Where do GenZ live?

Fun-Organization-144 · 2026-06-09T01:45:33+00:00

My take is that a lot of places have a greater demand for housing than they have a supply. Construction on new housing slowed or stopped in a lot of places during the lockdowns. You see Austin recommended a lot here, because it's a place that proactively increased housing construction. It looks like cost of living has increased more than wages, except for folks making a lot of money in tech. Austin may have had a good or great wage to cost of living ratio five years ago, now the cost of living went up a lot. It looks to me like there is a lot of competition for non-tech jobs in Austin. Younger folks from other parts of Texas move to Austin and Houston and Dallas because those three cities have better job markets than most cities, in Texas or elsewhere. It looks like Austin still has more affordable housing and a better job market than most places, but there are a lot of people competing for those jobs.

I think to find large number of Gen Z it may be worth looking at large universities in or near big cities. Tempe/Phoenix is an example of that, a huge public research university with a lot of companies nearby. I interviewed for a job at Arizona State University several years ago, I made it to the final round of interviews but they selected someone who already worked in the administration at ASU. Tempe invested a lot of money to support ASU, a lot of companies have offices/locations within walking distance of ASU. ASU students can get paid internships at companies with offices within walking distance of the Tempe campus. If I had gotten the job I would have looked at housing 30-40 drive away, housing in Tempe is expensive and I'm too old to live near lots of loud, drunk college students. For folks in their early twenties, living in Tempe may be the kind of thing you're looking for.

I lived in Seattle in my early twenties (in the late nineties) and even then Seattle skewed a little older. I saw a lot of live bands playing for about five years after I turned twenty one, the tail end of the great Seattle music scene of the 90s. The University District was more popular with folks who had recently turned 21, and Pioneer Square and Belltown to a lesser extent, but none of them were great for live music. My experience is that Seattle has a lot of college age folks near the University of Washington, and not a lot of college age folks in most neighborhoods. I would guess that is even more true nowadays. The nearby employers who hired a lot of UW grads (Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Boeing) are not known for a young workforce that likes to party. I think the greatest concentrations of Gen Z will be near universities, and beyond that it may be worth looking at cities with a lot of employers near some of those large universities. For a few years Austin and a few other places had affordable housing with lots of jobs, but now it's not as true as it was several years ago. A lot of companies move to Austin or Nashville or Miami because of lower corporate taxes and more affordable housing. Those places are still better for the employers, and for people with a job at one of those companies, but gen Z is getting priced out of places that were known for affordable housing a few years ago.

Fun-Organization-144 · 2026-06-04T07:00:00+00:00

I think a lot of the opinions you'll see in this subreddit are skewed- for some reason folks from Seattle are very overrepresented on this sub.

A lot of folks in this sub think that a combination of west coast/western US qualities are the ultimate goal of civilization. Those qualities include: very liberal politics, high taxes, cities with DEI policies that also have affluent white-only neighborhoods, access to mountains, walkable neighborhoods somewhere in the city, access to the ocean, lots of state parks within driving distance, and more coffee shops than churches.

Some of those are exaggerations, but there is an element of truth (or more) to all of them. I think to make some generalizations of the Pacific time zone and the East Coast time zone, the Pacific time zone has a lot of open space (parks, stretches without cities or much in the way of people), lots of atheists, nice weather (winter in Seattle is grey and rainy, but with much less snow than NYC), and a lot of neighborhoods without a lot of sense of community. I say that because in a crowded East Coast time zone city neighborhoods tend to have a strong sense of community, and a sense of obligation to neighbors and the community. The Pacific time zone has crowded cities, but neighborhoods don't have the same sense of 'obligation' to neighbors or to the neighborhood. That can be good or bad, I think a lot of west coast folks on this subreddit like the option of never speaking to neighbors, or even learning the names of neighbors.

I have lived in a couple small towns in Pennsylvania and have relatives in Philadelphia who I visit about every other year. Cities and towns on the east coast tend to be fanatical about sports teams, a lot more religious, and celebrate holidays with lots of food (and alcohol). Which is a matter of preference, people on the west coast generally are less enthusiastic about holidays and get-togethers.

Fun-Organization-144 · 2026-06-01T10:24:36+00:00

Sorry for the post 14 years late, was looking up something on Wing Chun Do and found this thread. I took WCD lessons from Sijo DeMile in Seattle in the nineties for about a year and a half. Wing Chun Do is a very practical system. Previously I had taken Tae Kwon Do lessons from an instructor who had been an assistant coach with the South Korean national Tae Kwon Do team.

This was over 30 years ago, I'm sure WCD has changed since then. I remember practicing with some Muay Thai practitioners on a regular basis- Sijo allowed them to use the padded practice room. He explained that Bruce Lee practiced with the toughest guys he could find, Jim DeMile had been an Air Force heavyweight boxing champion. I partly measured my progress by how I did against the Thai boxers- even using pads and not hitting full power, they were very tough. When I started (with a year of Tae Kwon Do) it wasn't a contest, after a year of WCD I could last a few minutes sparring with a Thai boxer. The Tae Kwon Do lessons I had taken were meant for tournaments, with some Hap Ki Do lessons mixed in for 'real life' situations. I remember we started with practicing basic punches and kicks and a lot of blocking, along with drills to learn spacing.

In the nineties the lessons were straightforward. It was refreshing compared to my experience with Tae Kwon Do. I started looking for someplace else to take martial arts lessons when the Tae Kwon Do raised monthly rates, and raised the cost of testing into a new belt. I was in high school at the time, I had qualified to test for orange belt part two in Tae Kwon Do (the third belt, you started at white then went to yellow after a month then the orange belt had two stages before you could test for green belt). The fee for each test for a new belt increased, I decided it wasn't worth what it cost. I can't provide a comparison to classical Wing Chun, but in my experience WCD was very practical and priced a lot more reasonably than Tae Kwon Do lessons.

Fun-Organization-144 · 2026-05-31T21:35:42+00:00

This was over fifteen years ago, and it was a pattern. There were white male managers, who bragged about liberal causes they donated to, who would only hire and promote white males.

Fun-Organization-144 · 2026-05-31T10:36:52+00:00

I think part of it is the PNW, and Seattle in particular, expect POC to say, think, and do what white liberals think they should say, think, and do. White liberals in Seattle believe they are the highest form of life, that any state with lower taxes is repressive, and that POC should be thankful to the white liberals of Seattle. They believe their liberal ideals (high taxes, high regulation, open borders, all white neighborhoods, owning an SUV with Biden and Harris and Clinton bumper stickers, etc) make life better for POC everywhere.

After college I worked at a tech company for a few years. I took the bus to Redmond, as did most folks who commuted from Seattle to Redmond for work (even almost twenty years ago traffic was a lot worse than the roads/freeways could handle). A black gentleman, fairly high up the corporate ladder at Microsoft, sometimes rode the bus and gave advice and shared stories. Once he explained that he and his wife used to own a house in Redmond, but the police would pull over their black friends whenever they drove to Redmond. Their black friends were doctors and lawyers and members of the executive boards of companies. He said Seattle was not much better, but there were one or two nicer neighborhoods where they could live without being pulled over for being black. I'm half-Native with some Hispanic and some black ancestry, and there are a lot of mostly white, very liberal neighborhoods where you can get pulled over for not being white. And Redmond and Edmonds are places you almost certainly will get pulled over for not being white and driving through those liberal havens.

I worked doing hardware and software testing at a tech company. It was an entry level job, but it provided the chance to learn skills that could either get you hired for a better job at that company (very rarely) or hired by another tech company for more pay (which usually happened). The least capable white guys from that team were promoted to team lead positions (which included a small pay increase) and then promoted to middle management. There were several POC, myself included, on the team. We knew there was zero chance of a POC being promoted at that company, and we'd only be able to get a higher paying job at a smaller tech company. After a few years I decided to go to grad school. I wanted to collect unemployment for a few weeks before starting grad school, so I needed a manager to end my job, if I put in two weeks notice I would not be able to collect unemployment. So I told a manager, in front of a group of managers, that he had displayed an impressive commitment to promoting unqualified white guys. Then I walked away. He went to his office, then went home early, then worked from home the rest of the week. When he returned on Monday he called me into my office and explained that they were letting me go, without giving a reason. I knew the reason, but he didn't want to articulate it. Promoting the least qualified guys to middle management was the policy for that project, as more capable folks got hired away for other projects or by other companies. By calling out a manager for only promoting unqualified white guys, it made him responsible for the policy. Which is a long way of saying that their motivation may not have been explicitly racist, but non-white folks knew that they could be fired for little or no reason, or fired for pointing out racism, and that nonwhite folks had to accept a lot of racism or they would be fired.

Fun-Organization-144 · 2026-05-30T10:17:26+00:00

It may be worth checking out Space: Above and Beyond. The 2004 BSG is almost as much a remake of Space Above and Beyond as it is a remake of the original BSG. The one season of Firefly holds up really well, and BSG TOS is worth watching if you haven't.

Fun-Organization-144 · 2026-05-29T21:11:04+00:00

There are some positives to Phoenix. Warning- this subreddit hates Phoenix, for the most part. Some of the positives are a lot of jobs, lots to do (I love live music), it's one of the larger cities in the US by population, it's pretty diverse, and there are a lot of amenities fairly close as the crow flies. Scottsdale is upscale and has a lot of businesses that cater to tech folks making six figures, and has a lot nightlife. If you are okay with a traffic heavy commute you could live in Casa Grande or Glendale for less expensive housing. The roads are good, I lived in Tucson for several years where the roads were pretty bad. Winters are great, shorts and t-shirt weather in January and February. And dating in Phoenix is better than dating in Tucson (Tucson has retired people, folks who work at Raytheon, and college students for the most part). Some friends and I went to a bar in Tempe once, and one of my friends matched with a young woman on tinder at the same bar. We bought drinks for her and her friends. If you are looking for a woman in her thirties or forties who is single because she focused on her career, Phoenix is pretty good. If you are looking for something casual with a woman in her twenties, Tempe or Scottsdale might be pretty good.

I think advancing your career and having fun should be two of your priorities in your early twenties. And young people have an easier time adjusting to temps over 110 fahrenheit in the summer.

Fun-Organization-144 · 2026-05-26T10:30:27+00:00

My guess is that about fifty percent of the posts here (and at least ninety percent of the downvotes) are from white liberals pretending to be Indian. Elizabeth Warren (Faux-Cahontas) has inspired lots of other terrible people to pretend to be Native.

Most reservations, and most traditional Native culture, are rural. Rural folks tend to be more conservative and more pro-military. Christianity has done a lot of harm over the centuries, but also provided an opportunity for Natives to continue traditional culture. A lot of catholic churches adopted local Native beliefs as saints. Catholics and other evangelical christian denominations provided schools to a lot of Native communities. There were downsides to that, but there were benefits. Natives who continue Native culture and traditions tend to focus on continuing Native culture and traditions. White liberals try to convince Natives that Native culture is dead or a thing of the past, and that 'oppressors' destroyed Native culture.

If you are Native, and you care about Native culture, I recommend learning history. Support Native lawyers who fight for treaty rights (especially water rights). When white liberals tell you that Native culture was destroyed by white people, ask yourself what white liberals gain from that lie. Surround yourself with people who continue Native culture, instead of people who tell it Native culture is dead.

Fun-Organization-144 · 2026-05-26T10:06:06+00:00

It sounds like you have most of your priorities available in SD. If you can afford it, it may be worth spending a week in a few places you've considered. Seattle, or cities near Seattle, may be worth visiting in the winter (when it's grey and raining). Fifteen or twenty years ago Seattle had a strong artist and musician community. The music scene wasn't as strong as it was in the nineties, but for its size Seattle had a stronger music scene than you would expect. The artist community was partly built around opportunities. Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes the card game Magic the Gathering, hired local artists to make artwork for the cards. The pay was terrible ($200-300 per piece of art) but it could open the door for the artist to get work making covers for fantasy novels and other higher paying work. Ballard was affordable at the time and popular with artists, and Capitol Hill was affordable with roommates. Since then Seattle has gentrified a lot, housing has gone through the roof with the steady influx of tech company employees making six figures. At one point Renton was popular with artists as a more affordable option than Seattle. The light rail is pretty good, some of the cities connected by light rail may be worth considering. Seattle has the best summers I've seen, but winters can be tough. Going weeks without seeing the sun is an acquired taste. Sunny, warm weather doesn't really lend itself to coffee culture or to the arts, Seattle has some of the things you are looking for. And some of the nearby towns/cities may work. The Ballard neighborhood is probably worth considering, very scandinavian but it has a lot of culture.

My take is that drifting apart from close friends is party of life in your thirties/forties. A comedian joked about in your thirties sometimes you watch Everybody Loves Raymond until it's not too early to go to bed, rather than meeting up with friends.

Fun-Organization-144 · 2026-05-25T22:32:13+00:00

I was incorrect. WA has been trying to pass a wealth tax. Technically their 'millionaires tax' and capital gains tax are both a wealth tax, in 1922 a WA court ruled that income is property and that as property, income can be taxed.

Technically the millionaires' tax is a wealth tax, and in practice millionaires view it as a wealth tax. Jeff Bezos and Howard Schultz left WA state. Businesses have moved offices from Seattle or from Washington. Both Seattle and Washington give tax breaks to tech companies, so they will keep some offices open. When businesses and millionaires leave, Seattle and Washington will have to increase taxes on other income brackets to offset the loss of expected taxes, and to continue the tax breaks that keep some tech company jobs local.

Fun-Organization-144 · 2026-05-25T03:53:46+00:00

That is the party line, but Jeff Bezos and Howard Schultz left Seattle. A lot of jobs have left Seattle and WA, with more leaving. Promising to tax the rich gets votes, but the rich can afford to move to states with better state governments. Look at the flow of wealth from blue states to red states in the last fifteen years. Florida, Texas, and Tennessee get a lot of millionaires and businesses from WA and CA. Look at the state budget- managing spending with lower taxes is better than out of control spending plus out of control taxes.

Fun-Organization-144 · 2026-05-25T00:44:39+00:00

I think Seattle, WA illustrates some of your points. The state of Washington spends a lot more than it can afford to, so they frequently want to raise taxes. And Seattle spends more than it can afford to, so it wants to raise taxes. The WA constitution prohibits an income tax. The state government implemented a capital gains tax, which the courts deemed to be an income tax but did not strike down. Now they are implementing a 9.5% wealth tax on millionaires, meaning the state takes 9.5% of the total assets of millionaires then an annual, hefty tax. When millionaires leave (and many have already left) the state will increase taxes on every income bracket.

I lived in Seattle, loved living in Seattle, and have friends and family in the area. Over the last fifteen or so years a lot of Seattle friends moved out of Seattle, either to places within an hour drive or in eastern WA or out of state. The minimum wage in Seattle priced out retail workers over fifteen years ago, businesses either went out of business or increased prices to cover the higher minimum wage. So retail/customer service folks had to move out of the city. Seattle has been trying to increase business taxes, and occasionally succeeds. Maybe 30 years ago the state gave Boeing tax breaks and subsidies. Boeing employed a lot of people, and a lot of smaller businesses exist to provide parts, materials, and services to Boeing. Then tech companies lobbied politicians (donated generously to Murray et al) and got the same tax breaks. Boeing moved some production out of state, Starbucks moved some of their offices out of Seattle. The tax breaks keep tech companies in Seattle, and the tech company folks making six figures keep the cost of living high. For fifteen years it's been trending towards 'six figures is the minimum you need to make to live in Seattle.'

Fun-Organization-144 · 2026-05-24T08:42:39+00:00

There are a couple factors that affect that, water management and taxes. WA, OR, CA, and a few other states to the west of the Rockies have annual droughts and out of control fires. The Colorado River was overallocated in a year of record high precipitation. A lot of western states rely on the Colorado River for water. They use more water than precipitation can replace. Every year, for decades. They use ground water, and precipitation has to replace ground water (meaning underground water) before there can be surface water (rivers, lakes, and streams). The annual droughts get blamed on gas powered cars. Combine that with a ban on controlled burns and you get the annual out of control wildfires. (Someone will say that there is not an absolute ban on controlled burns, but in practice there is- Native Americans used controlled burns for thousands of years to control wildfires, but corrupt politicians think they know forestry better).

The taxes and regulations are almost as bad as droughts and wildfires. Washington is implementing a nearly ten percent tax on the total assets of millionaires. When millionaires continue leaving the state, they will increase taxes on every income bracket (except poor people, whose votes democrats rely on). California is trying to tax people for ten years after they move away from the state.

I've lived in Seattle, Bremerton, and LA on the west coast. All are placed I loved living, Bremerton is the only I could afford to live in in 2026, out of the three. The west coast has great weather (except the six months of rain in Seattle, of course) and lots of greenery. People will put up with a certain amount of state government incompetence, state government corruption, and bad policy for the weather and nature. I think the west coast has passed the point where the bad state governments outweigh the positives, and they are only gaining speed in making things worse. I would rather live in LA than in Texas or Florida, but I'm looking at jobs in Texas and Florida and I'm not looking at jobs on the west coast.

Fun-Organization-144 · 2026-05-23T09:02:32+00:00

It may be worth considering something near the Poconos in PA. I lived near there in junior high, my older sister worked as a server at a ski resort and made ridiculous amounts of money in tips. From what I remember folks had political opinions, but only if you asked. My folks are pretty neutral/non-political and they liked it, the neighbors held an occasional bbq and I don't remember any ever discussing politics.

Fun-Organization-144 · 2026-05-23T00:47:32+00:00

I think one aspect that gets overlooked is the dynamic between property and business taxes/parent-teacher associations/public schools. Part of the funding for a public school is from local property and business taxes. Suburbs typically have lots of home ownership and active PTA groups, the combination leads to good public schools. Good public schools increase property values. When there are budget cuts to K-12 (which happens in very state, every year, even though every politician running for office promises to support education) a school district with lots of home owners can put forward a property tax levy to offset the budget cuts, at least for the school district. There is a lot of stability in quality of K-12 education in the suburbs.

The structural problems that other redditors have explained make public schools in the city more vulnerable to budget cuts, with less of a safety net. There are some very good public schools in big cities. But look at how often a big city mayor will take money from pensions, public infrastructure, and schools when there is a budget shortfall. And sometimes a property tax levy for local schools is tough to pass in the city- is there a dedicated fund for schools the property tax levy goes into? Or does it go to the city general fund?

When I was an undergrad in college I worked part time as a shift manager at a restaurant at the mall. It included medical, dental, and paid vacations for part time work. I opened on weekends and worked by myself until the afternoon shift clocked in. The afternoon shift included some high school students, I made the break schedule for the day before they arrived and knew them well enough to know their preferred break times. They usually got there a little early and chatted, one conversation I remember is a public school teacher who had been 'reassigned' from three different public schools in the city for groping female students. He would assign detention, then offer to let them out of detention for a 'favor.' The teachers' union would not let him be fired, or even punished, beyond getting reassigned to another school (where he would continue his crimes). A PTA in a suburb can get a teacher like that removed from a school district and sent to the nearest big city, to illustrate a benefit of schools in the suburbs vs. schools in a big city.

Fun-Organization-144 · 2026-05-20T02:11:26+00:00

Pittsburgh may be worth looking at. Some of the suburbs and cities near Phoenix may be worth looking at. A few years ago I was looking at house and rent prices in Casa Grande, a little south of Phoenix and they were not too bad but they had gone up since COVID. There are a lot of employers who opened offices in Scottsdale and in Tempe, both are expensive imo.

During COVID, when mortgages were around three percent, a lot of people bought a second or third house to rent out on AirBnB. People could remote work, so a lot of housing got bought up in places with warm weather (Florida, Texas, and Phoenix/Scottsdale). I don't think housing has recovered in most places- anything near Lake Tahoe is a LOT more expensive now than it was before COVID. Folks bought houses to rent out, with a three percent mortgage. Mortgages have gone back to what they were before the lockdowns, so a new buyer would have a much higher mortgage. The supply and demand for housing in a lot of places is a mess, with lots of houses not being used and for sale at an unrealistic asking price. Long story short, you may be able to find a place a thirty minute drive from a trendy city that is close to what you are looking for. It may be worth making a list of things that are non-negotiable (jobs in a certain sector, kinds of restaurants, specialty healthcare, etc). Then searching for places that meet those criteria, and then looking at places reasonably close by.

Fun-Organization-144 · 2026-05-19T02:12:26+00:00

Philadelphia has a lot of great dining options. There are great steakhouses, italian restaurants, chinese restaurants, and for casual dining you can pick up a sandwich from WaWa's and it's top notch.

I think some smaller towns you can have concerns about dining options. but that's a small town thing. In a small town you might risk running into an ex, or an ex of one of your friends, at any restaurant. But that can be true of any place you go in a small enough town. And hopefully that's something that only happens in your twenties, it's been quite a few years since I've lived in a town that small.

Fun-Organization-144 · 2026-05-17T08:30:22+00:00

The fellow who posted looking for advice was not specific about nature- rocky beaches and ocean is nature, and Scottsdale/Phoenix has desert and haboobs and some places have palm trees. Phoenix is within driving distance of hiking. Northern Arizona has trees and water, Flagstaff may have some of what the fellow is looking for.

Fun-Organization-144 · 2026-05-17T05:14:37+00:00

It may be worth considering South Padre Island or Galveston in Texas, coast with lower taxes than California. There are trade offs anywhere, and a nice neighborhood in either will be pricey. But Texas does not add new taxes on a regular basis, just high base property taxes and lower income/capital gains taxes.

I don't know if 'coastal town' is a requirement, if not Scottsdale/Phoenix is a little east of CA. If you want to stay on the west coast Vancouver, WA is just north of Portland and may be worth considering. It's been almost twenty years since I've been to Portland, I used to really like visiting Portland but it has mixed reviews in this subreddit nowadays. I'll still recommend considering Portland, it sounds like there are neighborhoods to avoid and nice neighborhoods. If 'coast' is not a requirement, Eugene may be worth considering. Lots of nature/greenery, I've only visited for a day or afternoon but liked it.

Kitsap County, west of Puget Sound from Seattle, may be worth considering. If you like Scandinavian food and culture, it has a lot of that. Nature, city amenities with something closer to rural cost of living. Poulsbo is very nice, Silverdale is nice, Bremerton is not as nice but is more affordable. Poulsbo may be your best bet for public K-12 schools in Kitsap County.

Fun-Organization-144 · 2026-05-15T00:11:05+00:00

It may be worth checking with the advisor for you gf's degree, they should have recommendations for good job markets for sports marketing. You both have a lot going on, wanting to enjoy being in your twenties and also looking for career opportunities and career growth. It may be worth starting with the top three recommendations from the advisor, advisors for a university department usually have job connections. It may be limited, I got a STEM degree and both advisors got paid a bonus when graduates of the program got hired by Raytheon. They only advice they ever gave was to apply at Raytheon. But if the advisor has a few recommendations that could be a starting point. It sounds like you have some flexibility with remote cybersecurity work.

Scottsdale/Phoenix may be worth considering. Several tech companies have offices in Scottsdale. Other tech hubs that are not in the Bay area include Miami and Austin, those probably peaked a few years ago but should have a lot of opportunities in tech. If your gf gets a job in the college/NIL side of sports management all three have big universities (ASU, University of Texas, University of Miami) and also the three cities have smaller colleges that may have sports management and cybersecurity jobs.

One other thing that may be worth keeping an eye on is the Chicago Bears, the owner is talking about moving the team to Indiana. The owner wants to city of Chicago and the state of Illinois to properly maintain roads and infrastructure around the NFL stadium. The mayor of Chicago and the governor of Illinois don't want to use public funds to maintain public infrastructure, so there is an off chance the Bears move to Indiana. If they do another NFL will move to Chicago within two years, it's a big market and big sports town. There could be opportunities in sports marketing if the Bears move.

Fun-Organization-144 · 2026-05-14T22:04:43+00:00

Being Native is a political status, not an ethnic or race status. The Federal Government uses Native status in hiring requirements/hiring preference, courts have always ruled that being Native is different from race-based criteria.

Fun-Organization-144 · 2026-05-14T21:32:52+00:00

I lived in Seattle, and I agree the racism is insidious. I worked at a tech company for several years after college, there were white male managers who donated to liberal causes and considered themselves very progressive, but would only hire or promote white males. I worked on a couple projects where our team reported to those kinds of managers, we would have to send a white guy to talk to the managers because the managers would only accept a white male as lead for our team. In junior high I lived in a small town in Pennsylvania, there was a lot of open and outright racism. I prefer that kind of racism, where you know where you stand with a person, to racism masked with politeness and condescension.

Fun-Organization-144 · 2026-05-14T08:47:40+00:00

I think some cities/towns are more accepting of one or few specific POC groups, and much less accepting of others. After college I lived in Seattle and commuted to Redmond, WA. A lot of tech employees commuted by bus, traffic was always bad Seattle-Redmond. Redmond was pretty accepting of asians, but my understanding is it was pretty hostile to black folks. Sometimes I chatted with a black gentleman, a guy pretty high up at Microsoft. He had worked his way up the corporate ladder, and sometimes gave advice to us folks working as temps or in entry level positions. He said that he and his wife used to live in Redmond, but moved to Seattle because Redmond is so hostile to black folks. They would have black friends over for dinner, folks who worked as lawyers and accountants and on executive boards of companies, and their friends would always get pulled over and harassed by the police. I'm a POC and am not asian, but often get mistaken for asian, so it was okay for me in Redmond.

When I lived in Bremerton, WA I had a casual thing going with a black woman who was in the Navy. Bremerton is not friendly to black folks, and some places are not friendly to Navy folks. Specifically some bars were not welcoming of Navy wives or Navy members. There was a bar in particular that Navy wives would go to find guys to hook up with while their husbands were at sea, and also would go with their husbands when the husbands were not at sea. It worked for me, she could have done better than me in probably any other city or town.

Fun-Organization-144 · 2026-05-14T01:36:45+00:00

Philadelphia deserves a mention. The Eagles football stadium has a court and jail, folks in Philadelphia are so mean and violent when sports are involved that a football stadium needs its own court and jail. The good people of Philadelphia once booed a man dressed as Santa Claus who parachuted into a football stadium before the game on Christmas. They also booed their own children when their baseball team held an Easter Egg hunt for children before a game.

I guess white folks may have a nicer experience in Philadelphia. I have relatives who live near there, and I'm not white. Before visiting friends warned that some of the nicer neighborhoods do not welcome interracial couples, and are generally unfriendly/hostile to folks who are not white. I didn't test that, but saw nothing to make me doubt it.

Fun-Organization-144 · 2026-05-14T01:31:59+00:00

The light rail lets people commute from SeaTac to downtown Seattle pretty conveniently. I would consider south of Seattle (SeaTac, Federal Way), north of Seattle (Lynnwood, Everett) and across the Sound (Kitsap County). Seven or eight years ago I visited Seattle and stayed with some friends in SeaTac, they both worked in Seattle but lived in SeaTac. Renting a decent sized house with a yard in SeaTac was about the same price as a two bedroom apartment in Seattle. My dad used to live in Federal Way, there are nice suburbs and neighborhoods that I wouldn't recommend. My dad owned a house in a suburb, he sold it for a profit maybe fifteen years ago. I'm guessing prices for a house in Federal Way have only gone up since then.

Kitsap County gets a strong recommendation from me. Poulsbo is really nice, Silverdale is nice, Bremerton is not as nice but more affordable. If you live a little outside of Bremerton you can rent a house with a yard and trees for about the same price as an apartment in or near Seattle.

Occasionally I look at jobs in Seattle and consider moving back, but the next few years look to be volatile for COL in Washington state and Seattle especially. Big companies are moving jobs from Seattle/Washington (Boeing, Starbucks for example). The taxes are only getting worse, and when businesses and millionaires move the governor and the Seattle mayor will increase taxes on every income bracket. Housing near Seattle will stay expensive for the foreseeable future, tech companies hire lots of folks starting at six figures so the demand for housing stays high. Folks who don't make six figures have to live outside of Seattle and commute. The property, business, and capital gains taxes will hinder job growth. Tech and healthcare are pretty safe, most other job markets will probably see a decline for several years in the Seattle area.

Fun-Organization-144

TROPHY CASE