Hmm, looking at craigslist, seattle housing looks no more expensive than chicago’s and maybe a little cheaper.
How bike hostile is downtown seattle, particularly compared to chicago, pittsburgh, minneapolis, san fran, oakland, or berkeley?
Getting a word in edgewise
Hmm, looking at craigslist, seattle housing looks no more expensive than chicago’s and maybe a little cheaper.
How bike hostile is downtown seattle, particularly compared to chicago, pittsburgh, minneapolis, san fran, oakland, or berkeley?
it’s a pretty bike-friendly city. i see people on the bikes all the time. But know that there are some HILLS. Some of them downtown, but many are in the hilly apartment areas just to the north and east of downtown (where many people live).
All i know is it was cheaper than boston! 🙂
Like major MAJOR steep inclines.
And just looking at housing is expensive as there are a lot of other factors in cost of living.
Our friend Jason (Jim’s best man, the really tall guy at our wedding) is out in Seattle now, and bikes to work every day. He’s had some problems but from the sound of things it’s pretty friendly. Much better than Chicago from everything I’ve heard.
the to and the from
Seattle is fairly bike friendly, and it has a great, if complicated, bus system.
The real question is what will your to and from be – downtown is a downtown – and super-hillacious. The rainier vailley is flat – but full if airplanes and malls 😉 But i’ve known more than one person who bikes across the 520.
The biggest plus for biking is that Seattle’s climate is far more mild than Chi – and not quite as, um, dynamic as San Fran.
According to Forbes, Seattle is the 8th least affordable real estate market in the country.
They determine this by looking at recent sales of homes that would be affordable to a household making the median income for the area. For Seattle, the numbers are:
Median home price: $387,400
Median household income: $76,104
Recent affordable home sales: 28.3%
For comparison, the worst city on the list is LA:
Median home price: $589,900
Median household income: $58,319
Recent affordable home sales: 3%
And next (by percentage, but even higher in cost) San Fran:
Median home price: $748,100
Median household income: $79,676
Recent affordable home sales: 6.7%
So compared to one of your other major choices (SF), Seattle is a downright steal!
Course sometimes rents don’t correlate to property value 1:1 due to changes in the competitive landscape between those two markets. Depends if you are looking to rent or own.
Interesting enough, Chicago isn’t in the top 10 of least affordable real estate.
seattle is very bike friendly.
downtown has hellacious hills, as previously noted, but only east-west. north-south is pretty flat. so worst case, i think you’d have to walk your bike a couple blocks east-west if you can’t bike uphill, but i’ve seen someone do it with a coffee in one hand.
all of seattle’s buses have 2-3 bike holders on the front, but you’re not allowed to load/unload your bike in the ride-free zone – if you want to unload your bike, you have to do it at the north or south end of downtown, then bike the rest of the way.