Thoughts on moving to Seattle?

Currently in NYC and looking at what seems to be a very compelling opportunity in Seattle. I've visited the city briefly in the past and liked it, but have never lived there (and don't know anyone there now). What are thoughts on living there? What are people like? Is the weather as bad as people say? Gracias all.

 

Weather is terrible unless you aren't bothered by rain and like being outdoors, majority of young (22-29) people are your stereotypical northwestern liberals (notch below the SF crazies), less expensive than NYC but still pretty expensive. Oh and homeless out the wazoo.

 
Funniest

Seattle Native here:

Weather: GOAT in the summer, pure depression from Nov to early April

Women: All hot ones are either married or underage

Politics: Bernie Sanders is a corporate cuck sellout

Scenery: Best in the country when not raining

Personality/Vibe: Hey, Did you hear about the new nintendo switch coming out?

Sports: Seahawks for the locals, Sounders(MLS) for the transplants and H1bs, Everyone hates the Mariners

Career Outlook: Tech Tech Tech / Boeing

Fashion: REI 

Cost of Living: Too much

Any other questions?

 

Most of the fans I know are transplants.    Anyone that grew up here pre amazon dot com boom is a seahawks/lapsed mariners fan.

If you set foot in the kingdome, you probably aren't a massive sounders fan(like buying scarves and stuff).

 

Seattle is a very mediocre city and expensive for what it offers. Don't bother. Either stay in NYC or move to FL/CA for the weather or the South in general for cheap cost of living. Seattle is in that middle ground space where you don't get any benefits from living there.

 

Lived in Seattle for a while through college/after college... The biggest drag for me really was the weather. The people from the area barely notice it because they've never known anything else, but being from a state where the sun shines most days (even when the weather's cold), having perpetual gloom and rain for 9 months a year really started to wear on me by year 3 or so. The city itself is relatively nice, although the homeless population is getting out of control, and the cost of living is getting very pricey/continues to climb. I honestly wouldn't move back purely due to the weather, but the summers are A1, and the scenery is unmatched for a large city in the US. 

On a positive note, there is tons of outdoor activities if you're into that kind of stuff, and the food scene is rather impressive for the size of the city. If you see yourself ever moving into tech, Seattle is really the place to be... Tech comp in Seattle is the highest in the country. The finance scene is almost non-existent besides a very few boutique firms. It really comes down to your preferences, but there are definitely a lot of worse places to live in the US.

 

Feel free to PM me on specific firms if helpful. The finance ecosystem in Seattle just isn't that big, and everyone knows everyone else. Outside of the professional world, broadly speaking, the posters here have accurately captured the downsides of cost, weather, and the local culture.

Seattle has two seasons: beautiful, and kill yourself.

"Son, life is hard. But it's harder if you're stupid." - my dad
 

Agree 100% on this. Boston has a worse winter and summer and very erratic weather.

The pacific ocean makes weather very consistent.

Boston Vs Seattle

Winter -> Seattle - Rainy but 30-50F + Rain beats 17-30F + Snow

Spring -> Very similar 

Summer -> Seattle 75F and Dry vs 80 and Humid. 

Fall -> Very similar

I hate the cold and only think summer in Boston is good because of the winter spring being bad. I am a native New Englander so I am used to bad weather.

 
Most Helpful

As a diehard NYC guy, a move to Seattle will behoove you in the event you're an actual outdoor guy who is working in tech (whether it's finance or product doesn't really matter in my case). The city is much more oriented to a certain type of person or personality than NYC/LA/CHI/SF given it's smaller and has a pretty strong mix of tech folks and seattle OG folks who are being/have been pushed out due to tech. If you're not hanging out w the tech crowd you're likely to be ostracized by locals or others given the influence of tech on housing prices and generally pushing unemployed folks out of Seattle-proper. Per my initial statement, I wouldn't move to Seattle unless you were hitched to very specific roles (from a finance perspective) and were comfortable not experiencing "normal" social scenarios unless you were already connected to friends who worked there.

 

Lived about a decade in Seattle. I truly didn’t find the weather that bad. However, I’m into the outdoors so the “gloomy” time of the year I was able to get outside and not notice it. Not many cities offer as good as biking, skiing, hiking, and boating with good jobs located in close proximity. The summers are amazing in my opinion.

I will add. A lot of people talk about moving to Seattle for work, but end up working/living in Bellevue or Redmond.  Living on the east side is a lot different than being in Seattle. So bring that into consideration  

The “Seattle Freeze” everybody talks about I personally think is BS. I never found it an issue. Like moving to any new place, you just need to be outgoing and put effort into meeting people. 
 

If you have any specific questions feel free to reach out. 

 

A lot of the specifics to Seattle have already been covered, but proximity to Vancouver, BC, Canada is nice. I think it's a 2-3 hour drive from Seattle and literally one of the most beautiful cities on earth. Whistler is about 1.5 hours north of Vancouver, so world-class skiing and snowboarding available as well within reasonable range.

 

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