I had lived in Puyallup, Washington, about 15 miles from Tacoma. If you like the cold, the wet, if you're liberal and believe in psychics then that is the place for you.
Curt | San Marcos, TX | Report Abuse

Housing continues to rise here. Be aware; it's not only the cold, it's the lack of sunshine you will notice most. Port Angles/ Squim have more sunshine year round. The eastern part of the state has more sun, access to lakes and more affordability. You can find something afforadable in Pugent sound, but having lived in the Sun Belt for 20 yrs then moving to Portland OR, I can tell you the lack of sun gets to me.
Lori | Tigard, OR | Report Abuse

i moved from Kansas to Washington in 1997. we went from paying about $400mo for a 3bdrm 1bath to $700 for the same (sedro woolley). that was in 1997. as technology has advanced the quality of work and pay has with it here in WA. this brings new people to live in WA to work at places like Amazon, Microsoft, and many more. however. rent/mortgage has been on a steady incline the last 10 years. 10 years ago i was paying $1200mo for a 3bdrm 1 bath duplex in mount vernon. the landlord kept our rent static while we lived there instead of charging more as rates went up. abouts 2012 i was paying $750 for a 2 bdrm 1 bath apartment in Everett (closer to seattle then the other locations). the next year the rent on all apartments went up about $100 across the board. so $850 for a 2bdrm. we moved into a different apartment and got a 3bdrm. the rent was $1050 for it at that time in everett (2013-14). each year the CoL goes up in WA state. the wages fall behind i pace until many places started electing to have a $15hr minimum wage. and in many places the minimum wage is still only $11hr. but now in 2019 you cant even find a 2bdrm 1 bath for under $900mo. i have looked all over western WA. i see crappy houses going on the market for $300,000+ my opinion from libing in WA for more than 20 years. it is a sinking ship. too many people are moving here, driving up the housing market. most wages cant keep up. and the cost of rent/mortgage is sky rocketing. i am a professional Network Administrator as a career and im tellin ya, im planning on leaving WA and move back to Kansas. i can still get the same jobs for close to the same salary there while paying only 1/3-1/2 the cost of rent/mortgage. WA is simply getting too damn expensive to live in now.
greg | Bellingham, WA | Report Abuse

The Peninsula, on the Puget Sound side, does get above 65 during the summer. Much of the Puget Sound area averages around 74-75 degrees, but that varies over an area that large. The temps are fine. If you go out onto that Olympic Peninsula, you will be in a more isolated region. There are some pockets of small/medium sized towns but nothing that truly compares to the cities between Olympia and Everett. As far as affordability, that's tough in that region. I can't speak to housing costs and cost of living on the peninsula but it's VERY expensive to live and getting more expensive anywhere within Snohomish, King, Pierce, Thurston counties, unless you get far east in the southern Puget Sound region. Housing prices have gone up dramatically over the last 10 years and they're expected to rise some more unless some economic drop occurs that would kill off the shortage of available housing for prospective buyers/renters. Being on the water is a no-go for anyone looking for a good buy in this area. However, if you're willing to get 30-45 minutes away, you might be able to find something OK in Puyallup, Bonney Lake, Enumclaw or go north up to Marysville and Arlington. You'd be close to the Puget Sound shores but not have to suffer with the insane housing costs. I moved to Eastern Washington and live near the Columbia River. If that were appealing (spring/summer/fall all tend to be warm or hot and dry) then Spokane, Ellensberg, Wenatchee, Tri-Cities, Walla Walla are all good candidates. I personally don't ever want to live anywhere near Portland. If I lived in Oregon, it'd be Central Oregon - Bend area.
Chris | Pasco, WA | Report Abuse

Ouch. That's tough Anne, but you can probably move to Port Angeles but it is very cool there most of the year. The flipside is I believe it's still in the rain shadow so you won't see so much rain as inland. Plus the Cascadia event is long overdue. You could move north close to the border if you want to stay by the water and it still stays relatively mild but will get cold. If you have your ducks in a row, you can probably afford to look there.
Mooshoo | Seattle, WA | Report Abuse