About the only thing mentioned that Seattle has but Atlanta doesn't is pretty scenery. So what am I missing that makes places like Seattle so much better?
Hmmmm, yes the scenery is pretty.....The Cascades. Puget Sound. There's also the mild climate. Those are worth
a lot.
The pretty scenery is really a massive playground in our backyard combined with the mild climate - it's far more than something to look at. Where's the snow skiing within 1 hour of Atlanta? How about multiple 12,000+ foot volcano's to get the snowcone climbing on? The Inside Passage kayak route starts here for some epic sea kayaking (play in the mild current of the south Sound or the lakes, or head up to the San Juan's for some more exciting paddling, or continue all the way to Alaska). Whales / Orca's romp through the sound. Most houses here don't have A/C since it rarely is hot enough and practically is never humid enough to need it. Tornado's or severe T-Storms? Nope. Winter temps are usually in the 40's (with occasional cold and usually dry blasts to the 20's or teens), heavy snowfalls are once in a 5 year occurrence, those summer temps hit the 80's at times most years, but with low humidity, and very rarely get into the 90's and practically always with comfortable overnight lows to cool things off. I think the absolute record high is 100 on the button, and that's only been hit twice, ever, if memory serves. Old growth is something else that's here - yeah, they're not quite as massive as the Redwoods in the Humbolt, but our trail crew clears 2-3 foot diameter Doug Firs every year and the real big stuff is 5-8 foot diameter. Two words for the hunter / fisher types - Elk and Salmon. Hikers, here's 3 words - Pacific Crest Trail. Some of the best scenery on the trail extends from Snoqualmie Pass (I-90) to Canada - the High Sierra is also the highlight. Add in the rest of the great hiking in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Glacier Peak Wilderness, the Goat Rocks, Enchantments, etc. to name but a few spots (or for the urban hiking, the Issaquah Alps as Tiger, Squak and Cougar are know). The list of outdoor playground items goes on......
What's it worth to have all of that here? In short, lots. If you want to ski in Atlanta, that's a major vacation to where, the NE or Colorado? Night skiing after work in Atlanta? Nope - but a quick trip up I-90 does it here. How about ocean Kayaking? Trip to the Gulf coast, instead of 15 minutes trip to the sound. Mountain climbing? Get on a plane and come west. Mild climate....well,you're stuck with how many 90 degree and 90% humidity days a year (which has never happened here in Seattle)?
But in re house pricing, it's simple supply and demand. The supply is highly constrained for geographical and political reasons. I won't touch on the latter, but the fact is Seattle IS geographically limited.
Is Atlanta geographically constrained by an arm of the Pacific oriented north / south, and two large north / south oriented lakes, and then by the Cascade foothills? Nope. Atlanta sprawls in all directions from the core with no major geographical restrictions evident on Google Maps for miles more. Compare Seattle to Atlanta in the terrain mode at equal levels of magnification and you'll see.
The greater Seattle metro area is stuck in a linear north south corridor between the salt water to the west and Lake Washington to the east - it's about 5 miles or so wide along side Lk. Washington (yes, some is wider, some like the downtown core is narrower). The next urban area across Lake Washington (Bellevue) is constrained by Lake Sammamish to the east of there. East of there, you start hitting the Cascade foothills pretty quickly. As a result, the greater urban area has grown north / south on the I-5 corridor with more or less a blending of Tacoma / Federal Way / Burien / Seattle / Shoreline / MLT / Lynnwood / Everett and on into Marysville (going south to north) into one metro area with little to no significant undeveloped areas in between. When you hit the south end of Lake Washington, it's the same thing more or less - with Renton blending into Bellevue, into Kirkland, into Bothell until you've wrapped the north end of the lake. As a result, if you want to live anywhere within a reasonable distance of the main Seattle core, there aren't a lot of homes compared to the urban area population, ergo prices are generally high. Things get cheaper the further out you go, but then you get the sucky commute if your job is in the core (of course if you work in Everett, for example, say on the wide body assembly line, living way out from Seattle in the north end is a feature, not a bug).
YMMV of course.....but that's why I love the good ole US of A, there's so much variety. Some folks will absolutely love the Seattle area for what it has (like I do - stuff that would be hard to pay for elsewhere), others have different priorities and will choose other areas since they offer what that person wants.