Possibility of moving to Seattle-advice please

Pugins

Have possibility of moving to Seattle (we are an Irish family, currently in Melbourne). Know next to nothing about the place. Google is helpful to a point but was wondering if anyone could offer advice on the following:
-what is it like as a city? more like Dublin, London, NY?
-is the education system good?
-is it expensive to set up? Rent, furniture etc
-general cost of living
-family activities, quality of life

Any other information, tips, advice? Anything and everything apppreciated:)

Jonny_D

Pugins wrote: »

Have possibility of moving to Seattle (we are an Irish family, currently in Melbourne). Know next to nothing about the place. Google is helpful to a point but was wondering if anyone could offer advice on the following:
-what is it like as a city? more like Dublin, London, NY?
-is the education system good?
-is it expensive to set up? Rent, furniture etc
-general cost of living
-family activities, quality of life

Any other information, tips, advice? Anything and everything apppreciated:)

As a city it's nothing really like Dublin, London or NY - I'm not sure really what to compare it to...

Are you planning on moving to the city itself, or to the surrounding area?
In terms of eduction, Seattle school district generally isn't great.
The Lake Washington, Bellevue or Issaquah (over on the east side) have a much better reputation. I think Bellevue has some of the top schools in the US.
It's a nice city and in terms of crime, probably one of the safer US cities.

-is it expensive to set up? Rent, furniture etc
It depends on what your budget is, what kind of place you want and where you want to live. You could checkk out Craigslist to get an idea about rent prices.
There is no State income tax, but you pay about 9.5% sales tax. I haven't found things to be more expensive here than I did in Ireland. Petrol is about half the price. Cars are cheaper. Some Utilities may be slightly more expensive, but in general you get a better service. If you plan on buying a home, you need to factor in property taxes.
There's an Ikea here, so you can furnish your place relatively cheaply. Other than that, furniture seems a little more expensive here.

-general cost of living
It depends on what you like to do and your wages. There lots of outdoor stuff here...skiing, parks, hiking etc.
This is a cost of living comparison thingy...
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Ireland&country2=United+States&city1=Dublin&city2=Seattle,+WA

-family activities, quality of life
Big thumbs up from me on this.
I moved over last September with my wife and 2 young kids and we've been really happy here.
There's always plenty to do. There's loads of activities, sports clubs and parks for the kids. Summer is really nice here. Autumn is beautiful, with all the trees. Winter is cold, wet and grey - pretty much the same as Ireland.
A few hours drive north and you're in Vancouver.
Same south and you're in Portland.
People are really friendly and there's a good expat community over here.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

sleepyescapade

Jonny_D wrote: »

there's a good expat community over here.

Where are ye hiding?!! I've been looking for ye since last October

Killer Wench

Let me guess... you got a job with a certain e-retailer.

Pugins

Killer Wench wrote: »

Let me guess... you got a job with a certain e-retailer.

No

Jonny_D

sleepyescapade wrote: »

Where are ye hiding?!! I've been looking for ye since last October

Eastside mostly. Mainly working for a certain large software company. :cool:

sleepyescapade

Jonny_D wrote: »

Eastside mostly. Mainly working for a certain large software company. :cool:

Aha! My OH works for that certain large software company. We currently live downtown but may be living eastside by the end of this year - so much cheaper.

Killer Wench

Jonny_D wrote: »

Eastside mostly. Mainly working for a certain large software company. :cool:

Not that place on the eastside!?

InTheTrees

I've only driven over the 520 bridge once since they introduced the tolls.

$5 just doesnt seem right.

Piste

There are loads of Irish out there working in Microsoft. There's such a large Irish contingent that Microsoft has its very own Irish group set up to help Irish families moving where one of the family is working for Microsoft- so there's loads of expats. Seattle is the highest-educated city in the states as well, in terms of third-level education.

Weather-wise I found it to be a bit like Dublin- rainy and a bit chilly but has its nice days.

Pugins

Thanks for all the replies. I didn't realise Microsoft were there or that there was a large Irish ex-pat community there. It would be great to have that 'community' there. But I have found while living here in Melbourne that its not a great idea to mix always with ex-pats. Especially since many are only temporarily relocating. It leads to transent friendships and can be unsettling. Great to have some Irish friends who ' get you' but I would be trying to cast the net wider!

Also while its interesting that it is such a city of higher-educated individuals it probably makes cost of living, housing etc much more expensive given they will likely earn more on average!

Thanks for the information everyone.

Jonny_D

Pugins wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies. I didn't realise Microsoft were there or that there was a large Irish ex-pat community there. It would be great to have that 'community' there. But I have found while living here in Melbourne that its not a great idea to mix always with ex-pats. Especially since many are only temporarily relocating. It leads to transent friendships and can be unsettling. Great to have some Irish friends who ' get you' but I would be trying to cast the net wider!

We have 2 sets of friends - the Irish that came over around the same time and the 'locals'.

We made a lot of friends in our neighborhood through my daughters school (none Irish).

As for the weather, this is my first summer here, but since the start of July it's mostly been consistently hot & sunny, with a couple of cooler rainy days in between. Certainly a lot better than summers in Ireland!

dennyway

Thinking of moving back to Seattle from Ireland. Does anyone have any advice renting a container/shipping costs. Thanks