New Yorker considering moving to Seattle. How is the job & cost & living there?

Question

To make a long story short I'm not happy in New York anymore & Seattle Washington & Portland Oregon are my 2 choices to move to. Any info will be appreciated.

Answer 1

I used to live in NYC ages ago. I miss the foods. ...I really like it here in Seattle. People are nicer here. They are more friendly, they care more about the environment, and you'll find the pace is more relaxed and clean. I don't have any huge desire to go back east except to visit family and friends. The cost of living is lower of course.

Generally, any surrounding suburban areas of Seattle will cost you less to rent or own. ...I'm not sure if you are from NYC or upstate. If you are from NYC, then you will see there is no subway system convenience. This may force you to own a car if you don't live in an area with many conveniences. I know it's impractical to be from the Big Apple and be a car owner in most cases. You should be fine finding a job. I recommend to set up a resume and research which companies to apply to, and do it soon just to get some things lined up. A good web-site to check out is NWSource.com. It is everything Seattle, and very resourceful. Be sure to also check out individual company web-sites too.

I hope you like coffee. This area is passionate about their coffee. I have never seen a tiny little free-standing coffee "hut" drive-thru until I came to the Emerald City and its suburbs. Their coffee is just as good as the big guys. Don't be surprised if your neighborhood has 5 to 15 Starbucks; and that does not include competitors like Tullys, Seattle's Best, and any others around.

The climate here is misunderstood by most of the country. It can get damp. There is more light rain than downpours. New York may even have more occasional downpours. Just have that light-weight hooded waterproof jacket to be safe. The summers don't get very hot as often as NYC. It's no where as humid too, so that is a big relief. One thing that I am still adjusting to is almost all residential places do not have AC. Yes, no AC, but there is heat...hmmm. Anyway, it does snow, but I don't think it snows as much here compared to NYC. The one kicker in regards to the snow around here is the commute. Be patient, drive carefully, and give yourself plenty of time. For some reason, maybe for environmental reasons, the cities and neighborhoods are not too quick about plowing the roads, and I don't know if they believe in throwing salt on the ground to de-ice the roads...hmmm. I suggest a 4x4 for the winters and maybe live in neighborhoods that are not hilly. Of course, commuting by bus is a great alternative since the bus drivers do all the driving and you get to be on the carpool lane (or as they call it "HOV lane").

Well, I can't compare Portland to anywhere else for you, since I have not been there yet. Good luck in whatever you choose to do.

Answer 2

I personally love it in Seattle. And it's really not as wet as everyone thinks it is, at least not during the summer. The housing here is pretty expensive actually, at least in the nicer areas like Bellevue and Redmond. You can find some affordable stuff and I mean, since you live in New York, the prices here are probably much less than that. As for work, like most places it just depends on what you do. There is a good variety here though. And I hope you like Asian food, cause we have every type imaginable here =P

Answer 3

I personally love it in Seattle. And it's really not as wet as everyone thinks it is, at least not during the summer. The housing here is pretty expensive actually, at least in the nicer areas like Bellevue and Redmond. You can find some affordable stuff and I mean, since you live in New York, the prices here are probably much less than that. As for work, like most places it just depends on what you do. There is a good variety here though. And I hope you like Asian food, cause we have every type imaginable here =P

Answer 4

Well, you live in one of the most expensive places in the US so Seattle will seem cheap. Portland is even cheaper. The job market depends on what you are looking for. Try looking at craigslist for jobs/houses.

Answer 5

From NY city?

You would likely be happier in Seattle than Portland. Seattle is the larger city, although it's not cheap to live there it is much cheaper than NYC.

People are much more laid back, but you want have near the diversity of everything the way you have in NY.

Traffic in Seattle sucks, although they have pretty good public transportation.

Answer 6

Well you will LOVE cost of living her more then NY... The housing market right now does suck though if you are looking at buying a house... not sure compared to over there though. as far as jobs go there is plenty here!

Answer 7

I love Portland! I live south about 2 hours in Eugene, but I go up a lot. The vibe there is very friendly, relaxed, and liberal. Lots of great food and to the guy who said they have no doughnuts except for supermarket doughnuts... noo!! Go to Voodoo Doughnuts, it's famous in Portland (and is gaining publicity) for it's amazing homemade doughnuts w/interesting toppings and shapes (their Cap'n Crunch cover doughnut is pretty famous as is the doughnut shaped like a penis... haha). But that's Portland for you. The people are very friendly and helpful, especially compared to NYC and the whole east coast as I've found! So I'm not sure why the first answers' daughter didn't like it. Jobs are pretty good but of course there is much less selection than in NYC and the pay is much less, but so is the cost of living. However, it's not cheap either. Oregon is getting more and more expensive as more people move here (especially those from California). Portland has some extremely nice neighborhoods with beautiful old houses which are really expensive, but they also have neighborhoods which are pretty reasonable, and some which are pretty cheap but not as nice (generally, east Portland is the... "ghetto" side of town, for lack of a better word). It's a great city for the outdoors, the beach is a mile away (no getting in the water unless you're prepared to get hypthermia or you're wearing a wetsuit... the coastline is BEAUTIFUL though! and the little towns are cute and fun.), mountains for skiing, boarding are less than an hour, plenty of lakes and rivers that are close, there are several vineyards down south a bit. As someone else said, Portland is pretty removed from other big cities besides Seattle which is 3 or 4 hours away, or Vancouver, CA which is about... 6 or 7 hours I think. Also like they said, the airport is great though. Portland has an okay transportation system, they have rail cars through downtown but you're not going to find taxis swarming the city. People like to ride their bikes or walk if they can, and traffic can get pretty bad during rush hour, especially on the highways into the city. The weather here is pretty good, it rains quite a bit though, but not as much as people say (they exaggerate!). It probably rains from November to May, but not everyday. Winters are mild though, it doesn't get very cold and it rarely snows down in the valley. When it does... everone goes mad! We love it. Well most of us do... especially the kids because schools will close at about an inch of snow haha. Spring is the rainiest time, it warms up in June and stays warm until October or November. The Summers are BEAUTIFUL! It's dry but not too dry. It's perfect, and the temps hover around 80 or 90. Maybe the only bad thing I could really say about Portland is that there are a lot of strip clubs! (though I guess that's not so bad for some people...) It has the most strip clubs per capita in the US, but I wouldn't say it gives the city a "dirty" feel at all, and they aren't exactly scattered everywhere, just certain areas. So good luck with your move and if you decide to come out to Portland I hope you enjoy it!