Im a 44 M relocating to the Seattle area for work in Jan 27. I am unable to drive due to TBI so will need public transportation (I live in rural Midwest now with absolutely no public transportation so work online). A promotion has lead to an in -person position. I will be working near downtown but I wont be able to afford anywhere near downtown Seattle so Im looking for feedback for potential towns or cities that I can commute fully from. 80k annual and single no kids. Any advice helps.
Look along the light rail 1 line - either south or north of downtown - as far north as Lynnwood or south as Federal Way depending on what rent you can find.
There’s also the Sounder train and Sound Transit Express buses that tend to be faster than light rail depending on where downtown the job is. For example, in Auburn my train ride to King Street Station is about 35 minutes where parallel city Federal Way to ID station is shy of an hour. Express bus stopping at both is about 50 minutes without traffic but ends up closer to Symphony station.
But as others pointed out, livability without a car in the suburbs is lower, especially if you want to be close to VA. As someone without a car in the suburbs, unless you find a killer deal, pay extra to live in the city proper.
The sounder barely exists though. If you’re not leaving the house at 5:30 am and leaving work at like 2 pm (obvious exaggeration) it doesn’t really help.
Lynnwood has many apartments at different price points near their light rail station.
Also look into getting an orca card for people with disabilities.
https://kingcounty.gov/en/dept/metro/fares-and-payment/reduced-fares/regional-reduced-fare-permit
Rent is cheaper down by Federal Way and Kent but is less walkable than near the Lynnwood Station.
The other option is to live near Sounder Train Stations if you are working in Downtown Seattle.
Kent and Everett have lower rent and is walkable to grocery stores and minor league hockey games.
Thank you! This is really helpful!
Just one warning about the Sounder.
It's great and opens up a number of places outside of the urban core.
It also runs a pretty restricted schedule. The schedule is designed to get you to and from downtown on a pretty standard 8-5 schedule.
Working late? Doing shift work? NGL, it's rough.
Thank you, that's helpful.
There are buses that get there from downtown if you miss the last train. The 510 Bus goes to Everett at 6:30 and even if you miss that bus, you can get on the 1 line to Lynnwood and take a bus to Everett. Not ideal if you want nightlife in Seattle but it is doable.
Just curious. Does the bus follow the train stop for stop in either direction?
I remember years ago having a buddy who lived down in Kent. If he got held after hours at work, either I drove him home or his wife had to come North to pick him up.
No it doesn’t. There are no buses that go to Mukilteo or Edmonds directly from Seattle for example.
There are direct buses that go to Lakewood or Tacoma though.
The Sounder is also useless on weekends, unless you’re attending selected sports events.
Thank you u/wumingzi for jumping in about the schedule limitations of the Sounder; I’ve been irritated by their hours for many years (as a Tacoma to Southcenter then Ravenna or Columbia City to Southcenter commuter whose work schedule rendered it 100% useless as an alternative to driving).
OP, depending on how urban a situation you’re looking for, the Belltown/Lower Queen Anne, Eastlake, or First Hill neighborhoods are pretty well-served by transit. Queen Anne proper (aka Upper Queen Anne) is quieter and more posh, but the hill itself is bloody steep (which may or may not be a barrier to you). Capital Hill is very popular/walkable/well-transited, but it’s party central in terms of bars/clubs/nightlife, which can be irritating neighbors.
Outside of downtown, the University District is the area best served by public transit, and the fringes can be a nice combination of affordable and accessible without being overrun with students. I had a great experience a few blocks NE of the University Village shopping center and could easily have been entirely car-free (there were a number of months I was, for an assortment of reasons). The primary reason I moved south of downtown was that it cut my commute in half by distance and meant I didn’t have to pass through that bottleneck every day.
South of downtown can get a bit “rougher”. It’s more ethnically and economically diverse. Beacon Hill, Mt. Baker, and Columbia City are all attractive and highly livable, though there’s more variability in the transit service. You have to pay more attention to the exact routes of the buses and train.
The hot tip on Metro bus routes is that the lower the route number is, the more frequently it runs, but the tradeoff is that they’re also much more heavily used, slower, and tend to have a much more “colorful” clientele. The Rapid Ride routes (which have letters instead of numbers) can have some of the same characteristics, but I have no personal experience of them.
Metro routes with numbers below 100 stay within the Seattle city limits. Above 100 they travel both inside and outside the city limits, connecting the city to various suburbs. Sound Transit buses (routes 500 and above) are intercity routes connecting major transit hubs, usually with limited stops in the geographic middle of the route. Sound Transit also operates the Link Light Rail system and the Sounder trains (who share the heavy rail network with Amtrak and all of the various freight train companies - that’s why they operate on such a limited schedule).
Community Transit is the bus network for Snohomish County (next county north of Seattle); there’s enough demand for commuters from south Snohomish County into the city that there are several intercity routes. I’m just not sufficiently familiar with the specifics to say much (having primarily lived/worked on the south side of the metro area).
Everett and Kent has bus and light rail options during the weekend so not ideal but you can still get around and Everett has Amtrak on the weekends. Although it does sell out and quite a bit more expensive than buses.
I think this is a side effect of ST not owning the rails underneath the train. This is unlike the Caltrain in the Bay Area where they own the tracks and the carriages.
Yup, they have to negotiate with multiple other companies for every time slot they use. I’m glad it exists, but it’s frustrating that it’s still so limited and so focused on serving the highest economic class of workers when the folks who need transit the most are not the ones who work “traditional” hours.
Ask for a raise if they're moving you here. How much were you making in the rural midwest?
Im at 80k. I'm unsure what they'll offer me in the proposal letter. The Washington contract wont go through until April. Ive mentioned how expensive it is there and they know I can't drive. I only work part time and all online right now so we'll have to see what they offer.
Yeah, definitely take the opportunity to negotiate.
Everything is much more expensive than you’re used to. Groceries, restaurants, services, everything.
I definitely will negotiate though. My company is out of California so they understand cost of living. Ive talked to the boss man about it too, casually.
To be honest I'm not use to anything for the last 10 years. I've lived in a rural area without busses or trains and its even difficult to get an Uber or Uber eats or doordash or anything really. I mean I can but its an extra 30$ on food and $30 at least before tip each way into town if I can get a driver to pick up the ride. I even get my groceries delivered by Walmart.(thank God that's an option)
I guess it'll be similar to what I pay now except it'll be in-person around real people. This village I live in now has a subway and Macdonalds, a bar and a couple churches. Plus the locals don't have similar views and values as me.
I would be at 80k in FL and am 105k here so that seems like an equitable raise to me
Honestly though I would like to move there either way. I was researching the area before the work proposal ever showed up.
Id like access to the VA too.
The main VA hospitals are in Seattle and close to JBLM in Tacoma.
https://www.va.gov/puget-sound-health-care/locations/
I live 20 miles from my local VA now but my disability rating gives me access to VA transportation here where they pick me up and drop me off for scheduled appointments. Ill have to research if there is a similar accommodation through those VAs.
Awesome! You should be able to get to the one in Seattle proper by transit regardless. The 36 bus looks like it drops off right there and is a short right from the Beacon Hill light rail stop. So as long as you're on the light rail line, you can get there pretty easily.
Can confirm. The 36 runs straight from the light rail to the VA.
I'm afraid I have no experience with the VA, so I can only wish you luck.
The VA in Seattle is in the Beacon Hill neighborhood. It would be accessible by bus especially as an easy transfer from the Beacon Hill light rail (1 line) station.
Working downtown basically opens you up to living anywhere. But you did say near downtown but that can mean different things. Do you have a cross street you can share? This might significantly change my recommendation.
But a quick run down of transit options:
sounder train - runs north and south from as far as the Tacoma area to I dunno mulkiteo or some shit. Limited times though.
Ferry - we have a few islands which are generally expensive but then there’s Bremerton which is on a peninsula. There’s a car and passenger ferry and a passenger only ferry. Useful only if you work near the ferry terminal or your work has shuttles. I’m not a fan of transfers so I’m not gonna recommend catching a bus or something to continue your trip. But Bremerton is pretty cheap! Pain in the ass though.
Light rail - runs as far south as federal way to Lynnwood up north. Now a new line is opening from downtown Seattle to Mercer island and then the east side which is generally more expensive. But there’s a new stop in Seattle called judkins park that opens up an option.
Rapid lines - buses that generally get their own lanes and run every 7 - 15 minutes depending on the time of day. Or in the cases I seem to use them, two empty buses at the same time. The run all over Seattle and most go to downtown with exceptions.
Bus - self explanatory. There’s king co metro for local stuff that does go pretty far out. Then other regional ones from sound transit and community. Those are the commuter buses. They will all go downtown.
They all take the orca card and a lot of employers give employees passes free of charge or discounted.
See if you qualify for Metro Access.