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5 Best Places to Live in Washington State
By Susan Doktor MONEY RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
Wayyyy over on one side of the country is a beautiful, vibrant and eclectic place that 7.7 million people call home: Washington State. With charming coastal towns, vast forests, a thriving creative economy and the humming Seattle music scene, the state offers up plenty of benefits. But which communities offer the best of the best? We’ll take you on a tour of the state, whether you’re planning to move there or just scheduling a visit.
Our Top Five Picks for Best Places to Live in Washington State
Washington is a pretty big place: 71,362 square miles to be exact. It’s the 18th largest state in the US. So narrowing down our list of best places to live in the state wasn’t easy. But we came up with five recommendations, based on such factors as natural beauty and cultural and economic opportunities. Ready to start your tour? Let’s go!
Redmond
You may have heard of Redmond, Washington because it’s home to one of the most resilient tech businesses worldwide: Microsoft. The city is widely recognized as a technology center with companies like Nintendo, AT&T and SpaceX also providing employment opportunities. It is also an easy, 15-mile commute from Seattle, Washington’s largest city.
Outdoor enthusiasts will appreciate the city’s surrounding area for its endless miles of hiking trails. The city of Redmond features plenty of parks, including the iconic Downtown Park, known for its lively mix of recreational and cultural activities. The park hosts year-round community and special events and it’s a gathering place for artists, musicians and other creatives. Redmond is also just a short hop away from beautiful Lake Sammamish.
Redmond isn’t a cheap place to live. According to Redfin, the average cost of a house in Redmond is about $1.8 million, but home prices have dropped about 21% since the height of the COVID19 real estate boom. However, the high cost of living in Redmond is offset by the city’s high wages: on average, Redmond residents earn over $80,000, with many employees in the tech sector earning well into six-figures.
Seattle
Seattle is Washington’s largest city, with a population of about 745,000. The city is located on Puget Sound, a series of inland estuaries that are connected to the Pacific Ocean and also fed by fresh water from the Olympic and Cascade Mountain watersheds. The sound is quite vast: 95 miles long and between one and five miles wide at various points along its shore. It hosts an abundance of marine life, including dolphins, humpback whales and sea lions.
Seattle is well known as the birthplace of grunge, a popular rock-and-roll genre of the late 1980s and early 1990s. But the city still has a lively music scene, including a terrific symphony orchestra. The Sub Pop record label was founded in the city and remains a force in the music industry.
With abundant shopping and dining, Seattle offers the best of city life. But it’s also surrounded by natural beauty. You can see Mount Rainier from downtown. Hiking enthusiasts can enjoy old-growth evergreen forest trails at Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, about an hour away from downtown.
Seattle’s economy is dominated by professional and business services, as well as health, education and government jobs. There are 30 universities in the city, so educational opportunities abound. The city has a low 3.6% unemployment rate. According to Zip Recruiter, the average salary in Seattle is about $75,000, but the cost of living in the city is correspondingly high. The average home price is about $850,000.
Olympia
Olympia is the Washington state capital. With a population of around 56,000, it’s not a huge city — but it is the 22nd largest city in Washington. There are 11 colleges and universities in Olympia, including a Washington State University campus and several well-regarded community colleges. About 26% of Olympia residents hold college degrees and its public school district ranks in the upper 10% for quality.
Founded in 1853, Olympia city boasts a lovely downtown historic district that stretches for 17 blocks. It’s registered in the National Register of Historic Places. The city is also home to hundreds of historic homes. If you’re interested in history and architecture, you’ll find plenty to keep you busy in Olympia, including the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum.
You can earn a very respectable living in Olympia. The average household income in the city is $78,809 — about $20,000 higher than the national average. Olympia’s cost of living is about 14% higher than the nation’s average but 1% higher than statewide. Real estate prices are more reasonable than in other Washington cities. Redfin reports that the average home price in Olympia is $500,000 — not such a bad deal in today’s market. Like elsewhere in Washington, home prices are declining. In Olympia’s case, property costs about 5% less today than it did last year.
In the city’s early days, the majority of jobs were in the timber industry or related to the city’s large port. Today, a large number of Olympia residents are employed by IBM, Deloitte, Kaiser Permanente and Verizon. Many others work in state government. The city’s unemployment rate is on par with the rest of the state and has been declining, much like elsewhere in the US.
Mercer Island
For some people, small town lake life is idyllic. But sometimes the economic environment in lakeside towns can be challenging. Jobs are tough to find. But residents of Mercer Island — a true island smack dab in the middle of Lake Washington — can find employment opportunities in Seattle and Bellevue, which are both connected by bridge to the island. Seattle is a manageable 30 minute drive away. And workers do quite well on Mercer Island. The median income of Mercer Island residents is about $170,000.
Mercer Island offers a wide range of outdoor activities. It’s home to three public beaches, more than 50 miles of hiking trails and 475 acres of parkland. But that’s just one reason why the town stands out as one of the best places to raise a family.
Mercer Island is distinguished for ranking in the top 1% of school districts in Washington State. The high school graduation rate is extremely high at around 93%. And a vast majority of high school students go on to earn higher education degrees. Mercer Island is also a very safe place to live. Its violent crime rate is 92% lower than the national average.
Real estate is expensive on Mercer Island, which is common in all lakeside locations, let alone islands. The town’s median home price — $2,200,000 — is enough to scare many families off. But there are many different types of residential properties in the community, including a few well-known condominium and high-rise buildings. If you’re not ready or able to buy a home on Mercer Island, you can rent a home or apartment. You can rent a two bedroom apartment on the island for under $2,500. Given all the town has to offer, that amounts to a great deal for people who long for lake life.
Sequim
It’s one of those stereotypes that can be backed up by facts: Washington State can be a rather gray state to live in. Washington gets nearly twice the rainy days as the average in this country — depending on where you live, you can wake up to wet weather between 150 and 190 days a year.
But Sequim is — literally — a bright spot in an otherwise bleak story. The city is known for its relatively sunny, warm climate, as well as its prodigious lavender fields, historic lighthouses and the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge — designated as a breeding ground and preserve for migratory birds in 1915. Today, it’s home to more than 250 bird species and 41 land mammal species.
Sequim is a small, but not tiny, town with a population of about 8,200 at last census count. It has a vibrant downtown area. The service and tourist industries dominate the town. Service jobs make up 88.5% of the non-farm economy. You can find work with some very well-known companies, including Blue Cross Blue Shield, Sherwin Williams and Chevron. The town’s median income is $41,571 and the average home sells for about $500,000. At 4.6%, the unemployment rate is somewhat higher than the national average.
Best Places to Live in Washington State FAQs
What are the top reasons to live in Washington State?
To each Washington State resident his own, but here are a handful or reasons why you might consider the Evergreen State:
- Natural beauty, from forests and mountains to lakes and lavender fields
- A great job market, especially for tech workers
- You don't have to pay state income taxes
- A great state for raising a family, it ranks high for safety and quality of life
- Puget Sound, a haven for marine life that's surrounded by major cities
Is Washington State expensive?
How does Washington State rank for population diversity?
Is Washington State a safe place to live?
How We Chose the Best Places to Live in Washington State
We evaluated each of our recommended communities according to the same criteria. These included population, median household income, median home price, the employment landscape and the unemployment rate for each location. We also took into account quality of life considerations: ample opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors, the accessibility of high-quality education and ways to have fun, plain and simple.
