What are some of the worst things about living in Seattle?
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “best coffee in seattle reddit“
What are some of the worst things about living in Seattle?
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “best coffee in seattle reddit“
I lived in Seattle from 1980 to 2017. Here is my list of what made a once beautiful and truly livable city now a horrible place to live.
The cost of renting is ridiculously high. It used to be that one could find a rental on, say, Capitol Hill, that was reasonable, and not only that, the building stock was relatively nice, with many post-war houses and pre-war apartment complexes. But since Amazon moved to Seattle, many if not most of the beautiful old places in Capitol Hill have been razed and replaced with very ugly buildings that are erected hastily. They appear to be made of plastic, sawdust, and spit. Seattle truly has some of the ugliest architecture in the nation.
From the air, Seattle is spectacular. On the ground, it’s scary. The homeless population is out of control. Many of the homeless are drug addicts, alcoholics, or just otherwise mentally unstable. I never saw people defecating and copulating on the street until after 2016 or so. Homeless camps are everywhere — under bridges, in public parks, in unattended city lots, in the little green spaces next to highways . . . . literally, there are homeless everywhere. One has to constantly be alert so as not to step in human feces, vomit, or used needles, which are legion.
Because of the homeless and the drug problems, property crime is a huge problem. My car was broken into twice, and was damaged with stolen plates. (Parking is so tight and so competitive that you can expect your car to get dinged up pretty badly from poor drivers who bump it while trying to squeeze into a space — but that isn’t property crime so much as just crummy neighbors and lack of space.) Property crimes of all kinds, such as break ins, package theft, etc., are a huge problem; many people no longer feel safe living in neighborhoods once considered very safe.
Seattle was always provincial, but it had a questing, genuinely sincere desire to grow. Along with that was a diverse population of artists, bohemians, writers, musicians, gadabouts, cafe dwellers, real “characters” — and that’s all gone now. There is no place in Seattle for artists or bohemians as no one can afford to rent there. The population is thus increasingly composed of over-paid, selfish and self-absorbed millennials who unironically think Seattle is truly great because they can afford to live there. If you have a job, you will find a way to justify the awful realities of living in such a anti-human city, scaled to meet only the needs of the wealthiest.
The Seattle freeze is real. I know because I lived there and became infected with the disease. I call it a disease because it’s like a mental disorder. The paranoia is deep in Seattle; probably due to the endless grey drizzly days and the abundance of pot smoking.
Traffic is awful 24/7. Because getting around the city is such an ordeal, making plans to meet friends is very difficult and requires a great deal of advance planning. It can take more than an hour to go from Phinney Ridge to Chinatown, for example, so you have to plan for the worst and be prepared to wait in traffic for long periods. Thus, it’s just easier to stay home most of the time, and this feeds the mental disorder known as the Seattle freeze. Oh, and if you like traffic cameras, road tolls, ridiculous parking fees, and glaring LED street lights that make the whole city feel like a gulag or prison camp, you’ll love the Seattle “atmosphere.”
Crowding is a real issue. It used to be I could go to a store like Fred Meyer and navigate its aisles easily, but Seattle grew so much so quickly (Amazon again) that shopping suddenly became extremely competitive, with people crowding the aisles at all hours. The cost of food and beverages and eating out in Seattle is astoundingly expensive.
Seattle also is spiritually one of the most bankrupt and soulless places I’ve encountered. Talk about God in Seattle even at an AA meeting and expect to be met with hostile glares. The difference in recovery meetings in Seattle (philosophical, self-absorbed, anti-spiritual, psychological) compared to the Midwest is notable. My recovery was jump started only after I moved out of Seattle and returned to the Midwest, where people genuinely care for one another and are much more humble about their relative “station” in life. (Oddly enough, here in the Midwest, my social life is three times as active as it was in Seattle, probably because getting around my city is easy, parking is easy, making plans to meet is easy, and also because people genuinely are interested in others here.)
Seattle’s service in restaurants, grocery stores, and department stores is some of the worst in the nation bar none. Many of the clerks at retail stores in Seattle are “hipsters” and by that I mean unwashed hippie pot-smoking social justice warriors who are so certain it’s beneath their dignity to man check outs they sneer and ignore customers, because, after all, they are above them. Truly that is how most service people in Seattle always were throughout the 80s and 90s and aughts. The service people in the Midwest are professional by comparison; again, very friendly, cooperative, and high-spirited compared to the wimpy Seattle retail environment.
Speaking of retail environment, aside from Pike Place Market, Seattle lacks vibrant retail shopping. There are few department stores, and very few affordable clothing stores. All the interesting smaller restaurants, cafes, bars, clothing stores, retail shops, second hand places, used book stores, barbershops, and, especially, movie theaters, have been forced out of business because of a rapacious virus of developers buying up any and all property; since small business owners can barely afford rent as is and cannot keep up with increasing rents after their leases expire, they fold up shop. (Not to mention that the homeless are a big problem for any business with a storefront.) So Seattle is becoming more and more faceless, soulless, plastic—suburban with a hipster facade—with each passing month.
You couldn’t pay me to move back to a city that I once loved more than any place on earth. Seattle razed and bulldozed its former self. Seattle is no longer Seattle but an idea that isn’t even remotely true. I’m amazed at how many people in the Midwest understand what happened to Seattle without having lived there, its reputation as a ruined city is so tarnished and infamous. Seattle is no city for the middle class or the vulnerable. Seattle is not a city you would ever want to grow old in, and that should tell you all you need to know about its culture, civic infrastructure, and values.
I have read though other comments citing traffic, crime, bums, “provincialism”, eyesore architecture, clouds, passive-aggressiveness, and flocks of nerds and (their) desperate housewives. It is all true.
But when you think about it, it might become apparent that there is more overlap among most large cities in most of these elements, than not. Exceptions are elements having to do with the weather: the cloudiness and the behavioral patterns likely linked to it.
I will put it this way: when it’s not sunny on the outside, it’s difficult to feel sunny inside, and unless one really tries (e.g. has time and energy to try to be outgoing and conversant with others after a long day at work or being stuck in traffic), it just doesn’t happen. When it doesn’t happen at scale, it becomes de facto accepted social norm. Take all these closed-off folks and put them on gloom detox somewhere in New Orleans for a month, and they will most likely loosen up a bit and go with the happier, sunnier flow, as they relearn new social norms.
In Seattle, on the other hand, the self-selected naturally on the introverted side nerdy IT workforce, and the weather create that perfect biochemical/genetic/environmental storm which produces the spectrum of paranoia in social interaction that jumps out at recent transplants from sunnier, more open and joyful spots in the world. The brief sun breaks just don’t amount to enough critical mass to bring the majority out of that stale shell. It is what it is, just realize this and try not to let it ruin your overall impression of life in this otherwise beautiful region.
As far as the rest:
Architecture – there isn’t much except a few downtown landmarks and a few cute houses here and there on waterfront which you never see. Many other US cities of same size don’t boast much in the architecture Dept either, so not a unique drawback. Hardly the deal breaker for most Americans when choosing a place to live.
Provincialism – hah! This one is simple. I apologize, but this whole country is provincial. More or less. Kind of like Australia (I won’t even mention 3rd world). And kind of like much of Europe, except for a few remaining bastions in some focal cities. It historically worked out this way, no one to blame but time, geography and migration trends. Plus, the West Coast in general was populated quite a bit later than the East coast, hence the added lag in connectednes to a place and continuity of tradition.
Here I would focus on the positive aspect: acute sense of one’s provincialism is a motivator to overcome it. So Seattle boasts some excellent museums and art galleries, plus great Asian influence in food, allowing to explore other cultures and gain that higher more culturally elevated awareness.
Nerds and desperate housewives – Well, so what. Seattle lives up to their budgets and needs with excellent healthcare, abundance of parks, high quality hair salons and spas, and Nordstrom. Need I say more, my lovely housewives? NORDSTROM. Be there and be happy. And to all the nerds who keep Seattle’ future bright (i.e., real estate appreciating) by sustaining Boeing, Microsoft and Amazon: THANK YOU. Now, please work off that work related stress by ride that $7k new road bike through Burke-Gilman trail (careful: dont make too much eye contact with anyone), and snap some scenic selfies with that latest iPhone. And thank you again for all of the above. After living elsewhere for a couple years, I have to say, Seattleites – do not take these things for granted. They are your rewards for tolerating the clouds. Indulge in them and (try to) nurture that sunshine within.
I have lived in Seattle for three eternal, neverending, miserable years. I remember it as the worst period of my whole life. I have never been as depressed as when I lived in Seattle. I hit rock bottom. I hate it with passion. I hate every inch of it and its surrounding areas. And I hate people who love Seattle. And I won’t apologize for it!
Because of my career, I have lived in a few cities (in Europe and in the US) and Seattle is, by far, the worst for countless reasons. One thing I have to specify is that I don’t hate Seattle for the reasons other people commonly adduce: social justice warriors and hipster types. The social justice warriors or hipsters don’t bother me. I don’t care. The real problem is that Seattle is a provincial town with the pretense of being a cosmopolitan city like New York or London. Imagine a chicken who believes he/she is an eagle. That’s Seattle. When you go to a provincial town, you sort of know what to expect and you are not disappointed. Likewise, when you go to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Paris, Madrid you also know what to expect. Seattle has the worst of a small town and the worst of a big city, all combined in one. Pay one, get one free.
I was offered a job in Seattle and had to relocate from California. Everybody kept telling me: “Oh my God, you will absolutely love Seattle. Are you kidding me? It’s fantastic. The mountains, the air, the people… you will be hiking. The most intelligent people live in Seattle… you will loooooove it. Love it! It will be heaven compared to California. People are so much nicer than in superficial California.” My expectations were high and in fact, I was in deep denial the first months I lived there. When reality slapped me and when I dissipated the veil of denial, I realized how much I hated it. I know you cannot generalize, so please don’t give me the “you cannot generalize!” line because there are some common traits that are very typical in Seattle. Also, exceptions are everywhere but are not statistically relevant.
One thing I have noticed is that people in Seattle, in general, are annoying, boring, obnoxious, passive aggressive. I remember that when I lived in Seattle and I said that I loved California, Seattleites would look at me as if I was the devil enunciating blasphemous words. The Seattleites would say: “Jeez, californians are jerks!” Guess what: Seattleites are jerks too and don’t look nearly as good as some californians who, at least, tend to take care of their appearance. You are not allowed to say that you love California in Seattle. It’s taboo. Everybody raves about how beautiful Tacoma, Federal Way, Olympia are, as if they were prey of a mystical delirium.
I have found an incredible amount of bigotry in Seattle, believe it or not. People can claim to be liberal all they want, but it’s fake. It’s all fake. It’s all virtue-signalling. They are provincial. I worked in a very famous and big tech company and I was one of the very few unmarried and childfree people and they made me feel like an alien. If you are even slightly different for whatever reason, they will MAKE you feel different with words or actions.
As other people have mentioned, the Seattle freeze is real. I have made friends everywhere I have gone to, even in Timbunctu, but not in Seattle. It’s hard to make a real connection and most of them are nerds who love to play video games. They also think they are smart just because they landed a job in a tech company. A lot of people in Seattle are arrogant and think they are geniuses even when they are not.
There are very few things to do in Seattle, apart from eating, eating, eating and eating… going to the fish market and watch people throwing fish at each other. Why Seattleites think that is a big attraction, is beyond me. What I mean is that there are no real vibrant activities that do not involve stupid video games or eating. When I lived in New York, there was anything imaginable to do. You could never get bored. Same for Chicago.
The gloomy atmosphere is really depressing. I didn’t imagine this was going to affect me this much, but it’s true. Strangely, the cold days in New York and London were not as depressing as the days in Seattle. There must be something in the air or in the quality of light, I can’t pinpoint it, but it really is dismal.
Housing is crazy. It’s insulting, atrocious. You should pay one million dollar for a dump. They could literally pay me to live in a mansion in Seattle and I would refuse it. Now, imagine if I am going to spend a dime to live in that place. No way!
There is not a lot of cultural diversity.
To sum up, Seattle is not New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, but believes it is all of them.
When I was finally able to leave, I cried tears of joy and I solemnly swore I would never, ever put a foot there anymore. Now I live in a much nicer city and am surrounded by great friends.
With regard to the infamous Seattle freeze. Those of us who were born here and grew up here do not wish to be unfriendly, but, the Seattle we grew up in is gone.
Some of us are not really happy about it.
Seattle and its surrounding burbs were clean and quiet.
You could expect your kid to get into U of W.
Now well, unless he is some type of genius, with SAT scores in the top 5 percent, who plays 5 musical instruments, and is a national track star, plan on WSU or pay for Gonzaga.
You could afford a decent house. your kid could buy a house and raise his kids here.
I used to drive from West Seattle to Redmond over two bridges in about forty minutes.
Since housing was affordable we had no homeless. Now the encampments are overflowing from under every bridge, People are living in their cars in parking lots, not just the poor, regular employed, working people who wait tables and sell shoes, cannot afford shelter.
Since the tech boom housing has gone up three fold, most of my friends children moved away just so they could buy a home.
Traffic is god awful, a trip from one end of seattle to the other will take hours. don’t tell me to take a bus, I manage rentals and I need my tools.
These are just a small sampling of the changes. So we don’t mean to be rude to you new folks, we just wish there weren’t quite so many of you.
marijuana,DOPE
eVERYDAY ON THE STREETS, JEFF BEZOS AND HIS A-TEAM GO OUT ON THE STREETS BOMBIN
One of the worst things about living in Seattle are the majority of people who answered this question. The enormous amount of negativity, whining about the weather, and utter lack of insight/ownership into their own interior self-absorbed immature psyches is astounding.
Hands down, the people. When meeting someone for the first time, you will know within 10 seconds whether they grew up in the area or are a transplant. If they interact with you like a normal, sane, socially adept adult, they are a transplant. If you feel like you’ve just encountered an awkward, anti-social 15 year old trapped in an adult’s body, then you have met a native.
Watch an interview with Kurt Cobain, and you will see a Seattle person. Insecure, awkward, unfriendly, and resistant to social interactions of any kind.
It’s not just Seattle, the entire PNW is like this. Portland is just as bad. I’ve been to 48 states and 9 countries, and nobody acts like this anywhere I’ve been. I’ve even noticed my own personality start to suffer after about 5 years, which is really making me think about getting out.
The uspide is that it is a naturally beautiful place, but that doesn’t really mean much unless you’re able to enjoy that beauty while feeling utterly lost and alone in a sea of hive-minded social maladroits.
You cannot have any opinions outside those of the fringe left or you will be socially ostracized, and likely fired from your job.
Overall, a beautiful landscape inhabited by the most soulless, naive people I’ve ever encountered.
I’ve been here 5 years now, transplant from the Midwest.
For me the two biggest issues are 1.) Traffic. The nice part is you don’t need a car, I haven’t had one in 2 years, but even taking the bus or almost any other method of transit can be abysmal on a lot of days, especially if you have to go across the bridge.
2.) Seattlites tend to be pretty closed off. Coming from the midwest I was used to strangers being relatively welcoming and wanting to converse with strangers. It is not that way in Seattle. In Seattle many people stick to their own little bubble of friends. Living in the city has forced me to become much more proactive in meeting people that I had ever had to be.
Both of those being said, I love living in this city and there are only a few places that would have a chance at prying me away!
I just moved to Seattle from prairie Canada
the worst thing I am experiencing is: there is NOOOOOOOOOO snow in winter!
no more white Christmas, no more outdoor ice skating, no more ice fishing, instead, you get rain almost every day.
I lived in Seattle for a few years. As a born-and-bred East Coaster, I found “Seattle niceness” to be both annoying and somewhat impenetrable. My former law school classmate Mike McGinn was just outed as mayor because he just wasn’t “Seattle nice” enough. How could he be? He grew up on Long Island!
So he was labelled “combative” by every one of his opponents. Following this logic, it isn’t surprising that he was thrown out by his ear. Curiously, Mike was (and still is) one of the most collaborative, politically-astute people I have ever met. By Seattle standards, however, he simply wasn’t “nice” enough.
Decision-by-committee, another Seattle staple, is intertwined with “Seattle niceness”. In a nutshell, it means that big bold decisions are either put off or watered-down by compromise. Spend any time with Seattle decision-makers and you quickly realize why a bold mass transit system will NEVER be built; why spectacular buildings are few and far between; and why most potentially contentious stances must either be down-played, compromised or… just plain avoided. A variant of this Japanese-type social conformity is passive-aggressive behavior: Seattlites can’t just fully express themselves “per se” so they wrap it up in a socially acceptable manner.
As anyone who spends any amount of time in Seattle eventually learns, do NOT stick your head up too high, as it could be lopped off. Just ask Mike. Is it the long dark winters? The Scandinavian stock? The community-focused liberality? The espresso machine on every corner? I don’t know. But it sure makes life frustrating for an East Coaster.
Peet’s
Ok. I’ll bite.
1. Nine months of rain. Three months of showers.
2. Quiet nerd types who like puzzles and can only talk about UNIX, Tolkien, linguistics and their last sex party. (Happy b-day!)
3. The Stranger, which has gone to hell since A. Birch Steen passed away, is seattles only news paper.
4. Traffic. Rain makes it worse. Snow…don’t mention snow lest you start a panic.
5. Hipsters. Burners. Geriatric hippie ravers. Naked. On bikes. Painted. Not kidding. Only once a year tho.
6. Sanctimonious liberal academic types who live urban car free lifestyles as they try to get tenure and raise organic children.
7. Weed. Pot. Herb. Everywhere. Dude. Wow.
8. Elite cliques of fascinating people who have fabulous parties. You will never go to these parties.
9. Can’t tell the difference between performance art, political rally, protest, party or riot most of the time.
10. Constant stream of tourists and visitors wondering what the hell is so great about Seattle. Out loud. At Starbucks.
As you can see it is an awful place. Nobody should go there.
Why are people in Seattle often characterized as passive-aggressive?
Been here for 7 years. There are so many things I love yet hate about this place. I have the list for you!
It’s 2AM and I have work tomorrow so will edit tomorrow but hope this helps!
Weather: Always raining / overcast. People who visit will say you’re lying. They’re wrong. It’s over cast or sprinkling on your head 8 times out of ten. Sure “more than 1 season” but summer doesn’t start until July. Everyone else is in their bikinis and trunks tanning while us hacker-tanned individuals are busy using Sun lamps (an actual thing used for “SADD”) to reduce depression. We are getting sun now but it is very sporadic. Never trust the weather. When you see a sunny day everyone will want to and probably bail on work. Traffic is bad those days.
Yuppy Rich People: This is more pertaining to Redmond/Bellevue but they are starting to trickle into Seattle slowly (15 miles out of Seattle, home of Microsoft, Expedia, etc) and you’ll see flocks of trophy wives. Nothing wrong with that. Only the looks I get for having my baggy, non-designer clothes on. Being a man is fine, everyone has some free tech T-shirt but ick. Secretly I want to be one of these ladies but I have only theoretical fashion sense atm.
Seattle Freeze: Don’t believe me? Stay here for 2 years. Realize you go to happy hour alone. I live in the heart of Seattle (downtown) hosted a ladies night and only 1 other lady out of the 8 showed up. I got texts that the other’s “were too depressed” (who later complained on Facebook that no one hangs out with them) or “too busy” when in fact they were at home chilling. Even I am falling into it. The good news is once you leave you’ll snap right out of it– so not to worry! People pretend to care but stay in their bubbles. Actual friends are difficult to make and may feel like you’re infiltrating a mothership in some video game.
Pride.. Dating.. Relationships: So much pride here. If you’re homophobic stay away. I have met a few and they freak out. Not as much as San Fran. Great for me, I love all [friendly] people (gay / lesbian / bisexual / transgender / etc) however being straight here may prove difficult, particularly the “clubbing” types. Oh, and if you’re a man expect most females to be taken. Which is awesome for me but for my guy friends not so much :(. New York seems to be the opposite.. My lady friends have one heck of a time finding men there.. So my pro tip is ladies get your men here and men go to the East Coast for women.
Exercising-obsessed: Visit a place called “GreenLake”. Witness women running their babies in strollers along side their man and golden retriever. Multiply by 50 for every hour you are there. Double that for weekends. It will be interesting if this happens to me.
These are factual thoughts shared by many people I have encountered over the course of countless events, Internet interactions, and my own habits and hipster transformations. New people tend to start with the initial “I LOVE IT HERE!” Moments.
A few pros as many compare it to SF:
Companies — Some pretty good ones here
Cheaper than SF — No income tax!!
Cleaner than other cities — So so nice
Weed — this is a huge plus for my once in-the-closet weed loving coworkers.
When you finally make a few actual friends, they’ll always be available for moral support on Facebook / Twitter. Not so much real life but at least on Steam or your social network!
Seattle — You tell someone Seattle, they know instantly. Close to SF thanks to the Space Needle and tech companies.
When it is still cold in June!!!
Being duped by locals into getting a burger from Dick’s.
I moved to the Seattle area from Chicago about eight years ago. I wanted a change. I never disliked Chicago but Midwest winters were getting harder on me year after year and I couldn’t take them any longer. So I felt compelled to go west and I ended up in Seattle.
I’ve always ridden a bicycle as much as possible because it’s cheap and it’s great exercise. I’d typically spend an hour a day getting around by bike. But for the past couple of years I opt to drive (which is even worse due to Seattle having some of the lousiest traffic) simply because riding a bicycle is extremely unsafe. Streets such as Pike or Pine throughout Capitol Hill and going toward downtown are some of the unsafest pathways for a cyclist. If it weren’t for my fast reflexes I would have been killed, crushed between cars or had a limb torn off my body. My only saving grace in addition to having fast reflexes is that people here tend to drive too slow. I’ve had people driving in cars cut me off and run me out of my designated bicycle lane, pull out from alleys in front of me (forcing me to slam on my breaks). And worst of all, is when I confront these people and yell at them for nearly causing me serious injury or worse they are not even remotely sorry. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. They either give me an evil glare, or don’t care or sometimes get angry back at me. I truly can’t understand when someone driving a 1.8 ton vehicle gets annoyed with “me”for getting angry at them for putting me in extreme danger. Only once, when a car stopped at stop sign on a narrow side street (this car didn’t even pull over) and a woman getting out of the passenger side flung her car door open right in my path forcing me to slam on my breaks did I get a “stoic” apology. Lucky me! These occurrences don’t just happen once in a while. Sometimes they happen back to back multiple times in one day.
It has affected me a great deal. My once ideal 110/75 blood pressure readings are now 135/90 and that’s probably a combination of refraining from my usual bike riding exercise out of safety and constantly being in fight or flight mode whenever I do take the chance and ride my bike in this town.
Moving on to other things, I’m from a family with a mother, father, two brothers and two sisters. I’m the youngest male and I always had great relationships with females. I always got along better with my sisters. I felt the same as I got older and became an adult. But after living in Seattle I have to say that so many women here are some of the nastiest, bitter human beings I’ve ever encountered. I must say that now, as a man nearly pushing fifty years of age, I go out of my way to avoid all women at all cost. I will say that once in a blue moon I will run into a woman who is kind and fair but that is very rare.
Also, Seattle is becoming overdeveloped. I’ve only been here ten years and it has changed so much in just that short time. Where once stood a single family home with a garage and some garden space is now a cramped living for five town homes which typically sell for over a million dollars. If I had that kind of money to buy a home I do not want neighbors living literally six feet away from me on all sides. There is no privacy or lateral space anywhere anymore. Every thing is so jam packed and traffic continually gets worse and worse because more and more people are cramming themselves into limited space.
There really is no culture here. The Seattle freeze is very real. And generally speaking, people here seem to pride themselves on being pushy (literally pushy as in physically) and unkind. Hard, left wing politics reign supreme in radicalized liberal Seattle. Never dare to challenge these (mostly) white liberal pseudo intellectuals in conversation by disagreeing with them lest you be eternally branded a racist, or a misogynist, a xenophobe, a conservative or whatever other labels they’re using to “win” disagreements with these days.
Eight O’Clock
I live in Seattle, and honestly, the worst thing is that places aren’t open very late at night, unless you count bars, clubs, and grocery stores.
So, if you’re a night owl, or just work a long day and want to stop by a coffee shop around eight or nine you’re going to be out of luck.
Another complaint is that if you go to work early and stay late than you probably won’t see much daylight during the winter.
The extended summer daylight hours are nice though. So, it’s a give and take.
Other than those two things, there’s really nothing that I don’t like about Seattle. It’s a nice city, not too populated, but just enough that you can get most things in it.
Also, very liberal friendly. …I guess that’s a con if you’re a conservative person.
The worst thing are the drivers. Coming from California, where driving is more of a spirited sport, I wasn’t prepared for people who, when you’re merging onto the freeway, speed up to get around you instead of just easing up on the gas a little and letting you in.
Ditto the odd placing of the car to the right of merging traffic so no one can get ahead in line, even if some idiot starts to merge a mile before a lane/on-ramp ends.
And yes, the insurance commercial is true: if you get to a 4-way stop in Seattle at the same time as other cars, just go, because otherwise everyone will be falling over themselves with the “No, you go” “No, I insist you go” move.
There are also a lot of drivers who will obstinately refuse to move from the fast lane, no matter how many people are piling up behind them. It’s almost as if people think that acting like a pace car at the Indy 500 is a good thing.
And the traffic jams can be epic. Of course, most big cities have this problem, but you definitely must be prepared to check your route before you go anywhere.
Beyond the traffic, the bums that are EVERYWHERE. Woe to you if you live near a city park, as you will get woken up in the middle of the night by drunken brawling/shouting/caterwauling.
Besides that, it’s pretty great!
The biggest downside of living in Seattle is NOT the weather but the endless whining about the weather. I’ve lived in many different North American cities and all of them have their upsides and their downsides weather wise–but I’ve never lived anywhere else where people complain about the weather so much. The weather itself in Seattle I can deal with but people’s endless negativity about it can be a real downer.
I’ve lived in several Canadian cities–including cities that are cold even by Canadian standards–and some cold weather US cities such as Chicago. People in those cities learn to live with the weather conditions and acclimatize themselves to it–so you don’t find people complaining all that much. Seattle winters may be rainy but they are also mild compared to many cities I’ve lived in–but the Seattle people, even those who’ve lived here their whole lives and should be fully acclimatized, complain more. Seattle also doesn’t get the really muggy, hot summers that you get elsewhere in some places I’ve lived, like New York.
California is mostly sunny but is prone some years (albeit not this year) to serious droughts. The Seattle area is green but much of California is often brown. And despite the reputation of “sunny California”, San Francisco can be quite chilly and foggy in the summer. But, again, people there learn to live with the local weather conditions.
In short, there are drawbacks to the weather most places I’ve lived, but in most cities people have the maturity to accept the weather conditions and work around the less desirable weather while retaining a positive attitude. In Seattle, people seem to complain way more than elsewhere, and that gets to be a downer to be around sometimes. Yes, it does rain here quite a bit for much of the year but people in Seattle don’t seem to deal with the downsides of the weather in a very healthy way emotionally.
I like it here, but…
There are many natural obstacles (hills, lakes) that make it unpleasant and time-consuming to get around town or leave the city. East-west travel is particularly difficult.
The majority of buildings built since 1980 are hideous, tacky, or just plain cheap. Seattle has far more eyesores than Portland or Vancouver.
Espresso and grunge music were popularized here in the early 90s. Many people (residents and outsiders alike) still haven’t gotten over that.
Housing is unreasonably expensive thanks to all of the computer programmers and childless couples throwing all their excess income at real estate.
The Nisqually quake was 11 years ago but we still haven’t replaced the freeway that is due to collapse any time now. We are not very good at making big decisions.
Overall, I like living in Seattle. As a Mediterranean who lived in UK before, the weather has not been a huge issue for me. Yes, winter sometimes feels terrible with never ending overcast days, but I realised that I have started to appreciate the good things that comes with cloudiness after a while such as wonderful smell of lush green in virtually all Seattle neighbourhoods. From late March to mid-October, the weather is nice in my opinion: never too humid, never too hot. I like when days alternate between sunny and cloudy in Spring and Fall. Also, I don’t remember wearing my winter coat even in winter time. So it rarely gets cold.
As someone who is well-travelled and has previously lived in Edinburgh, London, Istanbul; the main problem for me regarding Seattle is provincialism and lack of diversity. Most people from Seattle or transplants tend to think the city is super progressive (though true in terms of political stance in US standards), open minded and inclusive. Yet as a foreigner living in Seattle, I find it really hard to develop friendships and/or relationships with people who have lived here for a long time. Outside relatively diverse places such as Amazon, Microsoft or UW where you can make friends with other foreigners or domestic transplants, it’s hard to communicate or develop bonds in Seattle, especially with people from here. Neither Seattle people are interested in learning from you, nor are they hospitable. They keep themselves to themselves. I do not think Seattle Freeze is a good explanation for people’s attitude. The reason why Seattle Freeze is too prevalent must be a question. It mostly has to do with the provincialism (plus, pretentiousness) that comes with with the isolated geography, dominant white American character of the city and lack of laid back attitude towards life. Seattle is one of Top 5 cities in US in terms of wealth per capita (well ahead of NYC, LA, Chicago or Portland), and it is incredibly competitive. After months of living here, I reckon people who have been living here for a very long time are the most career obsessed (people make lots, though they work their ass off), planning freak and self-absorbed human beings I have ever met. No space for spontaneous interaction or fun. With the increasing yuppy population working in either in healthcare or tech, humane qualities of the city’s denizens are probably getting worse.
I moved to Seattle in 1984. Boeing ruled the roost and you could drive the freeways at the posted speed limits, all hours of the day. Seattle had neighborhoods with distinct lifestyles. Fremont was full of hippies, Pioneer Square and parts of Capitol Hill were full of artists, actually making a living. South Lake Union was a vibrant area, thriving on small industry.
Because Seattle is bordered by water on two sides and real estate prices have always been high, there is no easy way to move around the city as its population grows. City planners have addressed this by shrinking roads in order to accommodate buses and bicycles, at the expense of cars. The problem with buses, especially if you need to transfer, is that you can expect a three hour commute, if your bus even arrives. The problem with bicycles is that it rains most of the year and Seattle is all hills.
Real estate has become so expensive, there are not many artists who can afford to live here. With each passing year, more and more of my artist friends leave. The town has become increasingly hostile to artists. Despite the obvious wealth, people do not seem that interested in art or culture.
It seems the common topics of conversation are:
Traffic sucks. Always.
If you don’t already own a home, how could you possibly afford one. If you do, how much equity you gained this past year.
I cannot foresee another vibrant music or cultural event happening here. Not only does there seem to be complete apathy, an artist cannot afford to be experimental.
Traffic EVERYWHERE. From Marysville down to Olympia. And there’s no moving east or west. If you go east you’re blocked by the cascade mountains. If you go west you have to take the ferries across Puget sound, which requires about an hour of waiting, plus the 30–60 ride, and cost like $20. Or you can drive around the sound instead and sit in traffic for 3 hours.
Cost of living is hopeless. Mediocre condos in the suburbs cost $500k.
Dreary weather. June-August is great (warm & sunny). All other months are terrible (overcast, if not rainy). Days seem really short in the winter. 8–4 is all you get for daylight but you’re working and it’s usually cloudy.
Too many people have moved here. Can’t even go to the mountains without having to fight for a parking spot to go hiking.
Homeless people and drug addicts everywhere. They’re taking over the parks and trails. Go to a trail for a run/walk and get your car broken into and you get stalked by psychos.
As hard as you try to convince your friends how great Seattle is, and that as long as they came to see it they would love it, none of them can be bothered to visit you because Seattle is geographically isolated compared to other awesome cities. It’s very hard to “pass through” unless you’re on your way to Vancouver BC, Alaska, or Japan. You can’t make casual plans to go there.
Then again, some would argue that Seattle benefits from not being overrun by tourists, and its isolation is one reason why it works out that way.
There are probably worse things if you live there and suffer from seasonal affective disorder, but I don’t, so I’ll leave that to someone else.
Victor Allen’s
Its proximity to my in-laws
While there are many things to love about Seattle, there are also a couple awful things that stand out:
Seattle is crime-ridden. Worse than New York and Los Angeles. More like Gotham City. Beatings, stabbings, shootings, armed robberies, sexual assaults, harassment, you name it. Downtown and First Hill are especially bad, and the cops can’t keep things under control. Just take a look at the blotter: Seattle Crime News . My personal favorite was getting to witness a machete attack in Belltown.
Also, people do not seem to be very happy. Just walk around downtown during any given day and count the smiles. Few and far between.
Oh, and the drivers are dangerously tentative/unaware/unskilled.
Ouch! I was born and raised in Seattle, and now live south of Seattle, in Olympia, the capital of Washington. Since I’ve never lived anywhere else, the behaviors described are all I know. I relate to being aloof (but was not aware of it until now), and it is expensive and overrun with homelessness. It is most always cloudy and grey. I can see why people hate it. But having grown up here, I have been able to find the good–well actually now that I think about it, I can only come up with the mountains and the ocean…Am I happy here? I don’t know because Seattle is all I have ever known. I do travel a lot though, and have driven across the country and was so surprised at how friendly people were everywhere–even in New York!
Lived near Seattle for seven years. Worked in Seattle for five of those, but my job moved to Kirkland and now I stick to the East side except for special occasions. I love living and working near Seattle but have zero interest being in Seattle.
Weather: I love PNW weather. I moved from LA and in the process, realized that I enjoy sunshine in moderation. Seattle has the perfect moderation for me. I do supplement Vit D from October to March, but anyone living at high latitudes should probably do so.
People: I’m friends with my neighbors and friends or friendly with everyone on the streets around us. I didn’t notice any real change in neighbor friendliness from Santa Monica, CA or Marina Del Rey, CA to Kenmore, WA. Woodinville, WA is friendlier than all of them.
Traffic: it’s terrible. The roads are nowhere close to keeping up with growth.
Housing: Another “can’t keep up with growth” issue. When teachers and police can’t afford to live near where they work, that’s a problem. While there is a lot of apartment construction, geography ensures that Seattle can’t keep up with it’s role as the new Silicon Valley. Expansion of the metro area would require much better roads that are being worked on… slowly.
The people are truly the cruelest people I’ve ever met. Unless you are white or asian you are not wanted. There is no life in people or the city, no energy, no love. People will not talk to others and will not care about your existence. If they can use you to their benefit, they will lie, cheat and trick you then leave. I’m a light skinned latin person and I was so alone, so miserable that I would cry in my car from the cruelty. Just to go to trader Joe’s became a chore because of the looks I would get, the way people would avoid eye contact. In other stores the cashiers would talk to customers, but when it was my turn they would be quiet. At a pumpkin patch I saw a Hispanic family, they saw me and they came to ask me where I lived, in the hope they could find a community because they were lonely too. I started going to this one Panera cause the cashier was lovely, she was Indian I believe. She would talk to me and we started to look forward to just being normal. One day I went over and she acted like she didnt know me and looked scared, her manager was behind her, a white woman. I went another day and same thing. I felt so sorry for her. I was at a walgreens and they escorted a dark skinned man out because he was “causing a scene” he was not, I was there the whole time. He wanted to speak to the manager because something he bought was expired. But no one believed him, so he got upset. He actually stopped at the door, and said “Are you all going to let this happen?” He left defeated. I have seen white ladies make HUGE scenes at stores and they get what they want. The cashier said, these people huh, you can never be too careful. This other white lady asked the security guard to walk her to her car because he was still walking through the parking lot. To this day I regret not doing something, I froze in disbelief. I cried the rest of the day. This sort of thing happened all the time. In 5 years, not one person spoke to me if it wasnt their job or we worked together, 5 years.
Having lived in Seattle my entire life, there should be plenty of things that I could say about why living in Seattle isn’t perfect.
Yes, it is a bummer that we no longer have our SuperSonics, but that doesn’t really affect a person’s living situation or how you live in this city. There are plenty of other sports teams here that we can root for.
If you’re unhappy with the weather, that sounds like more of a personal problem. Most people know what they’re getting into when they move here. If you’re a true Seattle local, then you probably find Seattle’s rainy days to be pretty refreshing. For locals, it makes us appreciate those sunny days and our Seattle summers that much more!
If there’s an answer that I’ve seen so far on this thread that is both disappointing and relevant to living in Seattle it is the rumor about the “Seattle Freeze.” I’m not quite sure when this began, but it is displeasing to hear that when people move to our city, they don’t always feel welcome or that it is difficult for them to meet others. I think one of the reasons why this might be is because some locals have become complacent with their lifestyle, their career, and their friend groups that they don’t see any reason to go beyond that. This may be the worst thing about living in Seattle because it’s the last thing that I would want anyone to ever perceive about my hometown.
After leaving Seattle and moving to the Bay, I’ve developed a much deeper appreciation for the city that helped raise me as a person. At the end of the day, I love this city so much that I could probably list more reasons for why Seattle is such a great place to live than why it is the worst.
Dunkin’
It doesn’t rain as much in the Summer and the sun stays out until 9-9:30, so that’s great.
But once November hits, you can pretty much expect rain and darkness every day. If you go into work early and stay a little late, you may not see the sun at all that day because the days are so short.
And because it’s such an isolated part of the country, the food prices are a little higher.
Having lived in Seattle for about 5 years, and before that, throughout the Southwest and Midwest, I can tell you that the weather is bad but not as bad as the Midwest. The proper measure is not the amount of rain, which is deceptively low. Instead, the proper measure is the number of cloudy days, which is in excess of 200 days of the year. And those cloudy days are concentrated in the Nov – Apr half of the year by a 3:2 ratio. Those 6 months, coupled with the shorter days, can slowly eat away at your desire to attack the new day, especially when you see that the forecast is basically the same as yesterday’s. It’s a tough slog, but at least you’re not going to be digging your car out of a snow bank (unless you drive up to the mountains). Oh yeah, and we don’t have very many Tex-Mex restaurants.
A lot of people have already brought up some really valid points, so I’ll just add this from my personal perspective:
I can actually handle the grey skies and the rain a hell of a lot better than I can handle the heat we’ve been having every summer without air conditioning. I actually like misty, moody, dark days. But the air in my apartment as I type this is 86 degrees. 86F. This is with a brand new portable AC running 24/7 (I live in an apartment that has one of those portable AC ports but that’s it, and you can’t put in a window unit.) I can’t sleep, I can’t think clearly. I can handle hot temperatures outdoors; what I cannot handle is being sweaty, sticky, and overheated all the time indoors when I’m just trying to work or go about my day or sleep.
‘Find an apartment with air conditioning then,’ you say. Believe me, I’ve tried. Go to any apartment rental site and then filter rentals in the Seattle area for 1) Under $3,000 and 2) has air conditioning and you’ll see what I mean. It’s like searching for a unicorn.
And it’s not like you can just go out and buy a house and equip it with whatever temperature-controlling-devices you’d like. Tried that, too. Unless you’re willing to pay $850k AT MIMIMUM for a 800sqft house, you’re out of luck. We tried purchasing last year and even with a six figure income we couldn’t afford anything other than small condos within a reasonable commute time to our jobs.
People often talk about the summers in Seattle when they’re listing positive things. And they are beautiful, no doubt about it. But they are absolutely not in the mid-70s the majority of the time anymore and if you’re sensitive to heat at all, you’re in for a miserable 3 months every year. Just look up the actual temperatures for June-September of this year or 2021. Like yeah it’s nice outside (except when it’s 90+ or 108) but it’s hot af indoors, especially if you live in a high rise apartment which most of them are. I didn’t know about the lack of AC when I moved here 12 years ago, and I still dread every summer for that reason. Also, if you try to go out to do any fun summer activities like swimming or whatever, everyone and their entire family has the same idea and you better be prepared to throw elbows with the rest of the entire population lol it is *crowded*.
We’re moving out of the state when our lease is up (11 months to go), mostly because housing prices here have just gotten too high and we need more space than 550 sqft at this point in our lives.
The Rain in Spain Mainly Falls in Seattle
I have to say, as a native of Seattle, the traffic is the worst. We are constantly making the top five lists for worst traffic in the U.S.
Seattle is also becoming increasingly expensive to live in, but nothing like New York or San Fran.
I find people complaining about the weather the worst thing in Seattle. I frequently think to myself, “if you don’t like it, go someplace else”. I find it interesting that people are always saying it is so dark in Seattle during winter time? On December 20th the sunrises at 7:58AM and sets at 4:21PM. In LA on December 20th the sun rises at 635AM and sets at 4:45. Yes, the sun rises over an hour earlier in LA, but sets in LA only 25 minutes later. The way I see it, I get to see the sunrise more with it rising at nearly 8AM, and believe it or not, the breaks in rain storms seem to come during the night allowing for wicked sunrises.
Conversely, on June 20th the Sun rises in Seattle at 5:11AM and sets at 9:10PM while in LA It rises at 5:45AM and sets at 8:08PM. I like rain and find going for drives in the wintertime refreshing. You can have places all to yourself. Our rains frequently, like the first 3 hours of todays Atmospheric River, is light enough you can be outside without really getting wet.
I spent 22 years in Seattle. It’s a beautiful city and people are actually polite when they drive or bike or walk, which is damn nice. Most Seattleites seem to understand they’re making a city together and they need to work together to do it.
But in Seattle if you say “hello” to a stranger in a bar you’re likely to be treated like you’d just spit on them. My old Seattle shrink used to say it’s a very “Norwegian” city in this way.
I moved to San Francisco six years ago and my social life is definitely better, but I miss Seattle’s beauty and politeness. The overwhelming tone in San Francisco is self-righteousness without any empathy.
So, pick your poison.
Seattle is pretty awesome so this will be a concise answer. There are only two things I don’t like living in Seattle: 1) it’s expensive (I realize this is relative. I moved from the Midwest) 2) it stays really dark during the winter (I work 8-5 and do not see the sun. Number two may be the reason that I don’t stay here. But literally, everything else about the city is amazing.
Besides traffic, crime and drug problems in downtown Seattle, the hobos in Ballard, and limited static nightlife, lovely overcast, vitamin d deficiency (apparently this is a contributing factor why people go bald), passive aggressive behavior, geekology culture, higher ratio of males versus female, lack of single life for certain age groups because people marry relatively early and 3.5 month long summers…Seattle is a great place to live. I mean after all, you can go to Seattle Grace Hospital for medical issues, live in a condo at the Escala’s perpetual love nest, and have access to fresh produce, groceries and seafood. Just don’t cross the bridges. You’ll be fine.
It would probably suck to live there as a conservative.
Disclaimer: some of the reasons listed below are personal and may not be shared by others.
I like(d) Seattle. But there are certain things that forced me to move out back to the Bay Area a few years back, so I’ll share from that perspective.
1). Weather. It doesn’t always rain, and rain up in Seattle is rarely hard. But be prepared for very prolonged times without sun. Some people get seasonal depression due to weeks of overcast at a time. It can get hard.
2). People are very nice. But compared to my native Bay Area, I found it very hard to make friends, infiltrate cliques and simply “hang out”. That said, I did make some amazing friends and lasting relationships in Seattle. But it was hard to just be social and meet people the way I did in the Bay Area.
3) This may seem silly to some, but for me personally Seattle wasn’t a big city enough. I grew up in Moscow, then SF/Bay Area, and Seattle at the time was not quite on that scale.
All these things said, it’s a gorgeous city, and I love to go back and visit. It’s got plenty of things to do, places to see and people to meet. Seattle just wasn’t for me to live in.
I think you guys have it a bit wrong. I attended college in the area and lived/worked there for 5 years. The people are standoffish and quiet, and also awkward. Basically if you take it upon yourself to make friends you can but you have to put in the upfront work. Once you get to know people they are nice but there is a THICK layer of fakeness. This is just the culture.
Housing is crazy. Honestly for the price you’ll have a better time in SF. If you can afford several thousand a month then try living in Northbend (woodsy town 30 mins out) or vashon Island and commute.
Good luck!
If I were not from Seattle, I think the biggest downfall would be the “Seattle Freeze”. We might give you a smile, but don’t ask us for directions (and I mean that in the nicest way possible). Also after traveling quite a bit, the lack of a light rail/metro/rail transit is frustrating. There is a light rail from the airport into downtown, but that’s pretty much it and not helpful to…anyone
I have lived in Seattle for three eternal, neverending, miserable years. I remember it as the worst period of my whole life. I have never been as depressed as when I lived in Seattle. I hit rock bottom. I hate it with passion. I hate every inch of it and its surrounding areas. And I hate people who love Seattle. And I won’t apologize for it!
Because of my career, I have lived in a few cities (in Europe and in the US) and Seattle is, by far, the worst for countless reasons. One thing I have to specify is that I don’t hate Seattle for the reasons other people commonly adduce: social justice warriors and hipster types. The social justice warriors or hipsters don’t bother me. I don’t care. The real problem is that Seattle is a provincial town with the pretense of being a cosmopolitan city like New York or London. Imagine a chicken who believes he/she is an eagle. That’s Seattle. When you go to a provincial town, you sort of know what to expect and you are not disappointed. Likewise, when you go to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Paris, Madrid you also know what to expect. Seattle has the worst of a small town and the worst of a big city, all combined in one. Pay one, get one free.
I was offered a job in Seattle and had to relocate from California. Everybody kept telling me: “Oh my God, you will absolutely love Seattle. Are you kidding me? It’s fantastic. The mountains, the air, the people… you will be hiking. The most intelligent people live in Seattle… you will loooooove it. Love it! It will be heaven compared to California. People are so much nicer than in superficial California.” My expectations were high and in fact, I was in deep denial the first months I lived there. When reality slapped me and when I dissipated the veil of denial, I realized how much I hated it. I know you cannot generalize, so please don’t give me the “you cannot generalize!” line because there are some common traits that are very typical in Seattle. Also, exceptions are everywhere but are not statistically relevant.
One thing I have noticed is that people in Seattle, in general, are annoying, boring, obnoxious, passive aggressive. I remember that when I lived in Seattle and I said that I loved California, Seattleites would look at me as if I was the devil enunciating blasphemous words. The Seattleites would say: “Jeez, californians are jerks!” Guess what: Seattleites are jerks too and don’t look nearly as good as some californians who, at least, tend to take care of their appearance. You are not allowed to say that you love California in Seattle. It’s taboo. Everybody raves about how beautiful Tacoma, Federal Way, Olympia are, as if they were prey of a mystical delirium.
I have found an incredible amount of bigotry in Seattle, believe it or not. People can claim to be liberal all they want, but it’s fake. It’s all fake. It’s all virtue-signalling. They are provincial. I worked in a very famous and big tech company and I was one of the very few unmarried and childfree people and they made me feel like an alien. If you are even slightly different for whatever reason, they will MAKE you feel different with words or actions.
As other people have mentioned, the Seattle freeze is real. I have made friends everywhere I have gone to, even in Timbunctu, but not in Seattle. It’s hard to make a real connection and most of them are nerds who love to play video games. They also think they are smart just because they landed a job in a tech company. A lot of people in Seattle are arrogant and think they are geniuses even when they are not.
There are very few things to do in Seattle, apart from eating, eating, eating and eating… going to the fish market and watch people throwing fish at each other. Why Seattleites think that is a big attraction, is beyond me. What I mean is that there are no real vibrant activities that do not involve stupid video games or eating. When I lived in New York, there was anything imaginable to do. You could never get bored. Same for Chicago.
The gloomy atmosphere is really depressing. I didn’t imagine this was going to affect me this much, but it’s true. Strangely, the cold days in New York and London were not as depressing as the days in Seattle. There must be something in the air or in the quality of light, I can’t pinpoint it, but it really is dismal.
Housing is crazy. It’s insulting, atrocious. You should pay one million dollar for a dump. They could literally pay me to live in a mansion in Seattle and I would refuse it. Now, imagine if I am going to spend a dime to live in that place. No way!
There is not a lot of cultural diversity.
To sum up, Seattle is not New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, but believes it is all of them.
When I was finally able to leave, I cried tears of joy and I solemnly swore I would never, ever put a foot there anymore. Now I live in a much nicer city and am surrounded by great friends.
It’s dirty in all but the most wealthy neighbourhoods, expensive, extremely inconvenient, always felt fairly crime-ridden to me, and generally depressing.
If you go to the downtown area you will see the most depressing people everyday. A homeless guy walking around in 3 inches of snow with a big blanket, a homeless person in the lobby of BECU injecting his toe (HIS TOE!!!) with heroin, a morbidly obese goth unironically wearing a black T-Shirt in summer that says “EAT THE WEALTHY.”
The rates of mental disorders in Washington state are among the highest in the world.
Seriously, there are so many twisted people in Seattle it is depressing. One morning I was going to work at Datapro, riding the 49 bus from UW to Ballard. In Ballard, there was a dead seagull at the bus stop. I went to work.
At 5 I went home, and the dead seagull was still there, but some person had drawn an outline around the body of the seagull, trying to make it look like a crime scene.
At 2 am, I went to Shwarma’s on the Ave by UW to get some food (I was in one of those many… my-life-is-in-chaos phases where I stay up past 2 every night, forget meals, and doing even the simplest task feels enormous), and a mugger tried selling me an iPhone he had stolen from, probably, another student.
He was trying to scream and whisper at the same time…
“Fitty dolla iPhone? Fitty dolla!”
Of course, I did not take the offer, and stayed on my side of the street.
The city in general, like many cities, is incredibly inconvenient. While there are a million stores, there are few supermarkets, owning a car is very difficult, traffic is extreme, and there is almost no parking. I literally had to walk a mile to get groceries.
To go to the movies, and see a movie I wanted to see, not some Sundance Film Festival or European film?
I had to catch a bus to either downtown Seattle, or Tukwilla. Tukwilla was often more convenient.
In Washington, in general, most people hate their neighbours—at least as adults.
With the exception of one family, my parents hated all of my friends’ parents. It did not help that my mom had schizophrenia, and eventually wove them into her theories that they were spying on her, but I know my family was not unique in regards to hating their neighbours. Never in my entire life did I really see adult neighbours hanging out.
However, the majority of people still have colleagues at work, maybe not friends, but colleagues. They out together every once in a blue moon. Lots of people in Seattle don’t. Their only socialising is at work, and the neighbour relation is kind of extended to the rest of the public.
I suspect it’s a cultural phenomenon in the US, but stronger in Washington, and stronger still when you jam a bunch of Washingtonians together into a cold, inconvenient, overpopulated city.
Things were a lot different when I lived in Ellensburg in Eastern Washington. That was really the only time in my life I had a large social life. Most students at CWU are friendly to each other, and the locals there tend to be friendly, but often have very rural interests (e.g., the rodeo) which don’t fit in with students’ interests.
In Gig Harbor where I grew up, the culture was a bit similar to Seattle, but not nearly as bad, and the town was very clean. There were lots of people into cliques: Goths, Hipsters, people who dye their hair blonde, stoners who smoked weed a lot, until it became legal and not as cool, and then they now realise they are still living with their moms or dads and are 25, and their only skills are now Dungeons and Dragons and Magic, and a huge nerd culture for a small town, but it wasn’t quite as hostile outside of public school.
I think Seattle brings out the worst of the Pacific Northwest because it jams everyone into a little expensive area.
Funnily, I had 3 people from my town at UW. They were not all that interested in hanging out. When I happened upon them, we’d hang out, but otherwise they would spend days not replying to my texts.
After I moved to Salt Lake City, I literally stopped contacting all but 2 of my childhood friends. One of whom visited me in Australia after I moved to Australia.
I realize many people love Seattle, but it has been my least favorite city to live in. In addition to Seattle, I have lived in Boston, London, Edinburgh, and Burlington, VT, Portland, ME, and many smaller towns in the US and abroad. I’ll say upfront that at heart I prefer living in the country, but usually have to live close to a city for work reasons. Here were my biggest issues with living in Seattle:
Rent: Rent is extremely high. By that I mean a high rent/salary ratio.
Scaling too fast: Seattle is not equipped to handle the growth it’s experienced in recent years, with the boom of Amazon, and expansion of other companies like Microsoft, Zillow, Analytics and Tech companies, etc. Combined with heavy traffic there is constant construction. Driving through/past the city from 7am-11am or 3pm-6pm? Get ready to sit in some traffic…instead of it taking you 15 mins to get where you need to be, it will take two or more hours.
Weather: Are you ready to take 50,000 I.U. of Vitamin D daily to make up for lack of sunlight in most other cities? Great – Seattle might the place for you. There are 2-3 months during summer when the weather is absolutely perfect, but the remaining 9-10 months are miserable – rainy most days, and cloudy the others. Personally, I love sunlight and after living in Seattle realized that the lack of sunlight is a huge downside to living there.
People, Hype, Culture: Seattle is by far the most pretentious, self-important city I have lived in/traveled to. Many Seattle locals and transplants alike talk about Seattle as though everyone who is there is so lucky to be in Seattle. Yes, Seattle has good food, beer, and coffee. But I think Portland, OR, and Burlington, VT have a better food/beer/coffee scenes, and then some. Those two cities are random comparisons but they were the first two I thought of. Also, people brag about the Seattle music scene…but Seattle doesn’t have a great music scene. I imagine it would have been INCREDIBLE in the 90s. But it’s just not now. Also – I have probably been to every Museum Seattle offers. It doesn;t hold a candle to the Smithsonian Museums in DC or the amazing museums in NYC.
Traffic/Drivers: So traffic is terrible in Seattle, and OK – I don’t know how else to say this – but I have never seen so many accidents! And I’ve lived in Boston, where people are notoriously bad/aggressive drivers! I have never feared for my life as often as when I was on I-5 and I-90 in/around Seattle. People go from 0-80mph and then a full stop at the drop of a hat. It’s terrifying.
Proximity to Mountains: Seattle is not THAT close to mountains, contrary to what many people say. Depending on where you live, it will take a few hours to get to the Olympics or Cascades. Most days, because of the cloudy weather, you can’t even see mountains. If people want to be close to mountains, there are many cities that trump Seattle in this respect.
Suburban Sprawl: Where to begin, where to end…. on a clear day, you can see mountains. Lesser known is the fact that you have to drive hours through endless towns of big box stores and no originality. It’s sad that the city planners/developers do such a poor job at preserving the nice landscapes of the area. I found it to be quite depressing.
Sports fans: OK, many people will dislike my post based on this point alone, but from what I noticed the vast majority of Seattle sports fans are only fans when their teams are on winning streaks and getting national or regional attention. NOTE I realize this is not the case with everyone. I think this has to do with the fact that there are so many transplants living there, but it just seems like a really phony fascade – maybe that’s because I’m from New England where people are loyal, die-hard Boston sports teams fans.
So there, those are some of the worst things about living in Seattle. As you can tell, I didn’t drink the kool aid, but many, many people do and live there for a long time.
Will recap what many have already stated:
High crime rate due to reasons including amateur thugs, drug problems, many homeless including those with mental health issues.
Terrible traffic compounded by terrible drivers. Get both the left lane campers along with the faux-NASCAR drivers who weave around those drivers. Seattle also has some of the most poorly designed highways and freeways of any major metropolitan area. An example is that there is a section of I5 in downtown Seattle that is only 2 lanes wide. And people wonder why there is gridlock.
Little to no Tex-Mex and mediocre at best BBQ.
Since WA was a territory the politics have been corrupt. Seattle City politics are comical with very little rational thought or intelligence behind any decision. Nothing gets accomplished in a timely fashion.
Public transportation is lacking. Bus system is ok but no real other options. They’ve been building light rail for a decade and currently only goes from airport to downtown. Line is (excruciatingly slowly) expanding currently in only one direction and there is no work being done to expand light rail to neighborhoods where it is needed like West Seattle, Georgetown, Fremont, Greenwood, and Ballard.
Not handing the ball to Marshawn
It’s all true. Every word, especially the chicken who thinks he’s an eagle comparison, that really freed me. I can’t wait to leave this place! People here really love to tell other people what to do, and are incredibly fake. The parks are insultingly tiny, for a place that’s surrounded by nature, there’s an insulting lack of actually nice and meaningful parks. No balboa park or central park here, and for a place like Seattle that just seems odd and totally misses expectations. Everything there is here to do unfortunately eats up so little time that you find yourself bored or eating. Eating eating, so much food here, such little else to do. Mind numbingly boring. All of the attractions are boring and small, like the zoo and aquarium or any museum I’ve been too. I miss the east coast, Paris, even Florida. Counting down the months til we leave…the high pay isn’t worth the misery. Don’t even get me started on the weather, unless you are a zombie or have sun allergy every part of your human body will be trying to crawl out of you come September when everything whithers away and dies (only 9 months until it’s nice again), until the very short 2 month season of warmer weather arrives and you get to share it with everyone else crowding all of the nice spots, more crime, tourists and such. Don’t go to the ocean, unless you enjoy seeing tsunami warning signs everywhere and sinking sand signs, not a safe place to be if there ever is an earthquake or subsequent tsunami. Not for beach people unless you like lake beaches with dirt-sand and rocks. Also, I will pay every service worker a higher tip just to not make small talk with me, please stop asking me what my plans are tonight or how I’ve been, it disarms me from how unfriendly locals are only to realize they are being nice/personal to get a higher tip. I’ve noticed it all around Seattle, maybe part of some business or training initiative.
The long months of dreary, rainy weather is high among the worse things, but spring and summers, over the last three years, have gotten better while traffic is getting worse.
In my 30-years as a resident I’ve never found it hard to make friends here, even with many from the liberal persuasion, which to my way of thinking is another of the worse things about Seattle. It’s very liberal politics, as evidenced by the recent election of a socialist activist on the city council, and it’s weather, has made a short-termer out of me as I prepare to move from what has been my home for a very long time.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Seattle for all it’s many positives. It will always be a great place to visit but I’ve simply grown tired of the negatives, as I see them. To each his own.
Watching the Oklahoma City Thunder advance in the NBA Playoffs (One of the final four teams as of June 3rd 2012).
It’s a kick in the gut while we’re already down after losing the Sonics.
Update 1: The Oklahoma City Thunder have now advanced to the 2012 NBA Finals. (I’m hoping that I don’t have to come back and edit that they are NBA champs…)
Update 2: The OKC Thunder did not win the 2012 NBA Finals. By my estimates, this prevented a giant mob rioting in Seattle Center and perhaps saved the city that we all love so much. 🙂
There has been an increase in activism for people trying to bring back the Sonics. Connect with the cause on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/#!/sonicsarena or https://twitter.com/#!/sonicsgate