The Pacific Northwest is known for its breathtaking views and natural beauty and Bellevue is no exception. A suburb of Seattle on Lake Washington, you can go kayaking, boating, and swimming all within city limits. Bellevue is also known for having some of western Washington’s best parks, perfect for hiking, biking, camping, and for having festivals! Don’t miss out on the huge holiday ice rink that goes up every winter.

Here's a local on what's wonderful about Bellevue: *Bellevue is like many of the cities outside of San Francisco, e.g.; Walnut Creek or La Mesa outside of San Diego. It's expensive, nice, a place you'd want to raise a family. And, yes, the sky is grey and rainy months on end, but when the sun shines, there is no place more beautiful than the Northwest. Forget the grey and grab your shades -- it won't last long. :)*


Outdoor paradise

Best Part About Bellevue 

You don’t get beautiful nature, great schools, and close proximity to a major city without a major price tag. Due to both close proximity to Seattle and an increase in population due to the tech boom, housing prices in Bellevue have gotten higher and higher in recent years. The current median home price is just under $1M. That being said, if you’re moving to Bellevue to get away from the big city life in Seattle, you might not balk at home prices like people who are moving from smaller cities. 

Here's a local about costs of living in Bellevue: *It is extremely expensive to live here. We don’t have income tax, but taxes are expensive on everything else…we are already over $4/gallon for gasoline at Costco (just filled up a few days ago). Rent is super expensive and people rent because housing is extremely expensive. Houses around where I live (Lake Hills/Crossroads/East Bellevue). One just down the street sold for >$900k . 1000 sq ft, 3 bedroom, 1 bath.*


Worst Part About Bellevue

The residents of Bellevue tend to be older and affluent, due to the nature of the housing prices. There is a younger crowd that live in Bellevue because they work in the city and want to avoid the notorious commutes the people always complain about. That being said, most of their free time will still be spent in Seattle for late night or weekend plans. 

If you want to see what locals do for fun in Bellevue check out the calendar of events: https://www.bellevuedowntown.com/events/calendar


Lifestyle of Bellevue

Bellevue has become a hub for software engineering and other technology centers. There are satellite offices for large tech companies like eBay, Salesforce, Google, Microsoft, and even a huge Amazon high-rise on the Bellevue skyline. Other headquarters include PACCAR Inc, T-Mobile, and Valve and the largest employers in the city are Microsoft, T-Mobile, and Amazon.


Workstyle of Bellevue

Bellevue is the perfect place for anyone looking to get out of Seattle and start a family. With more remote work opportunities popping up, if you’re relocating for work with a partner or spouse, it won’t be hard for them to bring work along with them! The great schools and amazing nature surrounding Bellevue mean it’s the perfect place for kids and families to grow up.


Family Startup

Why You Should Move Here Now?

Young professionals that live in Bellevue need to be close to the nightlife that the city has to offer. Despite the fact that it isn’t known for its social scene the way Seattle is there is a downtown area where young professionals live, eat, drink and play. It's a much better option than living in Seattle and commuting to Bellevue. 
- Downtown
- Woodridge

Young Professionals

Downtown

Being known for great schools, it’s no surprise that Bellevue is great for young families. You can be close to activities and parks while still finding a great place to call home. One of the big selling part for these neighborhoods and Lake Hills in particular are the outdoor spaces for the family to play. Lake Hills has the 150 acre Greenbelt wetland corridor. This includes forests, streams, lakes, trails for hiking, community gardens, picnic areas and seasonal produce farms. You can also attend master gardener workshops and do guided walking tours with a park ranger. Trust us, raising kids here is amazing if you want them to have an outdoor lifestyle. Check out all these neighborhoods if you’re a young family looking to settle down:
- Lake Hills
- Crossroads
- Woodridge


Families

Lake Hills

Bellevue may be expensive, but it’s worth it for the amazing schools and the location. If you’re looking to relocate and crave a quiet, affluent suburban neighborhood on a hill with stunning views of Lake Washington, downtown Bellevue and downtown Seattle then Somerset is your spot. It’s easy for community and close to shops and businesses in Factoria, including the Marketplace at Factoria. Somerset has some of the best public and private schools in Washington and tons of parks and green spaces for the kiddos to play (outside of the large lawns that come with the large homes). All of these choices offer similar homes, amenities and experiences:
- Somerset
- Eastgate
- Newport


Somerset

If you’ve recently sent your kids off to college or the workforce, you’re going to want to check out Bellevue. Downtown offers an easier way to experience nightlife, culture, and entertainment at a more manageable pace than downtown Seattle. You're also close to Seattle should you crave something more jumping, decent weather, and amazing nature activities make it a top contender for retired life. If instead you crave a more bucolic retirement area look at Medina. It's a mostly residential city on a peninsula surrounded by Lake Washington. Seattle sits across the Lake so you get stunning views and a quiet, outdoor lifestyle, apart from the downtowns of Bellevue or Seattle. 
- Downtown
- Medina


Empty Nesters/Retirees

Medina/Downtown

Bellevue

**What is it like to live in Bellevue, WA?**

Bellevue is mostly filled with educated, upper middle class professionals. If you're single, go to Seattle as there is more night life. Bellevue is more for married professionals. Seattle has more flair, more individuality and is really more interesting for singles. Seattle is a small big city with really more to do.

One thing to get used to whether you're in Seattle or Bellevue is most folks here are passive aggressive. People hang with those they are used to and are not too welcoming to outsiders. I lived here as a kid and returned when I graduated from high school. I tried to rekindle my childhood friendships to no avail. Their circle was set and that was that. Most of my friends are from out of state and we have all agreed that it's tough to meet native Washingtonians. It's now been 20 years since I moved here and I still feel like a transplant to Washington. I'm not sure if it's just the way the world has become or if people are just too busy or if it's always been that way. But is does speak volumes that others from out of state feel this way.

Bellevue is like many of the cities outside of San Francisco, e.g.; Walnut Creek or La Mesa outside of San Diego. It's expensive, nice, a place you'd want to raise a family. And, yes, the sky is grey and rainy months on end, but when the sun shines, there is no place more beautiful than the Northwest. Forget the grey and grab your shades -- it won't last long. :)

**What is it like to live in Bellevue, WA?**

I moved to Bellevue from Portland in 1970 and lived there for 37 years. We moved there because they had the best schools in the region and I don’t believe that has changed. We knew the boys teachers and participated in school functions. In 1970 we lived in a small four bedroom ranch style home across from a wooded area which soon was turned into a park with ball fields and soccer fields. We lived in middle income Caucasian neighborhood where we knew our neighbors and their kids. Downtown Bellevue was fairly small and open. Even Bellevue Mall was a series of small stores. Crossroads Mall was small and almost didn’t make it. Bellevue was one of the only districts that voted Republican. I will leave the description of the weather to other writers.

Now let me describe Bellevue as it is today after moving away for a few years and then returning.

Bellevue is a thriving city with many skyscrapers and more being built each day. Many/most of the stores are expensive with high grade branded products. The traffic is intolerable. Partly because of the building of the new light rail that won’t be completed for many years. Bellevue Mall is a huge three story enclosed Mall with almost entirely high end stores. (Penny’s was moved out a few years ago). Crossroads Mall is now enclosed and is thriving. The population in Bellevue which was once predominantly Caucasian is now ethnically diverse. Many Vietnamese were moved here after the Vietnam war. Also Microsoft, which is the largest employer in the area, brings in a diverse group of people from many countries. Now because of the diversity of the people the income level is also diverse. Mostly because of the change in population, Bellevue has now voted in a liberal Democrat to represent them in Congress for the first time. Builders are buying and tearing down the small homes where I once lived and building huge two/three story homes on a small plot of land. New apartment buildings are going up all over Bellevue. The hospitals in Bellevue are very good and growing. Bellevue is the third largest city in the State of Washington and is getting larger every day. If you are a liberal and don’t mind crowds and traffic you might like it here.

**What is it like to live in Bellevue, WA?**

I can answer this question from a scholars perspective as someone who has been going to schools in the bellevue school district for 7 years.

I can't offer so much of a financial perspective because I don't handle the finances (obviously), but I can say that the cost of living here is skyrocketing. The amount of money we have to pay to live in an apartment probably could have bought us a nice house if we lived in the central parts of the US.

Climate wise it's honestly no biggie. I think there is scientific evidence that the rainier and darker climates are more depressing, but I used to live in Hawaii and I honestly prefer the dark and rainy to the sunny and bright. It doesn't snow here as much as I'd like though…

Ok, so let's dive into the school perspective. As you may have heard, Bellevue schools are ranked pretty high nationally. Our schools offer a wide variety of advanced classes such as AP and IB classes.

Diversity wise, it's a pretty fair mix of diversity in schools. In my elementary school it was a majority white, in my middle school it was a majority hispanic, and in my high school it was a majority east asian and indians. Our schools are very diverse in other cultures as well, but those are the main majorities I have seen in my schools.

Now here is one of the biggest thing about Bellevue schools, the competitive drive to be smart. Like, it's absolutely insane. Being called a nerd or geek is definitely a compliment here. Sports teams are sort of shoved to the side, like our poor football team is just not that good and no one really seems to care about them. Everyone is more focused on the debate team, or the science Olympiads.

Another thing to note is the gifted program. A lot of schools have gifted programs but our gifted program is insanely competitive. It practically takes a bunch of kids and makes all of them skip a grade while also enrolled in only IB classes. Parents drives to get their kids in the gifted program is also insane. My mom works as a psychologist and she is paid so much when the season for gifted enrollment comes around because so many parents want her to test their kids for the gifted program. And parents will make their kids test multiple times until they get in. The expectations on kids to be the best in their class and get A's and take a lot of advanced classes is pretty stressful for a lot of kids.

But ultimately, the teachers are good, the campus are good (a lot of them just got remodeled) and if your child is looking for something of a challenge bellevue definitely has a lot to offer in that regard. Bellevue school districts have churned out a lot of kids that have gone to amazing colleges and have done amazing things.

**Moving to bellevue**


We recently lived in Bellevue for 4yrs, as it's name states, it is beautiful. If you can, try to take a house-hunting/apartment hunting trip prior to making any commitments on where to live. Traffic within Bellevue is manageable, the bridges in and out of Seattle can be a nightmare for commuting.

Since you have a young family moving with you, you may want to research crime rates in specific areas/neighborhoods of Bellevue, you could contact the Bellevue PD and ask them for resources also, I think most of the area is covered by Spotcrime reports. Areas like Crossroads might look convenient and reasonable rent but crime is high there. The Factoria area may also be reasonable but again crime is a consideration and likely to go up with the low-barrier men's shelter being built.

Based on location where you will be working (Amazon?), looking in the north or directly downtown Bellevue area would be ideal especially given your bike commute but rents will likely be out of the 2.5k range. Will you also consider a condo/townhome? If so you might want to look on Zillow or rent.com type of websites at available properties non-apartments.

For weekends there are so many stunningly beautiful parks nearby you'll wish you had more time to enjoy them. Make sure you visit Snoqualmie Falls, The Attic casual restaurant has gorgeous views and fantastic pizza.

Depending on where you are moving from you could be in for a bit of a culture shock. But its a breathtaking area you'll wake up every day feeling like you are living in a painting. Wish you all the best on your upcoming adventure.

Bellevue, Washington

The City in a Park

Looklyloo Score: 86

Downtown

Young Professionals

Lake Hills

Families

Somerset

Families

Medina/Downtown

Empty Nesters/Retirees