Reviews & Comments
Maple Valley, WA
Great Place to Raise a Family if You Can Afford It -
12/13/2020We moved to Maple Valley 14 years ago from Kent, mostly for the school district. We have been very happy with the decision. Most of the state's best school districts are on the Eastside (Bellevue, Issaquah, Redmond, Kirkland, etc.) and Tahoma School District ranks amongst them and is relatively affordable compared to them. A lot of that has been driven by the tech industry - basically, new Microsofties can't afford to live that close to Redmond, so many of them end up here because it's the best school district in south King County.
Being at the base of the Cascades, Maple Valley is heavily forested, much of it protected from development. As a result, there are many hiking, mountain biking, and horse-riding trails within and near city limits. In addition to the usual ubiquitous coyotes, deer, raccoons, and squirrels, an occasional bobcat, elk, or bear can be spotted, especially if you live near open space or outside city limits. The region has a broad array of cultural amenities, although most of them are in Seattle.
Maple Valley has a low crime rate, second only to Black Diamond in south King County. Between that and the school district, it is a very kid-friendly place, and there is a lot of jockeying for sports fields as a result. Much socializing is generated by having school-age children.
The City is very suburban with only a few apartment complexes. Between Maple Valley and adjacent Covington, there are several grocery and big-box retail stores, which is nice because both cities are outside the Sound Transit taxing district, which means our sales tax rate is 1.4% lower than most of the County, and property taxes and vehicle license fees are also less. Similar to much of the region, restaurant choices are strong in Mexican, Chinese, teriyaki, burgers, and casual family-oriented places similar to Red Robin.
Most employment opportunities are not located nearby, except for retail. Those that commute can expect that to take 30-90 minutes each way. Transit service here is limited to Highways 169 and 516, but expand greatly once you get to Kent or Renton.
Maple Valley also suffers from the regional maladies such as traffic congestion and high housing costs. It is rare to find a house under $400K right now, and it would probably be a 40-50 year old manufactured home. Traffic congestion is only going to get worse, especially since the current state DOT director has no interest in supporting projects that add roadway capacity, regardless of the safety issues associated with congestion. Regional planning is all about increasing density around urban centers, and hoping that suburbia withers away. Local politics lean liberal, but not as extreme as Seattle (which carries into County politics). Rural areas nearby are very conservative.
Weather in Maple Valley varies a bit from Seattle's. It is not within the "convergence zone", which typically resides between Highway 520 and Everett and is where most of the region's extreme weather occurs. However, we do see higher winds, especially easterly winds at the foot of the Cascades. It seems like every 10 years or so, we'll get a major storm that knocks out power for up to a week, so it pays to have a generator. Semi-jokingly, I've concluded that if the wind is not blowing down fences and trees, it's only a breeze. This is not to say that it's windy all the time, just that when it does kick up, it generates wind warnings (usually about 2 hours after the wind starts). Hot sunny weather is rare, with only 2 days exceeding 100 F in the last 25 years, and usually less than a dozen days per year where it exceeds 90 F. Most homes do not have air-conditioning and many people never feel the need for it, as it does cool down at night. If the humidity is over 50%, it's usually when it's raining or foggy and temps are below 60 F. We don't really get that much rain, it's just spread out over the entire year, and the grass stays green except for mid-July though September. But when we get a clear day in the winter with snow on the mountains, it is absolutely gorgeous. It snows here anywhere from 0 to 15 days a year, most of it a couple inches at a time, but occasionally getting 6-12 inches and lasting up to 2 weeks if it gets really cold afterwards. I've yet to see sub-zero temps here, but it's gotten close a couple times over the last 25 years.
A couple advantages of being on a plateau between two river systems is that we don't see as much fog that one finds closer to Puget Sound, and when Mt Rainier erupts (a matter of when, not if), the lahars won't reach Maple Valley (but the ash might).
Overall, if you can hack the weather, traffic, housing costs, and liberal politics, it's an awesome place to live.