Seattle, Washington

Imagine a boutique city in the middle of the woods. Boeing and Microsoft and Amazon and Nintendo have brought tech and lot’s of smarty pants people to the area but it’s still the Great Northwest. It’s easy to veer off the beaten path and you are immediately in Twin Peaks country (for good or bad.)

Seattle is edgy. Scrappy even. There’s a rawness that persists despite the delicious restaurants and fancy wine. This is not a city for glamorous, chic people. And that’s probably why the people who love it, do. There’s a reason that it’s the home of Grunge. But, the seedy mixes with the unseedy and the blue collar mixes with the white collar and the dive bars mix with the only posing as dive bars -- unpretentious is always in concert with a little pretentious in Seattle. And that’s kind of the fun cocktail that is Seattle.

It’s very drizzly. And damp. And while the inhabitants claim to like it that way, they’re a pretty downbeat crew. (It’s even got a name; “The Seattle Freeze”.) They cling to their coffee and shuffle through. Prepare to drive to work in the pitch dark and for the dark to start it’s return at 3pm. (Except in the summer when everybody perks up and revels in the daylight until 10PM.)

Although there is a thriving LGBTQ scene, the general population marries young and can be surprisingly conventional in their lifestyles (although the city is uber progressive politically.)

Downtown Seattle is not really a thing although more and more condos have been developed over the last few years so it is coming up as a neighborhood option. Life is mostly lived in the surrounding neighborhoods. Craftsman and 19th-century Victorian style homes and mostly lush greenery define all but the most feral youth neighborhoods (Capitol Hill is raucous with man buns and rainbow crosswalks, Belltown and Fremont with storied music venues) These more urban neighborhoods boast low-rise apartments, industrial space, dive bars and funkiness. Queen Anne is more upmarket and the hill, of course, has great views and a few converted schoolhouses. Ballard is where Capitol Hill kids grow up to live. Surrounding neighborhoods have different vibes -- Greenlake is very self-care oriented (and there’s an actual lake) Microbreweries and bespoke coffee mix with pricey foodie spots all over. Shopping is more crafty than fabulous.

If you want to see what people get up to Seattle check out the calendar of events.

The Seattle economy and job market is pretty amazing. If you're a STEM type then between the tech sector, health services, architecture, and engineering employers, you'll be gainfully employed here for years to come (or until the AI overlords are done with us). The entrepreneurial scene of Seattle is also very strong. While it ain't San Francisco, it's close enough that many prefer to avoid the Bay and stick to the Emerald City.

There are amazing schools here, including the beast, the University of Washington, that feed engineers to the local tech and engineering workforce.

The massive tech employers: Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, and Oracle, are buffered by plenty of non-tech employers like Boeing, the University of Washington, and Costco, all of which employ 50k+ employees, many of them engineers also, although also marketing and sales peeps, admin, accounting, legal, and all the rest.

There are things to dislike about Seattle but the work opportunities will not be one of them.