Living in Seattle with kids?

[sakura]

We are thinking about moving to Seattle or surrounding area this summer. We'd love to be somewhere walkable and my DH really wants to be in the city. We have 4 year old twins. We currently live in a MCOL location. His job would be downtown and mine would be in Bellevue (although I may look for something different). We also plan on renting for the first year.

Our friends that live in Seattle don't have kids so they haven't been able to help us in this area. What are the childcare options available? Is 4K available? Can you explain the Seattle public schools to me?
Where are some walkable and family friendly neighborhoods that would be ok for commuting? What rent would you be comfortable paying while factoring in childcare costs? The increased cost of living is a sticker shock for us so I'm not sure what's reasonable and I'm finding it tough to make a future budget. We are looking forward to the lifestyle differences, but it is just so different from here that it will probably take some trial and error to find what works for us. Any other words of advice on how to make this a successful move? Thanks!

[InBetweenDays]

Hey there! I live in Seattle and we have a 10 and 8 year old in the Seattle Public Schools. When you say your husband wants to be in the city, do you mean he wants to live downtown or more of an urban neighborhood? We live in the Ballard neighborhood (a few miles northwest of downtown) and love it - very walkable with tons of restaurants, breweries, shops, a movie theater, etc. However, it's almost as far west as you can go in the city so it would make long commute to Bellevue (I know many who do it though).

You could look at the Wallingford or Queen Anne neighborhoods, which are again walkable with easier access to the highways. You could also look at the Mt. Baker or Columbia City neighborhoods. Both are on the East end of Seattle so closer to Bellevue.

I'm not sure what 4K is? But there are a number of private childcare options available around the city. It can be hard to find part-time care depending on how old your kids are, but it's out there (I have worked part time since having kids).

Seattle Public Schools are hit or miss. There are some amazing schools out there, and others that aren't so great.There are "geo zones" for each school, and so you default to the neighborhood school for your geo zone. There are also a few schools (I think mostly K-8) that don't have geo zones (or if they do they're very small) and are considered Option Schools. If you wish to go to an Option School, or a school outside your geo zone, you can fill out a school choice form and then it's a lottery process to see who gets in. Once you're in, you're in. You don't have to reapply each year to a school outside your geo zone. Overall we've been very happy with our neighborhood elementary school.

Not sure I can answer your question about how much I'd feel comfortable spending. That will vary so much depending on the rest of your household budget. I think the rental market is starting to slow down a bit, but recently it was the 4th fastest growing market in the country. I think the average 2 bedroom apartment within the city limits is $2700 (but that will vary by neighborhood).

[niq]

"walkable" means a lot of different things to different people . For something that really feels like city mouse life, Capitol Hill, First Hill, and even downtown would work (downtown is pretty quiet for a downtown, it's not a nightlife destination on weekends, even). Columbia City is the other place that's well laid out with high walk scores. Other points in between that would work for your job locations -- Central District, Madison Valley, Rainier Valley -- you can do some things without a car, but you'll find that going to the movies or a new restaurant means driving. The bus service is good for commuting hours and trips, but will only expand your car-free reach with kids a little bit -- maybe a couple of new parks or a different neighborhood with different restaurants, but not a ton. There are a couple of blocks of Bellevue and Kirkland that are "walkable", but the layout isn't all that pedestrian-friendly and once you go half a mile it's definitely a 100% car-oriented suburb (which is fine! you do you car-oriented suburbs!). In general the hardest thing to find as far as walkability is a full-service grocery store. If you are okay driving to get groceries or using Instacart, that expands the range of places to live.

In the city full day daycare at a center runs about $2k +/- $400/month for a newborn, $1500 +/- $200 for a preschooler. I've heard suburban daycare is cheaper, so you may find the cheapest option is near your work in Bellevue, especially if you can find an in-home that you like. Prices are pretty high, but licensing means the quality floor is pretty high. Also, state regs mean kids can only be in daycare for 10 hours before they start charging you by the minute, so that might be another reason to look for daycare near work.

In the city, public schools are almost completely by location. 10% of seats in each school are set aside for a lottery you can sign up for (as an aside, this policy is awful and it's Chief Justice Roberts' fault). My amateur read on education here is that K-8 schools generally fine in most (not all!) places and it's reasonably possible to fill the gaps outside of school hours, but the high school disparity is pretty high. SPS has a bumper crop of small children, so the school district is planning on redrawing HS boundaries around the time they hit middle school. In other words, don't pick a house based on its high school. In the suburbs, I think Lake Washington School District is the one of the best regarded, and beyond that I don't know much of anything.

[sakura]

Feb 27, 2017 14:22:58 GMT -5 jenny1980 said:

Hey there! We live in Seattle with two kiddos (we're in Ballard, which is in NW Seattle) and I'd be happy to answer questions about our particular hood. Seattle tends to be very neighborhood specific in terms of schools (and ours are in Catholic school so I don't have a lot of insight to our public schools other than the ones in our neighborhood are ranked highly) so if you can narrow down neighborhoods you're considering that might help in your search.

Child care here is very high as are housing costs. We own our home but I would guess a comparable rental (it's four bedroom/two bath in a cute neighborhood but on a busy street) would be around $3k/month or so. 

What are your work options outside of Bellevue? Personally I'd avoid commuting to the eastside if possible if you live in Seattle. (Which I would strongly recommend

Thanks for the info! I haven't looked into other companies too much yet but I have an in-demand skill in my field so I think I could find something in Seattle. I think the commute to Bellevue would get old fast, but a job transfer would be much easier in the short-term than starting somewhere new.

We haven't been able to narrow down the neighborhoods much, we're getting out there in a couple weeks to spend some time around the city but they all seem great. The only thing that has us narrowing them down is the commute to Bellevue, but that probably not something to base our decision on if I don't stay there. Queen Anne has been recommended to us by a few people.
What are the pros/cons of living in Ballard? What do you like best about it?

[niq]

I think the TL/DR of my post is that you can have "walkable", or you can have "reasonable commute to the Eastside", but it's very hard to have both, just because of where most of the walkable neighborhoods are.

[stretchad]

I live on the east-side, Issaquah and commute to SODO (south downtown). It's getting really long, and I have the 'luxury' of using the carpool lane. I live about 5-7 minutes from I-90, and take it straight into town...that + carpool lane my drive is typically 35 minutes, and I think it's been averaging closer to 40 this fall/winter. Without traffic it's 25 minutes to get downtown (20 miles).
We moved out this way because there was zero question about the quality of schools, and at the time we bought we could get a turn-key house within our budget. Even "out here" (which is frankly not far from SEA) daycare is still pricey. About 2200 for infant care at least and that was 3 years ago...the estimates niq gave will still hold for Bellevue/Issaquah area.

I would also budget ~3k a month for a 3br place, even if you decide on Bellevue/Issaquah/Redmond/Kirkland (maybe more in Kirkland?).

Good luck!

[InBetweenDays]

Feb 27, 2017 14:49:40 GMT -5 sakura said:

Feb 27, 2017 14:22:58 GMT -5 jenny1980 said:

Hey there! We live in Seattle with two kiddos (we're in Ballard, which is in NW Seattle) and I'd be happy to answer questions about our particular hood. Seattle tends to be very neighborhood specific in terms of schools (and ours are in Catholic school so I don't have a lot of insight to our public schools other than the ones in our neighborhood are ranked highly) so if you can narrow down neighborhoods you're considering that might help in your search.

Child care here is very high as are housing costs. We own our home but I would guess a comparable rental (it's four bedroom/two bath in a cute neighborhood but on a busy street) would be around $3k/month or so. 

What are your work options outside of Bellevue? Personally I'd avoid commuting to the eastside if possible if you live in Seattle. (Which I would strongly recommend

Thanks for the info! I haven't looked into other companies too much yet but I have an in-demand skill in my field so I think I could find something in Seattle. I think the commute to Bellevue would get old fast, but a job transfer would be much easier in the short-term than starting somewhere new.

We haven't been able to narrow down the neighborhoods much, we're getting out there in a couple weeks to spend some time around the city but they all seem great. The only thing that has us narrowing them down is the commute to Bellevue, but that probably not something to base our decision on if I don't stay there. Queen Anne has been recommended to us by a few people.
What are the pros/cons of living in Ballard? What do you like best about it?

Not Jenny, but I do also live in Ballard. I love the options of restaurants and shops in the historic "downtown" Ballard area. The proximity to the water (Puget Sound, the Ship Canal, the Ballard Locks). The sort of mix between old and new (Ballard used to be a predominantly Scandinavian fishing community and still has a decent Scandinavian presence - including a Syttende Mai parade that all the school participate in and huge rebuild of a Nordic Heritage Museum). I guess for me it just feels like a small town self-sufficient community within a short distance to downtown.

Con for me would be all of the recent development going on. Real estate is booming, which is great, but it also means in certain areas designated as an "Urban Village" all the older single family homes are being torn down and replaced with 3-4 townhomes. Just makes the area a lot more congested.

[smock]

I'm moving to Seattle with kids this summer, too! Mine will be 3 and 1, so it sounds like we're in a similar situation. I grew up in Seattle, though, and I can't wait to get back. It's an absolutely amazing city.

I'm most familiar with N. Seattle, and for walkability, commuting downtown, and schools, there are a ton of great options: Ravenna/Roosevelt, Green Lake, Wallingford, Fremont, and slightly less walkable but definitely family friendly, Bryant and Wedgwood. Ballard is the new hip place to be, and more affordable (plus access to great beaches!), but commuting to Bellevue from Ballard would be rough. When you're visiting, definitely rent a car and explore lots of neighborhoods, because each has a different feel. And if you're buying, consider the light rail (current and future stops) for easy public transit commuting downtown.

And hey, maybe we can have a "new to town with kids" GTG over the summer!

[sakura]

InBetweenDays, my DH would love to live w/in a 40 minute walk to his work downtown, but he'd be ok being further out with a public transit option to get to work. Really a walkable neighborhood with restaurants, shops, parks, grocery store, and community events is what we'd like most.
4K is 4 year old kindergarten. Our public schools here have optional 4K and it costs money but is much cheaper than daycare.

niq, Our ideal is to have one car but not need to use it everyday. We don't want to live in Bellevue as it seems a lot like the city we live in now and we can't wait to leave.

jenny1980, that sounds a lot like what we're looking for.

A guy that I met from Shoreline, previously Seattle, said that some kids ride city buses to public schools and we wouldn't like it. I don't really understand what he meant. Is that for the Choice option? Do you have school buses?

Are there typically waitlists for childcare for preschoolers? Do we need to have something lined up before we move or is it pretty easy to find somewhere to start in 2 weeks. We don't plan on having any more kids so don't need to worry about infant care, but it's also not as often that preschool enrollment changes over.

[sakura]

Feb 27, 2017 15:31:30 GMT -5 InBetweenDays said:

Feb 27, 2017 14:49:40 GMT -5 sakura said:

I guess for me it just feels like a small town self-sufficient community within a short distance to downtown.

This sounds perfect to me.

[InBetweenDays]

Feb 27, 2017 15:37:19 GMT -5 sakura said:

A guy that I met from Shoreline, previously Seattle, said that some kids ride city buses to public schools and we wouldn't like it. I don't really understand what he meant. Is that for the Choice option? Do you have school buses?

Are there typically waitlists for childcare for preschoolers? Do we need to have something lined up before we move or is it pretty easy to find somewhere to start in 2 weeks. We don't plan on having any more kids so don't need to worry about infant care, but it's also not as often that preschool enrollment changes over.

Elementary and middle schools have school buses. You have to live >1 mile from the elementary school and >2 miles from the middle school to qualify for the bus (or have transportation requirement designated in an IEP or medical plan), otherwise you're considered to be in the walk zone. Right now we live 0.5 miles from the elementary school so we have to provide our own transportation.

For high school, students who live >2 miles from the school are provided with a bus pass and take the city bus. <2 miles and they are in the walk zone.

For daycare, I'd probably start calling around to places once you have a better idea of where you're going to live and/or work. I wouldn't rely on finding something in two weeks once you're out here. 

If you want to try and be a 40 minute walk from downtown, I'd look at Lower Queen Anne (I think they now call it Uptown), Eastlake, or Capitol Hill. I lived in Lower Queen Anne for 5 years when I first moved to Seattle and really liked it. Although this was pre-kids so a much different lifystyle.  

[sakura]

Super helpful, thanks!
That makes a lot more sense about the bus system.

[niq]

Feb 27, 2017 15:37:19 GMT -5 sakura said:

niq , Our ideal is to have one car but not need to use it everyday. We don't want to live in Bellevue as it seems a lot like the city we live in now and we can't wait to leave.

A guy that I met from Shoreline, previously Seattle, said that some kids ride city buses to public schools and we wouldn't like it. I don't really understand what he meant. Is that for the Choice option? Do you have school buses?

Welp, everyone can have a good laugh ... biking or at least bike+bus might be your best option for commuting from Seattle to Bellevue without a car. Even so, I'd still stick with the neighborhoods in my first post, unless you're willing to live with a looong commute in terms of time.

K-8 uses school buses. The high schoolers take public transit, instead of using school buses. Kids of all ages use public transit for field trips, obviously supervised. In the 12 years I took the bus regularly (for both commuting and some nightlife trips), I saw my fair share of drunks, junkies, and chronic homeless. I think the teenagers sitting in front of me had sex once. On city routes, I think the bus driver had to kick a passenger off the bus once, for yelling at/fighting with other passengers. So ... I mean, it depends a lot on what you think of as "unsafe" vs just sort of unpleasant, if your teenage kid will always be on the bus at least with other teenage kids, etc.

[sugarbear]

Feb 27, 2017 15:34:23 GMT -5 smock said:

I'm moving to Seattle with kids this summer, too! Mine will be 3 and 1, so it sounds like we're in a similar situation. I grew up in Seattle, though, and I can't wait to get back. It's an absolutely amazing city.

I'm most familiar with N. Seattle, and for walkability, commuting downtown, and schools, there are a ton of great options: Ravenna/Roosevelt, Green Lake, Wallingford, Fremont, and slightly less walkable but definitely family friendly, Bryant and Wedgwood. Ballard is the new hip place to be, and more affordable (plus access to great beaches!), but commuting to Bellevue from Ballard would be rough. When you're visiting, definitely rent a car and explore lots of neighborhoods, because each has a different feel. And if you're buying, consider the light rail (current and future stops) for easy public transit commuting downtown.

And hey, maybe we can have a "new to town with kids" GTG over the summer!

I live in Greenwood / Greenlake. 
You've gotten a ton of good info here. All I can add is that with an income of $190k, you'll be fine. You might even be able to go on vacation!

I do think that you'll have a difficult time finding a rental for $3k. I'd budget more closely to $3.5 or $4k.

[sakura]

Feb 27, 2017 16:14:12 GMT -5 niq said:

Feb 27, 2017 15:37:19 GMT -5 sakura said:

niq , Our ideal is to have one car but not need to use it everyday. We don't want to live in Bellevue as it seems a lot like the city we live in now and we can't wait to leave.

A guy that I met from Shoreline, previously Seattle, said that some kids ride city buses to public schools and we wouldn't like it. I don't really understand what he meant. Is that for the Choice option? Do you have school buses?

Welp, everyone can have a good laugh ... biking or at least bike+bus might be your best option for commuting from Seattle to Bellevue without a car. Even so, I'd still stick with the neighborhoods in my first post, unless you're willing to live with a looong commute in terms of time.

K-8 uses school buses. The high schoolers take public transit, instead of using school buses. Kids of all ages use public transit for field trips, obviously supervised. In the 12 years I took the bus regularly (for both commuting and some nightlife trips), I saw my fair share of drunks, junkies, and chronic homeless. I think the teenagers sitting in front of me had sex once. On city routes, I think the bus driver had to kick a passenger off the bus once, for yelling at/fighting with other passengers. So ... I mean, it depends a lot on what you think of as "unsafe" vs just sort of unpleasant, if your teenage kid will always be on the bus at least with other teenage kids, etc.

Oh, yeah, sorry, I know that's not practical for a job in Bellevue. My train of thought was jumping around and I should have said my ideal was for the 'new job in Seattle' scenario.

[spunbutterfly]

I'm also a Ballardite and love it. But it is "far" from the east side. There are ways to make it more time effective to be sure, but they take some finagling. We used to park our car at Lenora and 20th at Montlake and hop the bus across to Microsoft back when my husband and I both worked there. We'd leave the house at 7AM, drop the kid off, and get to work by 9AM. We'd leave Redmond at 4:30PM, pick the kid up by 5-5:30PM, and be home by 6-6:30. It was the best of a meh situation. My husband no longer works in Redmond and I no longer work.

I didn't have time to read all the responses (so rarely on a computer lately and hate phone GBCNing), but the Green Lake/Ravenna area sounds like it could work well for you guys, relatively close to the 65th Park and Ride for all of your bus needs (to the east side and downtown) and walkable. Don't know about schools there though. And we do not have 4K. By about 4 years old, there are a lot more options for pay preschools that are far cheaper than daycare costs, but still not 'cheap'. There's a Montessori school just a block away from me that's all day that's a lot more money than we wanted to pay with one parent at home so my son goes to a half day (4 hours) 3x a week. Our preschool system does a full day preschool too though, five days ago, but $$.

[spunbutterfly]

Oh also, when we had a rental (2 bedroom 1 bath 1520sqft), we rented it out under market value for 2200 a month a year ago. I'd say fair market value for a house that's 2 bedroom 1 bath would be closer to 2500. FWIW, rents don't go up in a steep curve the larger the home gets. So about 3k for a 4 bedroom 2 bath house sounds about right.

Other than the sticker shock of higher cost of living, the biggest shift would likely be learning to love parallel parking.

[sakura]

Feb 27, 2017 16:55:16 GMT -5 spunbutterfly said:

Oh also, when we had a rental (2 bedroom 1 bath 1520sqft), we rented it out under market value for 2200 a month a year ago. I'd say fair market value for a house that's 2 bedroom 1 bath would be closer to 2500. FWIW, rents don't go up in a steep curve the larger the home gets. So about 3k for a 4 bedroom 2 bath house sounds about right.

Other than the sticker shock of higher cost of living, the biggest shift would likely be learning to love parallel parking.

That's interesting, it does seem like you get a lot more for your money when crossing the 2.8-3k threshold. We are considering renting a two bedroom, our kiddos end up sleeping in the same room most nights even though they have their own rooms. but if it's not much more it might make sense to have the extra room for OOT guests.

Somehow I'm horrible at backing up straight down a driveway but I'm a rockstar at parallel parking

[atarianna]

I grew up spending months each year in Ballard visiting my great grandma and helping out at my grandmother's flower shop in town. We walked to church and the grocery.

My grandparents live in Shoreline, my mom had graduated high school by the time they moved there, but my aunt and uncle finished up there. My cousins grew up in Lake Forrest (Park?) and the schools seemed fine, but not Seattle lifestyle.

I don't think any of this is helpful, but I figured it was worth typing.

[lolo]

Following this post, as Seattle is one city we are considering. It would be a bargain for us coming from the SF bay area.

[sakura]

Feb 27, 2017 18:35:48 GMT -5 atarianna said:

I grew up spending months each year in Ballard visiting my great grandma and helping out at my grandmother's flower shop in town. We walked to church and the grocery.

My grandparents live in Shoreline, my mom had graduated high school by the time they moved there, but my aunt and uncle finished up there. My cousins grew up in Lake Forrest (Park?) and the schools seemed fine, but not Seattle lifestyle.

I don't think any of this is helpful, but I figured it was worth typing.

No, it's helpful! What can you tell me about Shoreline? The guy I met was really trying to convince me to live in Shoreline or Bellevue but I don't know if our priorities were in sync.

[atarianna]

Feb 27, 2017 20:37:03 GMT -5 sakura said:

Feb 27, 2017 18:35:48 GMT -5 atarianna said:

I grew up spending months each year in Ballard visiting my great grandma and helping out at my grandmother's flower shop in town. We walked to church and the grocery.

My grandparents live in Shoreline, my mom had graduated high school by the time they moved there, but my aunt and uncle finished up there. My cousins grew up in Lake Forrest (Park?) and the schools seemed fine, but not Seattle lifestyle.

I don't think any of this is helpful, but I figured it was worth typing.

No, it's helpful! What can you tell me about Shoreline? The guy I met was really trying to convince me to live in Shoreline or Bellevue but I don't know if our priorities were in sync.

I have always loved the area but don't have a lot of perspective. The neighborhoods are hilly, theirs overlooks the water. It's walkable to parks and the local school, but not much else. Just outside of their neighborhood it's being built up with condos and such, but down off Aurora there are a lot of old somewhat rundown businesses.

If I had to pick between Ballard and Shoreline, I would pick Ballard in a heartbeat. If you want walkability and such, I think you will love that area.

[ellipses84]

I haven't lived in Seattle with kids, but I used to live in Lower Queen Anne and commuted to Bellevue. My commute was horrible, often taking over an hour to drive 10 miles. That was years ago and I know they have made a lot of road improvements, but I got caught in terrible rush hour traffic a few months ago when I was there, so I don't think it has improved much. My roommate worked downtown and could walk there in less than 30 minutes. With kids, I'd love upper Queen Anne but housing is very expensive. There are lots of other areas that are kid friendly and walkable, Seattle is a great city to raise kids and we've considered moving back but the cost of living has gone up so much since we were there.

I also lived in Redmond and Mercer Island, and Mercer Island was the best for working in Bellevue. I loved living in both LQA and Mercer Island, but they are completely opposite. DH loved Redmond and Mercer Island but he is not a city person at all. I'm a city person, so I'd choose finding a job in the city.

[namasteak]

Why did I read this thread?! Ever since I visited twice in 6 months 4 years ago I have adored the city. If we could move family with us I would live in Seattle in a heartbeat!

[L]

Both my friends with 5 kids each moved to Seattle last year (their husbands own a company & it was bought by Amazon (I think) so they had to move to now work for Amazon). They both live on Mercer Island and have awesome views from their houses. They send their kids to Catholic school there. Don't know anything much else (price/walkability) but they seem to be liking it there coming from Denver.

[sakura]

We are doing a Seattle recon trip soon and just rented an AirBnB in Ballard. You guys made it sound amazing and its a neighborhood I definitely want to check out more.
I also found a potential job near downtown/pioneer square so that would make my commute a lot better.
I think Mercer Island prices are outside of my comfort zone.
Is Magnolia or West Seattle worth considering?

[stretchad]

Mar 2, 2017 10:52:18 GMT -5 sakura said:

We are doing a Seattle recon trip soon and just rented an AirBnB in Ballard. You guys made it sound amazing and its a neighborhood I definitely want to check out more.
I also found a potential job near downtown/pioneer square so that would make my commute a lot better.
I think Mercer Island prices are outside of my comfort zone.
Is Magnolia or West Seattle worth considering?

We lived in West Seattle for about 8 months before we bought and it was great. Especially where my office is located, it's probably the shortest commute that I could get in the area. I highly recommend it. We opted to move to the east side when we decided to buy because we could get turnkey with the size of house we needed. We also had more comfort with the public schools out that way. 

[niq]

Feb 27, 2017 20:37:03 GMT -5 sakura said:

Feb 27, 2017 18:35:48 GMT -5 atarianna said:

I grew up spending months each year in Ballard visiting my great grandma and helping out at my grandmother's flower shop in town. We walked to church and the grocery.

My grandparents live in Shoreline, my mom had graduated high school by the time they moved there, but my aunt and uncle finished up there. My cousins grew up in Lake Forrest (Park?) and the schools seemed fine, but not Seattle lifestyle.

I don't think any of this is helpful, but I figured it was worth typing.

No, it's helpful! What can you tell me about Shoreline? The guy I met was really trying to convince me to live in Shoreline or Bellevue but I don't know if our priorities were in sync.

I'd say they're nice suburbs. Bellevue has like six blocks that are "walkable" but only sort of. I don't know if Shoreline has any. Shoreline also makes the downtown commute worse and at best the Bellevue commute is about the same. It sounds like this person is not much of a city mouse, which is fine.

Greenwood (where I live!) and Greenlake (where sugarbear lives!) are closer to the freeway and might shorten the Bellevue commute compared to Ballard, at least in the morning. The downtown commute would be about the same - longer distance but fewer surface streets. It doesn't have quite as much stuff to walk to as Ballard, but all the basics are within walking distance: a full size grocery store, a library, several parks, about 10-15 restaurants, 3-4 coffee shops, etc.

[sugarbear]

Mar 3, 2017 13:15:07 GMT -5 niq said:

Feb 27, 2017 20:37:03 GMT -5 sakura said:

No, it's helpful! What can you tell me about Shoreline? The guy I met was really trying to convince me to live in Shoreline or Bellevue but I don't know if our priorities were in sync.

I'd say they're nice suburbs. Bellevue has like six blocks that are "walkable" but only sort of. I don't know if Shoreline has any. Shoreline also makes the downtown commute worse and at best the Bellevue commute is about the same. It sounds like this person is not much of a city mouse, which is fine.

Greenwood (where I live!) and Greenlake (where sugarbear lives!) are closer to the freeway and might shorten the Bellevue commute compared to Ballard, at least in the morning. The downtown commute would be about the same - longer distance but fewer surface streets. It doesn't have quite as much stuff to walk to as Ballard, but all the basics are within walking distance: a full size grocery store, a library, several parks, about 10-15 restaurants, 3-4 coffee shops, etc.

atarianna, I grew up in LFP / Shoreline. It's a "nice" suburb. Safe enough, has a few strip malls and one bigger "towne center" (it's fancier if you spell it with an 'e') with a grocery, gym, book store, Starbucks. It's not walkable at all, IMO. I mean, there are many roads that don't even have sidewalks. I think the commute downtown would be pretty terrible, regardless of when you leave. It seems that traffic is almost always backed up going south, into the city. Commuting to Bellevue might be easier because you'd have access to 405, but I have no idea; I never go that way.

Greenwood / Greenlake (I'm like, 5 blocks from niq) offers super easy access to the freeway and to 99, but again, any commute from the west side to the east side is going to be difficult. Where we live is incredibly walkable-- great coffee shops, parks, restaurants, grocery stores, and specialty shops, all within a short walk.

[sugarbear]

Mar 2, 2017 10:52:18 GMT -5 sakura said:

We are doing a Seattle recon trip soon and just rented an AirBnB in Ballard. You guys made it sound amazing and its a neighborhood I definitely want to check out more.
I also found a potential job near downtown/pioneer square so that would make my commute a lot better.
I think Mercer Island prices are outside of my comfort zone.
Is Magnolia or West Seattle worth considering?

Both are great, IMO, until the weather gets cold and the bridges / hills freeze (which, admittedly rarely happens. But when it does, I don't want to be commuting from the top of Magnolia or from West Seattle). Getting to downtown from either will be pretty easy.