Gig Harbor or Las Vegas? (Seattle, Tacoma: crime, schools, university)

[AriasMom]

HI! We are trying to decide on a move from the midwest to either Las Vegas or Gig Harbor. We have 2 girls who will be in school, pets, my husband is an RN looking at medical school - an Army vet- and I am in school for Forensic Accounting. What are schools, shopping etc like in the Gig Harbor area? Any info would be helpful Thanks

[Yakscsd]

I cant think of two more different destinations.

[poopskooper]

Originally Posted by Yakscsd

I cant think of two more different destinations.

I mostly do agree with this.

I don't think it's up to me to ask why you are choosing those two locations so I won't but being that I've lived in both southern Nevada and western Washington (a western Washington native), I'll give you my thoughts.

I don't "think" we have to have a lengthy discussion on climate as I'm sure you're aware they are diametrically opposite pertaining to moisture. Las Vegas is in the Mojave Desert and as such is extremely arid. There's a lot of sun and it's intense! It's the desert, after all. Western Washington is perpetually damp, drizzly, and gray ...or at least it seems like it as it's the predominant weather. The predominant weather in Vegas is dry and sunny ...to an extreme. And don't forget about the extremely hot summers in Vegas. Yes, it's a dry heat but hot nevertheless. Western Washington has a marine influence that keeps it relatively mild year around. There can be those days where it could get close to 100 in the summer and in the teens or below in the winter but that's not the normal pattern. Southern Nevada can get heavy rain that comes all at once particularly in the monsoon season and can freeze at night in the winters occasionally but is mostly extremely dry where much of the time the relative humidity is below 10% and sun is predominant.

Vegas proper is a huge congested city that ranks very high in its crime statistics. The total population of Clark county is now over 2-million concentrated primarily in the metropolitan Las Vegas area (less those places in Clark county that are not really considered bedroom communities to Vegas ...i.e. Mesquite, Moapa/Overton, Laughlin, etc.). Gig Harbor, OTOH, is a small Pierce county bedroom community to Tacoma as many commute across the Narrows Bridge to Tacoma daily. It's population is around 10,000 or so. The comparison to Vegas is oranges to apples to me.

Gig Harbor is a quaint little town but if your DH is considering medical school, you'd probably want to get close to Seattle as, I believe (and those in the know can correct me), that the only medical school in the state offering an MD degree is the University of Washington. There are plans, I believe, to have a medical school at Washington State University on the other side of the state, however.

I personally would not want to commute to and from Gig Harbor to the U of W campus daily. It's through some of the most congested roads in the state.

I believe (and again, I welcome to be corrected for any inaccuracy) that Nevada has two medical schools offering an MD degree and are both at the University of Nevada. There's one at Reno and one at UNLV in Las Vegas.

Each state has a medical school offering a DO degree (osteopathic). In Washington, it's in Yakima (too far to commute from Gig Harbor) and in Nevada, there's one in Henderson, a "suburb" of Vegas.

[Sockeye66]

This is kinda like asking "apple juice or a shot of tequila?"

Gig Harbor is a much more family- friendly location than Vegas. The schools are good, crime is low, scenery is beautiful.

As for shopping? Lots of opportunities to spend your money ranging from big box stores to quaint artisan shops downtown.

[perigee]

UW in Seattle would probably be the medical school he would be interested in and they are highly competitive.