Seattle: Model Evaluation

The final city on this trip that we are considering as a future home is Seattle.

Seattle scores well on four out of five dimensions: accessibility (good hospitals and airport), quality of life (great university, great views, cultural diversity), climate (despite the rain in winter) and job opportunities. In fact, Seattle has the best job options we've seen.

The problem with Seattle is cost of living. Housing is still very expensive, even with the recent declines in prices. Overall, cost of living is 25% higher than Hudson. If you back out the housing differences, it is still more expensive. Taxes are a mixed bag: there is no state income tax, but sales tax is up to 9.9% - living here without a job would be very expensive.

Overall, the model looks like this:

Seatle WA (Decision)

• ●Seattle WA is a good choice for our next home.
• ●AND [1 of 5] : Seattle WA has a good climate.
• ●AND [1 of 2] : Seattle WA has moderate winters.
• ○OR [1 of 2] : The number of days each year at or below freezing should be 10 or less.
• ●OR [2 of 2] : The average winter temperature should be at least 10 degrees warmer than Hudson OH.
• ●True
• ●AND [2 of 2] : Seattle WA has a good balance of sunshine and summer heat.
• ●OR [1 of 2] : Seattle WA has moderate summers in exchange for lots of sunshine.
• ●True
• ○OR [2 of 2] : Seattle WA has lots of sunshine but hot summers.
• ●AND [2 of 5] : Seattle WA has an affordable cost of living.
• ●AND [1 of 4] : Seattle WA has health insurance available for less than $1500 a month.
• ●True
• ●AND [2 of 4] : Seattle WA has lower taxes than Hudson OH.
• ●True
• ●AND [3 of 4] : Seattle WA has a lower cost of living index than Hudson OH.
• ●False
• ●AND [4 of 4] : Seattle WA has good housing for less than $750,000.
• ●False
• ●AND [3 of 5] : Seattle WA has good work opportunities.
• ●OR [1 of 2] : Seattle WA has good fulltime work opportunities.
• ●True
• ●OR [2 of 2] : Seattle WA has good freelance work opportunities.
• ●True
• ●AND [4 of 5] : Seattle WA provides a good quality of life.
• ●AND [1 of 2] : Seattle WA can provide a healthy lifestyle.
• ●OR [1 of 2] : Seattle WA has neighborhoods that provide a walkable urban lifestyle.
• ●AND [1 of 2] : Seattle WA has at least one neighborhood with a walkscore greater than 90.
• ●True
• ●AND [2 of 2] : The neighborhood with a walkscore greater than 90 has a crime rate no greater than 125% of the national average.
• ●True
• ●OR [2 of 2] : Seattle WA has areas with affordable nature 'compounds'.
• ●False
• ●AND [2 of 2] : Seattle WA can provide an inspirational lifestyle.
• ●OR [1 of 3] : Seattle WA has a high quality university.
• ●True
• ●OR [2 of 3] : Seattle WA has cultural diversity.
• ●True
• ●OR [3 of 3] : Seattle WA has beautiful scenery and views.
• ●True
• ●AND [5 of 5] : Seattle WA has good accessibility.
• ●AND [1 of 2] : Seattle WA is within 2 hours of a major airport.
• ●True
• ●AND [2 of 2] : Seattle WA is within 30 minutes of high quality hospitals.
• ●True

We have not ruled Seattle out, mostly based on the work opportunities, but we both agree that the city would mostly make sense if one of us had a job offer before we came. We've looked at real estate, and so far we have not found a house that we like that is within our budget.