What city is close to Seattle, WA w/ low priced homes, culture, low crime, and good schools for children?

We are planning on moving from Alaska. We are looking for lots of culture wherever we live. We don't want to live in Seattle because of the traffic. We are looking to buy a home within the 200-300 thousand dollar range. Anyone know any place that would fit for us? Thanks for all your help people!What city is close to Seattle, WA w/ low priced homes, culture, low crime, and good schools for children?
I live in Seattle. Welcome to our beautiful city. houses are expensive here, but prices are going down for the 1st time in several years. Try West Seattle. You are 10 minutes away from downtown and prices are slightly lower there.
Portland OregonWhat city is close to Seattle, WA w/ low priced homes, culture, low crime, and good schools for children?
If you download the free version of Google Earth, it has a feature where it shows you the precise demographics of any city you want to check out...



It's a really neat feature that would answer your question precisely...
definetly shoreline, wa. but u probably wont find it online or a map... unless u go to komo4 news. but it has very little schools... 7 elementary schools, 2 middle and high schools. it has very low crime, and culture. i dont know about low prices homes.
There is no place anywhere near Seattle that has low crime, good schools, and is in the 200 to 300K price range.



You can have that price range, or you can have good schools. Not both. You can have that price range, or you can have low crime, not both.
Bellevue is close, try that
You're really asking for too much here, unfortunately. You won't be able to find all of those things in a "home", if by home you mean house, for that price range too easily. On the other hand, I saw a nice looking house in Bothell for $299k last weekend that was a real surprise, but in general, you're asking a lot for not much (well, really just not much in the Seattle area, based on current housing prices). Culture + low crime + good schools = at least $400-500k, I would say, and that's kind of a low estimate depending on what you mean by those terms that you're looking for.



If you are willing to move a good distance from Seattle, Bellingham to the north is much cheaper, has a University (Western Washington U.) so it's kind of a college town, is close to Vancouver BC (great to visit often!), and is safe and has a cool culture to it.
You've gotten some good answers so far, and unfortunately, what they are telling you is correct. You can't get good schools, low crime and a 200-300 K house near Seattle. It's just more expensive than that. And that doesn't even start to add in "culture"!



You'll need to be looking further out (beyond commuting distance to Seattle), or revise your housing expectations. If you are willing to look further out, then consider places like Bellingham, Mount Vernon area, maybe Stanwood to the north. Or look on the Peninsula in places like Port Orchard.

Eastern Washington has some great communities, but wouldn't be considered "close to Seattle"
Not want to live in Seattle because of the traffic? You have your thinking just a little backwards there. The traffic within the city is never that bad, and when it is, it's when you're trying to get in or out from somewhere else. Bellevue, perhaps that only place outside of Seattle proper that has any culture, has traffic problems that make Seattle's rush hour look like a race track. The only problem with Seattle is the price tag. 200-300K won't get you much here, and if it does you're in a very unsavory place.



Alas, if the price is too much you could try, say... Issaquah. Lots of city folk looking to get away from the big city feel go out there. It's a ways into town though. 25 minutes with zero traffic and 1 hour+ with traffic.



That's Seattle for you. You have to take the good with the bad everywhere. Depends on which goods are most important and which bads are most tolerable.
Well I think maybe Burien or DesMoines, WA would be a nice fit. The area is nice and has alot of diversity with Latinos, Black, Asians, whites of course. The houses are in the 250-600 thousand dollar price range and you should definitely check it out!