Santaria

I'm in my last year here before I graduate and then my wife and kids are heading north.

I'm originally from California, but have spent the last 15 years living in Central/Deep South Texas (RGV).

Anybody have good recommendations for online info on cost of living, etc for WA, OR, Idaho?


Thanks in advance

scozim 

Best cost of living in WA would be central and eastern parts of the state. However, salaries would also be lower. My biggest traffic problem during the spring, summer and fall are cattle drives. No experience with ID or OR - been a lifer in WA state.

Debusama

I live in Spokane and love it. The cost of living is pretty low. You can still buy an older, smaller, but still very livable house for around $100k, or a good sized newer, or newly renovated 3bd 2bth for less than $200k. Good jobs are not abundant here unless you work in the medical field, so it isn’t a good place just to come to without a job lined up. Here is the thing: Spokane is big enough that you can still catch a concert on most weekends (maybe not the rolling stones or Dave Mathews, but the Gorge isn’t much further from Spokane than Seattle), or a sports game (OK, so it will be Arena football, or minor league baseball, but tickets are cheap), but small enough that “rush hour” means it takes an extra 5 minutes to drive across downtown, and a “traffic jam” on the highway means that you’ll have to slow down to 40 mph.

Other than going to out of town races, I haven’t had to drive to a bike ride since I moved here. There is no place in Spokane where you have to negotiate urban traffic for more than few miles before you can get on low traffic country roads through rolling hills that seem to go on forever without having to stop at a light. There are more hiking and mountain biking trails than you can shake a stick at, and there is a pretty good local race scene with several local or nearby weekend stage races, a great Tuesday night race series and a growing number of one day weekend races. In terms of cycling, the only draw back is that we get pretty snowed in some winters, so the riding isn’t year round, but no matter where you are in the northwest the winters are either going to be snowy or rainy.

It isn’t as if Spokane doesn’t have it’s share of problems: We have a meth problem and a lack of high-paying jobs, which leads to a lot of theft and poverty that is more in-your-face than some places as the smallness and layout of the city makes it harder for middle class people to isolate themselves in the “nice” parts of town in modern subdivisions and gated comities where they can ignore the fact that the under-classes even exist. No place is perfect, but for a good combination of access to good riding, big city conveniences and low cost of living, it would be hard to beat Spokane.

dminor 

Naw, nothing to see here; no places to ride; best keep rolling to, oh, Wyoming . . . .

Shifty

Try this https://www.cityrating.com/costofliving.asp

Housing is a big cost driver in Washington and Oregon, other than that things are about the same. Good luck!

scozim 

I'd second Spokane. I grew up an hour south of there and lived in the Spokane valley from 1995 to 2000. A lot of great riding on the rural farm roads south of town with very little traffic once you're off the highway. Only had a couple of people buzz me when I was on the shoulder and that was practically in Spokane itself. Lots of rolling hills for fitness.

I did the 24 hr mountain bike race there last year - some great single track in the area.

Santaria

Thanks for the replies. Fortunately I work in mass communications, so I will be finding a job at a newspaper, magazine or continuing to do on-the-side writing for web-based magazine services.

Jeff Wills

Hmmm... if you move to the boonies, what will you write about? Only half-serious there- I'm interested in what your specialty is.

Santaria

I'm a 15 year veteran paginator at newspapers, just finally got around to getting my BA in Mass Comm with an emphasis in PR. I'd probably stay in newspapers and continue design as an editor, or try to get into a features editor position where I could utilize my photography skills. Before I moved to the border of Mexico/Texas I was able to shoot football, and some other interesting things that I felt were quality. But once I got down here, they've really worked to keep me grinding out pages, and managing the copy desk here.

JustinMiller

I bought a house in Tacoma for 189k, but it's a huge 3br with a mother in law out back and a big back yard. There are affordable houses in Tacoma, and nice places to ride like Point Defiance and the waterfront. We also have a huge public park with plenty of space for jogging or walking, plus a splash park and brand new playground that are totally free. Tacoma's awesome.

Gunga Dan

I live in the Seattle area, after living most of my life in central Ohio. I find that, while housing prices are higher here, they are not as much so as in some other metropolitan areas with similar levels of sophistication and general amenities. Annual energy costs are WAY lower here, both because the hydro electric power itself is cheaper, and because I run my HVAC gear MUCH fewer hours per annum. Taxes are also lower here. When I lived in Ohio, I paid federal, state, city and school district income taxes. Here, it's only federal. My property tax rate is also lower. There are 2 things I don't particularly like about the area. The period between November and April is pretty dark/rainy/dismal, particularly after they set the clocks back (should be banned), and the SLIGHTEST bit of snow locks up the area for days. Last winter, we had a snowfall of around inch, and hundreds of people were stuck in their cars on the freeway for 10+ hours. It would take a foot or more to do that in an area more accustomed to snow, like central Ohio. It would be hilarious if it weren't such an unmitigated PITA. But the summers are the most pleasant I have experienced anywhere (and that would be most of the US), and the area has to have just about the most strikingly diverse array of natural beauty of any major city on the globe. The combination of water, islands, mountains, even a 14,400 foot volcano, (when you can see them ;-) and forests is really breathtaking. Add to that a very educated population, great restaurants, art, music, I love it here.

GD

JustinMiller

Gunga-what a great idea about banning daylight savings time up here! I have to admit, though, I do enjoy being able to ride home at night from work and still see light for a little while. But I would totally vote in favor of a ban. It's just too arctic up here in terms of sunlight and lack thereof.

One caveat about the entire state of Washington-taxes are low because we have sales tax on everything. So you'll pay that way, and also at the pump, what little you may drive. I agree on the snow issue as well-I lived in upstate NY (Fort Drum) for four years, and it amazes me that the it would dump feet up there on a daily basis, but the roads would be clear, whereas a few inches ruins traffic in the Puget Sound area for days.

Other than the hills, Seattle would be a great place to own a bike, for sure.

LocoTracks

I live in Seattle and love it, but when I'm older (I'm 22 and in university) I think I'd rather live in Olympia. Prettier, people seem nicer, and there's less hustle and bustle. Only problem would be that Olympia is about 2 hours from a velodrome (but 2 hours away from 2 velodromes).

Gunga Dan

You know I have to say that many locals have told me Seattle has a reputation as a city in which it is hard for newcomers to make friends. I have found that to be the case.

Never been to Olympia. Or a velodrome, for that matter ;-)

GD