you the school rating based on where the house is. It seems to be an area that has pockets of not as nice areas but overall it's mostly decent to really nice housing areas. It will really depend on your housing budget. As to the commute, my DH drives to the Boeing plant in Tukwila and it takes him anywhere from 45 mins to a little over an hour depending upon the time of day. He said there are parts that move and he's still trying different combos of routes but overall most of it is pretty bumper to bumper.

[meme6885]

I live in Puyallup now, I love it, not much crime, I go walking at night with no problems, it's got kinda a country feel to it in some spots, it's not mentioned much which is what i like. Traffic can be a nightmare along meridian, and as you go towards Parkland area it gets kinda more shady. Edgewood, North Puyallup is a little bit smaller but has a more rural feel to it. I'd rather live here than anywhere in the Tacoma or Seattle area.

[flyingsaucermom]

The most notable fact that I've heard about Puyallup is that if that big ol' hill over were ever to blow, them peoples would be f-.

[meme6885]

Originally Posted by flyingsaucermom

The most notable fact that I've heard about Puyallup is that if that big ol' hill over were ever to blow, them peoples would be f-.

Only if you live in the valley, on the hill you will be fine. Orting will be wiped out though.

[Ira500]

Originally Posted by flyingsaucermom

The most notable fact that I've heard about Puyallup is that if that big ol' hill over were ever to blow, them peoples would be f-.

If Rainier erupted, and Meridian Avenue was covered with hot lava, it would probably not make the traffic worse.
I haven't been on Meridian more than a dozen times, but every single time I was on it, rush hour or otherwise, traffic was moving at walking speed.

[BlueEyes24]

Yikes! I thought Puyallup was supposed to be nice..():
Now I am not so sure

Sounds like the schools are iffy and the volcanoes going to blow...
where to go where to go?> LOL
Where are the best areas to live around there>

[mkarch]

Originally Posted by BlueEyes24

Yikes! I thought Puyallup was supposed to be nice..():
Now I am not so sure

Sounds like the schools are iffy and the volcanoes going to blow...
where to go where to go?> LOL
Where are the best areas to live around there>

Puyallup is probably one of the most inconveniently located cities in the area. Builders lured people out there during the middle of the last decade with inexpensive new houses and close to half abandoned their homes at some point since. There were some neighborhoods that were over half empty. That doesn't usually happen in nice areas.

[springshades]

Don't live there anymore but still have family there. Most of the schools seem fine, but the boundary lines are a bit insane. If they are the way they used to be a few years back, there are some areas where your kids will be sent to a school that is farther away than some of the schools on the border of Auburn or Federal Way. They started building houses farther and farther out to the south with no real planning since it's not an incorporated area. You're left with all traffic funneled into just a handful of roads with a ridiculous commute before you even reach the freeway which is where your real commute begins. The central downtown area of Puyallup (the valley and the beginning of the hills surrounding it) doesn't have that issue, but the homes were built much earlier and are therefore correspondingly smaller on average.

It's safe. It's clean. It has some very nice, large parks. The weather is somewhat closer to the true metro weather of Seattle and Tacoma (many people don't realize that as you move out to the foothills, your expected yearly rainfall and snow totals can increase drastically from the 35-40 inches that Seattle and Tacoma see). I don't think the town itself is inconvenient since 512, 410, 167, and 5 are all relatively easy to get to, but most new people are moving into the unincorporated areas far to the south without easy freeway access.