Seattle, Washington (Columbia City Neighborhood)
Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_City,_SeattlePros:
1) Fabulous Walkability. Walkscore 98-100 if you are in between the light rail stop and the shopping area and still great if you are outside that spot.
2) Light Rail to downtown takes 16 minutes to get downtown where most of the job opportunities are. Much less stressful than driving imo, and you can read/nap/whatever on the way
3) Fabulously amazingly beautiful place to live. Lake Washington and the cascades to the east, Mount Rainier to the South, Cheasty Green Space on the hills to the west.
4) Diversity Diversity Diversity. One of if not the most diverse zip code in the US, with a plethora of various cultures all mixed together. Mexican, Chinese, Vietnamese, Somali, Russian, various African, traditional European, etc all intermingled. Only place I've lived that people of all colors and origins get off the bus together - it is usually more segregated elsewhere.
5) Housing prices can be a lot better than other parts of Seattle, especially North Seattle. Houses will typically run $300k to $400k whereas a friend had to drop $800k for a fixer upper in Wallingford (north Seattle neighborhood).
6) Farmer's market every Wednesday that stretches for several blocks. great food/starts/atmosphere as a good chunk of the town shows up and we always end up meeting people we know and socializing in addition to stocking up on fresh/healthy food.
7) Up and coming neighborhood, with a gigantic PCC (local organic grocery store) due to open in the next year.
8) Like all of Seattle - lots of Amazon perks due to living in their main city including access to Amazon Fresh and same day delivery (if you order by 1 PM)
9) Healthy living, healthy food, appreciation for the environment are all values that many Seattleites share.
10) People tend to be more fit here than many other places in the US. I spent a bit of time in Oklahoma and it was a real shock to go from a prime "Biggest Loser" recruiting town to a place where almost everyone seems to be pretty healthy. It is also a great motivator to stay in shape yourself and the life and environment is very conducive to doing so.
11) Mild (albeit gray) winters, Spring and Fall are nice and Summer is something that must be experienced to be believed. I've lived all over the country and spent time in much of Europe and /nowhere/ has summers that compare. Avg temperature in the winter is like 44 with an occasional dip into the 20s and summer tends to be 75-85 degrees with low humidity (the warmer it gets the lower the humidity is) and very long days. Growing season is insanely long.. 250 days I think?
12) Awesome and fast access to nature and outdoor activities. Lakes/Rivers/Cascades all nearby. Bike paths and lanes are fairly solid and constantly being improved. Clean air. tons of trees/plants/etc.
13) If you are a techie or a gamer, this is an especially awesome city. Tons of game stores and game companies and something like 400k tech workers in Seattle. PAX Prime is here for a reason.
14) Very Urban Farming friendly city. You can have chickens. There are over 90 p-patches (community gardens) so you can garden with your neighbors in addition to whatever you do on your own land. The p-patch program is GREAT for getting to know your neighbors and we know a dozen households fairly well that we wouldn't otherwise. Even if you don't want to raise chickens yourself, lots of people have extra eggs they will sell.
15) Fairly educated populace. One of the most literate in the nation:
http://mynorthwest.com/11/618136/Seattle-ranked-second-most-literate-city-in-US . Very progressive (which some might rank as a Con I guess :P )
16) No income tax
Cons:
1) Housing is pretty expensive compared to many other places in the country.
2) Diversity in this particular neighborhood results in schools that don't have the resources of schools in north Seattle.
3) A lot of overcast days in the winter. Taking a sun break and going to Hawaii or San Diego or even just Eastern Washington in January/February is very common.
4) Fairly high sales tax, although I've found that this doesn't impact me personally too much since groceries aren't taxed.
5) Traffic can be a bit of a bear, although South Seattle has it A TON better than North Seattle. I can go 60MPH at rush hour on I-5 south of the city while north of the city will be crawling. It took me 3 hours once to get from Lynnwood (~15 miles north of downtown) to downtown Seattle on a Friday afternoon - a time period that should be a reverse commute. Heading into downtown from any direction will frequently be congested and slow though.
6) People take a bit to open up. People tend to be very polite but will be slow to build friendships compared to other places I've been. Also referred to as the Seattle Freeze. It is NOT insurmountable, but be careful not to get discouraged when first moving here as it can take some time. Participating in neighborhood programs like the p-patch and other things can help significantly.
Overall - I love Seattle and would highly recommend it especially if you are still in the accumulation phase. My fiancee and I are both constantly amazed at how much happier we are since moving here and consider it one of the best decisions we've ever made. Once we have enough to retire, we will almost certainly stay in Western Washington but might consider Kent, Port Angeles, or some other location with a lower housing cost. The Columbia City neighborhood is a gem that not many are aware of but almost everyone who lives here will gush about how awesome it is.
