Thinking of moving FROM Pittsburgh TO Seattle
 

Help! I am thinking about moving from Pittsburgh, PA to Seattle, WA. I have a job opportunity to work at Seattle Children's Hospital, and I'm wondering what a good area would be to live. I don't need to be in city proper but an idea of good suburbs of Seattle with reasonable commute times into the city. I'm a little nervous about the cost of living as well. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Given the hospital's location in the city there really aren't any suburbs with "reasonable commute times," depending on how you define "reasonable."

You'll probably get more focused responses here: http://www.city-data.com/forum/seattle-area/ but I live not far from Children's and I'd say there are lots of decent places to live within a 30-min. commute range of the hospital, most of them within the Seattle city limits, but you could also include nearby suburbs like Shoreline and Lake Forest Park.

The cost of living in Seattle is not that much higher than in PA EXCEPT for housing. (Other things might be cheaper; for example we have no state income tax, you won't spend as much on heating and a/c as you do now, stuff like that.)

Children's is a terrific institution. Welcome!

I'd look in the immediate area of Children's. Traffic in Seattle has become horrific, and you don't want to have to cross a bridge (eliminating everything east of Lake Washington). There are lovely residential areas near Children's, look at areas just north of the Medical Center.

If you MUST have a suburb, Lake Forest Park would be a possibility, though the commute might take longer than 30 minutes during rush hours. Shoreline would require than you have a drive east-west, which is always harder in Seattle.

https://goo.gl/maps/sG7xooLsuA22

As you can see, Children's is not downtown but in an upscale neighborhood. Drag and zoom to find the locations that others have mentioned. Commuting from the top of the lake is far preferable to anything involving a freeway.

Welcome!!

Thank you for your responses!

Children's is in a beautiful area. I would try to live close to where you work. Laurelhurt, Ravenna, Roosevelt, Maple Leaf, Wedgwood would all be great. A bit further in various directions Capitol Hill, Wallingford, Fremont, Greenlake, Greenwood.... all great residential neighborhoods on the north side of Seattle.

As others have mentioned traffic is awful here (it's truly the #1 thing i dislike about Seattle, really the only thing, oh and parking!).

As far as cost of living, if you post the kind of place you'd want to rent/buy people can let you know typical prices.

Good luck! My daughter and her husband moved to Seattle in May. It took them 2 months to get a decent rental house. She said there were sometimes 20 other people at showings. They did not want to spend too much time in the traffic, but wanted a house or townhouse. It was rough.

They originally wanted to buy a house, but the competition was just too stressful, combined with their move from Austin right after their wedding and new jobs. She said they start a more leisurely home search in a few months.

lcuy, Good luck to your daughter! I wouldn't want to be trying to buy a house here in Seattle right now. The houses that go up for sale in my neighborhood generally sell in less than a week, usually with multiple offers.