I lived in Seattle for over 45 years and left four years ago to a small farm in central KY I purchased 6 years ago. I have three adult daughters that live in Seattle. Two Downtown and one near lake city way near I-5.
Reasons I left:
1. Politics. You really give up your freedom to live there. And they ignore the will of the people. Even when there is a referendum (People voted to put Kingdome by southcenter. City put it south of downtown anyway. People voted to not build Safeco field. City built it anyway. Etcetera.)
2. Traffic. This is the biggie. Ive had two separate friends visit and they both said the same thing: It looks like the city expands retail and living quarters and then says, Gosh, should we build some wider roads? Naw, People will get used to it.
You have to plan outings around traffic seven days a week.
I bicycle commuted in Seattle for a couple of decades but stopped because texting drivers made it too dangerous.
And one other thing, and a person from New York summed this one up really well. The people in Seattle seem friendly but that is not what it is. They are not Friendly. They are polite.
Now the positive: IT is a truly beautiful area and there are some great parks. One Christmas day my wife and I went to the tip of the Alki Beach area and watched Killer whales just offshore. There are some awesome little neighborhood communities. We liked to go Downtown at 6:00 on Saturday mornings and watch the Pike Place Market open up and see the people getting and setting up their booths. Wed walk around the Westlake park area and enjoy a Starbucks or Tullys coffee as we walked around. We would leave before nine so we didnt have to pay for parking or fight any crowds.
And Freemont is a fun place. There is a place called the White Rabbit. On monday nights the Michael Shrieve band plays there. Michael was the drummer for Santana at Woodstock. The most amazing clip from the movie is his drum solo. Hes gotten better his whole life and his band matches him. They are a serious treat - assuming they are still doing it.
The red hook brewery is also west of Freemont. Its fun.
Oh, and south lake union has become totally Amazon territory. I think they hire a lot of cheap young people that populate all the apartments in that area. Its very hip there. But at my age (61) Ive been there, done that. I like to watch the subtle young professional pompousness as a sort of comedic side show. They think they are so smart and worldly that it really is kinda fun to watch. Like a living Woody Allen movie.
And then there is the stuff outside of Seattle. Hiking, biking trails, etc. But I ramble.
Frankly, I like Kentucky even more, but if you are young and really want to soak in the urban life and what it has to offer, Seattle is one of your best choices. I like Louisville better but that is because I like its size. Frankly, Knoxville TN might be even better. But both are just right. I like to say that, size wise, louisville is to seattle what seattle is to chicago what chicago is to new york.
But the key is that Louisville really doesnt have the traffic issues (It has them, as do all cities, but not much) and the government is MUCH less intrusive than it is in Seattle.
Oh, and there is no income tax in Seattle, but the sales tax is over 10%.
I called the tunnel “big dig west” when I lived in Seattle and they were considering it as one of the options. It cracked me up when they decided to go with it. And gee, look at it now. ;-)
I sold commercial real estate in the early 80’s in downtown Seattle and lived in the south end and east side of King county. I also worked at Blue Cross up north and bought a motorcycle specifically so I could use the HOV lane for that contract. My wife and I have discovered pretty much every nook and cranny of Seattle and the entire county, not to mention all the surface streets you can use to bypass some of the rush hour.
When I lived near Paul Allen’s house on south Mercer Island I would bicycle commute to Safeco in the U-district. It was typically a 48 minute bike ride. It was a 56 minute bus ride. That’s Seattle in a nut shell.