What is the best place just outside of Seattle to live, that's inexpensive, low crime rate, with good schools?

My husband is considering applying for a police officer position in Seattle and we are debating if the pay is worth the cost of living.What is the best place just outside of Seattle to live, that's inexpensive, low crime rate, with good schools?
North Bend is a small town about a 35 minute drive to Seattle. There is no inexpensive living until you get over the mountians and that gets you too far away to be able to commute. North Bend is a very nice town with very good people and very few problems. It has a nice blend of old town and new town. It's worth a look!
There are some great areas, but whatever you do, DO NOT move to Federal Way or Auburn.



My parents moved us to Auburn, and I was in the Federal Way Public School District. Had an utterly miserable time of things there. Three kids died at my junior high and I could do five Jaeger shots in a row by the age of 13, if that's any indicator of how much the area blows.What is the best place just outside of Seattle to live, that's inexpensive, low crime rate, with good schools?
Renton...great schools, super fun water park (1/2 price if you're a Renton resident, though it's only open in the summer), great performing arts center, easy to get to Seattle by bus (though I-405 traffic is bad if you drive alone during rush hour), fun 4th of July fireworks show, nice beaches, Cedar River Trail for biking or strolling, and The Landing is the new development that's in the process of opening...so far we have a brand new Target, Lowe's, Petsmart and a few other stores, but coming soon is a 17-plex movie theater and lots of other stores.



I recommend the Highlands neighborhood of Renton...you get all of the above, plus potentially a KILLER view. We paid $185K for our house 5 years ago...probably worth $285K now, and we have 1200 sq ft, 1/3 acre lot, 1 car garage, wonderful neighbors, and a view from Lake Washington to Federal Way. You're not going to get a place like that in Seattle for less than $800K.
It is hard to find a nicer place than the Olympic or Kitsap Peninsula.
Bothell, Washington has terrific schools and it has a very low crime rate. Currently the housing prices in the Seattle area are still very high. In the paper the other day it talked about how sellers do not want to sell their houses at "lowered" prices. They want to "stick" to the higher prices of a few months ago.

Duvall, Carnation, Marchias, Lake Stevens are places you may want to search on the web for housing.



Good luck in your search.
same with my dad



he was a seattle cop and we moved to kent



it has the third largest school district in washington and has alot of tech

no crime

and there are alot of cool things to do
Used to live in a small "sub-community" called Malty which is actually in the unicorporated area of Snohomish on your way to Monroe.



I think it depends on what type of amenities you are looking for and what type of people you want to live around. I don't know where you are moving from so I can't give you a good comparison. But, the cost of living is higher than what you might think.



I would live IN Snohomish, they are some nice subdivisions, but for me - not my style of environment on the types of people. Woodinville is nice, and Bothell is too. Kirkland is okay but really expensive. Up Highway 9 (which is Snohomish) is nice depending how far up you go. Past that is Lake Stevens, which has some nicer areas, but the schools are not that great from what I remember.



We relocated from there 7/06. Good luck in your research, hope it works out for you.