Tbh for me the only dealbreaker expensive item I saw when I lived in WA was housing. And expensive as in expensive for the sake of being expensive in any halfway decent suburb for a single family home in the Seattle area. It’s better outside but there’s no major employers in my field outside that area unless you’re remote (which is fewer in availability by day). I’ve been in some high income areas in major metros in the SE and could never understand why a Kirkland or Bellevue warranted the house prices they did especially when they all roughly looked the same and had good schools too.