Bittersweet
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6/12/2022
I’ve lived in Seattle for just under 7 years and while it can be a stunningly beautiful place, I am very excited to leave. I’ll start with some of the positive aspects. I’d say the biggest positive is that it is full of plants, big trees, etc. They don’t call it the Evergreen State for no reason. Many people in Seattle’s neighborhoods have beautiful gardens. Despite having many plants, Seattle is one of the best places to live if you have seasonal allergies. You’ll see very few huge grass lawns like so much of America has. So many places have clear cut for new subdivisions, but not Seattle. There are also a lot of high-paying jobs here, but consider whether the COL and other disadvantages will be worth the extra income. Next big positive is the summer climate. Summer here is usually very pleasant and rarely ever uncomfortably hot and almost never humid. Temps usually in the mid 70s and sunny during summer. Another major positive is the availability of great food. There are tons of health food stores and all kinds of restaurants that are very good (especially if you like Asian food). Those are the things that I will miss the most. I would say one of the biggest negative aspects of living here is that it is usually grey and rainy for 8-9 months of the year and the days are very short during winter with the sun coming up around 8-8:30am and being almost dark just after 4pm. It doesn’t start to really feel warm until after July 4th. If your moods are impacted by weather at all, I wouldn’t recommend moving here. Next big negative is the traffic and road situation. Traffic here is awful and making matters worse is that most of the drivers are very timid, slow, and often unaware of the rules of the road and their own surroundings. If you like sports cars or enjoy driving at all, you do not want to move here. The roads are in consistently poor condition throughout the city. While they are building more light rail etc., it is still not a great place to be car-free unless you live right in downtown, which tends to have lots of camping drug addicts in it. The traffic/roads are bad enough that there have been plenty of times that I have just stayed home because I didn’t want to deal with the stress of driving in traffic. Another negative that I have seen is that politics are fairly extreme in one direction and a large portion of the population seems to want to keep the culture wars alive as long as possible. As a result of the political climate, Seattle has far fewer police than it did several years ago, so take that as you may. I haven’t seen city police enforcing traffic laws in years. Occasionally I will see state patrol however. Another thing to consider is that people are a little different in the PNW than other places. I rarely have strangers make small talk with me or say “hello” etc. This could be positive depending on your inclinations lol. I do think people tend to be more rude here than places in the south and midwest. Last few things I can think of to consider before moving here: forest fire smoke and cost of living. Since I’ve been here, half or more of the summers have had pretty bad air quality for at least a week or more due to forest fires in surrounding areas. I have had ash fall on my car because there was so much smoke in the air. Get a place with AC so you can filter the air well if you do move here. Finally, cost of living here is very high. You can live in a 5,000 sq ft house elsewhere for less than you can buy any house for here. If you aren’t making $100k+, there are other places you could have much higher standard of living. Good luck!
Mason | Seattle, WA