Spokane is a beautiful mountain paradise with a smallish city vibe, rural surroundings and lots and lots of outdoorsy life. Running and biking trails weave alongside the gorgeous Spokane River, which cuts right through the city. Outside the city, five ski resorts, nearby lakes (including Lake Couer D’ Alene), more rivers, and forests provide the best of Washington’s scenery and amazing opportunities for recreation. While those moving from Seattle or Portland will find downtown sleepy it's a good mix of nature and urban if you like your ratio heavier on the nature side of things. 

**Here are a few pros about Spokane from a local:**
*You can live in any residential environment you want. Downtown, suburban, rural, small town. All are still relatively affordable and available, Lots of outdoors stuff to do. Hiking, swimming, biking, skiing, offroading, hunting, fishing, etc. Lots of good breweries and a handful of good restaurants. Beautiful scenery imo and all 4 seasons, plus a bonus smoke season!*

For more reviews of what living in Spokane is like from locals check out: [**The Buzz**](https://lookyloomove.com/locations/spokane?page=buzz)

Mother Nature

The Best Thing About Spokane?

The weather, and economy, are quite cold in today’s Spokane. The long winters can be tough to endure for those coming from the coasts, and the local economy can be even tougher to endure if you don’t have a job lined up. The disenfranchised are common here. Gonzaga University losing in the Final Four every year also doesn’t help morale around town.

**Locals/Transplants with a note about how they make the weather work:** 
*I’ve lived in Spokane for a couple of years. After living in several places in the Pacific Northwest, I’m comfortable settling here. The weather in Spokane is considerably favorable to Western Washington (for me anyway). Spokane has fairly hot summers and fairly snowy winters. It doesn’t rain much compared to the west side of Washington - it’s pretty sunny and dry.*


The Cold

The Worst Thing About Spokane?

Some of the eternally weird from Portland and Seattle move to Spokane due to the lower cost of living and outdoor recreation, so, for better or for worse, get ready for a city where there’s a lot more to do outdoors than indoors. Spokane has a reputation of being rundown and having a small, sleepy downtown. Generally speaking, the better neighborhoods are on the outer rings of the city. The majority of social interaction for newcomers will come without a roof (or on the Gonzaga campus for students).

If you want to see all that happens in Spokane check out the calendar of events:
https://www.visitspokane.com/events/

Lifestyle of Spokane

Outside of healthcare and education, there aren’t a ton of jobs. A lot of coastal transplants move to town for the mountains rather than the money and either have jobs lined up before moving, or are living that remote lifestyle. The lack of extensive freeway system, poor public transit, and frequent railroad crossings cause frustrating commuter traffic for a town of its size.

Workstyle of Spokane

You should move here now for the scenery, outdoor lifestyle and a city filled with people who love those things. In the age of remote working, Spokane is a great choice for the nature lover seeking a cheaper option than the coastal cities to the west and the mountain cities to the east. 


Outdoors

Why You Should Move Here Now?

**The Best Thing About Spokane?** 
The scenery. Smallish town, rural surroundings, lots and lots of outdoorsy life. Running and biking trails weave through the city, five ski resorts as well as nearby lakes (including Lake Couer D’ Alene), rivers and forests (it’s Washington after all.) And there’s an Ale Trail. In short, it’s a mix of urban/rural. It's close to nature but it also has a downtown (which features a waterfall) and Riverfront Park.

**The Worst Thing About Spokane?** 
Long winters. Depressed economy. Property crime. The disenfranchised are common here. 
Lack of extensive freeway system (and a lot of railroad crossings) which causes traffic unusual for a town this size and public transportation is limited. 

Spokane has a reputation of being rundown and a smallish downtown. Outside of healthcare, there aren’t a ton of available jobs. It’s generally considered just an okay place to live with not a lot to do indoors.


**How You Living?** 

Probably in a single-family, older home. Although more new, multi-unit housing is being developed. 

Some of the eternally weird from Portland and Seattle are moving to Spokane due to cost of living. Newcomers generally flock to the North, Spokane Valley or South Hill. 

Generally speaking, the better neighborhoods are on the outer rings of the city (with a few exceptions.) The general consensus is, the closer you get to downtown, the tougher it is.


**Why You Should Move Here Now?** 

The scenery. The outdoors. The trails. The nature.




**Neighborhoods**

**Hipster**: Browne’s Addition: A trendy new commercial center has arisen that serves pints and coffee and pastries and food to the neighborhood (and beyond) but it’s still undergoing gentrification.

**South Hill**: A collective of neighborhoods with different neighborhood centers, architectural styles, development eras, walkability, and boundaries. Good for families looking for a suburban lifestyle. 

**Downtown**: Mixed-market housing for all income levels. River Park Square, Downtown’s largest entertainment and retail center, is where the energy of the urban environment peaks; thereby, it’s the center of the center.

**West Central**: Located on the north bank overlooking the Spokane River, West Central is only a short distance from downtown and many neighborhood views provide a sweeping panorama of the City’s core. It’s undergoing a phase of rapid growth specifically due to the Kendall Yards development.

**Manito-Cannon Hill**: A fair amount of dining and shopping but there’s still plenty of greenery to enjoy. Stroll along the water at the Spokane Riverfront Park, or visit the Fitch Arboretum. A great elementary school.

**Peaceful Valley**: Located at the bottom of the Spokane River Gorge just west of downtown. Surrounded on all sides by natural boundaries, steep bluffs tower above the neighborhood while the Spokane River and Latah Creek round out the edges. Due to its geography, Peaceful Valley’s location uniquely accomplishes the normally paradoxical goals of being somewhat isolated yet only a short walk to the heart of Spokane.

**Rockwood**: One of Spokane’s oldest neighborhoods, this area was designed to incorporate elegant residences with towering trees. Nature abounds, with opportunities for nature walks, visits to wineries, and parks. Quality of life is high, and residents can walk to the Spokane Public Market for groceries. The Rockwood neighborhood caters more to the elderly and has limited school choices. 
**Lincoln Heights**: New developments are being built, including more multi-family housing.


**Good**: Any neighborhood North of the city; Five Mile, Indian Trail, Mead. The upper South Hill; Northwood, Neighborhoods in the Southeast suburbs; Liberty Lake, West Plains. Pretty much those areas just outside the city (other than the South Hill, which is part of the Spokane city) 


**Bad**: Most of the inner city, North Central, Hillyard, Northwest, East of Downtown, Northeast of Downtown, the Lower South Hill, Parts of Spokane Valley. 


Browne’s Addition has a trendy new commercial area that serves pints, coffee, pastries and good food to the neighborhood. It’s close to downtown and one of the cities more diverse neighborhoods. There are plenty of excellent apartment options for those looking to rent that can be hard to come by in a family-centric city like Spokane. 

Logan is home to Gonzaga University, and is a cool mix of students, young couples, and young families. It’s not the peaceful, quiet, suburban style neighborhood Spokane typically offers and has the college town energy young professionals might be looking for.
- Browne’s Addition
- Logan
- Downtown
- Shiloh Hills




Young Professionals

Browne's Addition

WIth a business/commercial district in the heart of the neighborhood, North Hill offers locals an interesting mix of a urban/suburban feel right in the middle of Spokane. It’s got solid schools and plenty parks for the young beans to run around in. 

Peaceful Valley is another great option as it lives up to its name aby offering residents gorgeous topography and some separation from the "downtown" but all within a walk from the heart of the city.
- North Hill
- Peaceful Valley
- East Central


Young Families

North Hill 

North Indian Trail is one of Spokane’s most gorgeous, safe and pricey neighborhoods. It has good spots for dinner and drinks, and is home to multiple grocery stores. 

Five Mile Prairie is another of Spokane's more affluent neighborhoods, and brings a more rural vibe that North Indian Trail. There’s a wonderful local park, and the area’s public schools are some of the best in town. 
- North Indian Trail
- Five Mile Prairie
- North Hill


Established Families

North Indian Trail

Spokane

**Pros and cons of living in Spokane?**

Pros:

-You can live in any residential environment you want. Downtown, suburban, rural, small town. All are still relatively affordable and available

-Lots of outdoors stuff to do. Hiking, swimming, biking, skiing, offroading, hunting, fishing, etc

-Lots of good breweries

-A handful of good restaurants

-Beautiful scenery imo

-All 4 seasons, plus a bonus smoke season!

Cons:

-Lots of people stuck in the past. Some people don't want Spokane to grow or mature

-Lots of people never leave after highschool. Take this as you will

-Growing pains. Spokane is still trying to figure itself out. Are we gonna be urban or not?

-Rough neighborhoods (in places)

-Not a lot to do past drinking, eating, or outdoors

I love Spokane, but I've always said its a city where you need to entertain yourself. It isn't like Seattle where you can throw a dart and find an event, art show, concert, etc.

edit: to answer a few of your questions:

Biking: We have a lot of really excellent mountain biking and road riding around us. Beacon Hill, Mt Spokane, Iller Creek, Silver Mountain, Schweitzer are all great for MTBing. Road riding, anywhere on the palouse is beautiful.

Winters: fuckin rough

Universities: EWU is a great, small state school. You'll meet a lot of people who went there who have no school pride at all. Gonzaga is our hometown baby, you better learn to love college basketball

**Hi! Got offered a job in Spokane. Is it a good place to live? Sell me on your town!**

It absolutely depends on where you live in Spokane. Personally, I love it. It's a reasonably big town with a small town feel. It's divided into a few completely different areas, Northside, Hilyard, South hill, Valley, Wandermere, and plenty more smaller ones. Surrounding spokane is like ten smaller towns such as deer park, and smaller farm type communities. We are 30-45 minutes away from about 30-50 different big and small lakes including coeur d'alene. We have bloomsday which is a race with over 50,000 participants every year. Hoopfest which is the worlds largest 3 on 3 basketball tournament with 7,000 teams over three days and hundreds of thousands of spectators. It's a fun, ever changing place to live with 3 close snowboarding mountains, plenty of biking, hiking, and swimming, and also the occasional meth lab and homocide.

**What's it like living in Spokane WA?**

Spokane is what you make of it.

I have lived in Spokane for 30 years. While I loathed it during my teen years, Spokane really is a very nice city.

There are lots of events to go to from Code in the Dark to EDM music festivals to Pig out in the Park. If you are looking for a place to rent just try to find a private individual to rent from rather than the larger companies although some of the companies are great just do your research online and check for recent reviews.

We have plenty of snow during the winter so make sure you have a worthy vehicle if you are planning to drive. If you don’t want to deal with a car you can definitely find a ride with Uber or Lyft. The city also has a pretty nice bus system. I have lots of friends who are more co-ordinated than I am and they love to ride their bikes to work during the summer.

Spokane is built around Riverfront Park which I think is one of the best things about this city. The Spokane river is often breathtaking as it races through downtown Spokane. A stroll through Riverfront park during a nice summer day is always a winning option.

There are lots of concerts and shows in Spokane. We have some awesome events here like Bloomsday and Hoopfest. Just expect to dig in for winter unless you love to snowboard or ski in which case you’ll be set. I don’t like cold things but I enjoy knitting so I stay inside and knit during the winter and go out to the dance clubs during the summer. ;-)



**What's it like living in Spokane WA?**

Spokane is very lucky as far as location goes. Only a couple of hours away from Seattle and Portland, we get plenty of ‘weirdness’ and liberal influence. Spokane also borders Idaho, and is right next to Couer D’Alene, a very conservative city, so we have a fair share of midwest red-state feel too. But since Spokane is in Washington, we get some great Washington amenities like good schools and the transit system here is pretty good.

I’ve lived in Spokane for a couple of years. After living in several places in the Pacific Northwest, I’m comfortable settling here. The weather in Spokane is considerably favorable to Western Washington (for me anyway).

Spokane has fairly hot summers and fairly snowy winters. It doesn’t rain much compared to the west side of Washington - it’s pretty sunny and dry.

Lots of Native American culture can be found here. Some of the nearby tribes are reservations include the Kalispel, Colville, Yakima, Kootenai, and the Spokane reservation.

Washington itself is home to a slew of great outdoor recreation, from hiking, skiing, rock climbing, whatever floats your boat. The Spokane river runs directly through the city and the Centennial trail is a great walking path that is accessible anywhere throughout the city.

At the moment of writing, Spokane is going through a ton of construction and development. A lot of young people are moving to Spokane from Seattle, Portland, and California because our housing prices are lower. Whatever economic trends Seattle sees, Spokane can expect at about an 18 month delay.

Our beautiful downtown Riverfront Park is going through a lot of construction that won’t be done for a year or two, but will be a huge tourist attraction when it’s done. I know they plan on constructing an amphitheater, and this year alone they unveiled a new loof carousel and ice skating ribbon for the community.


Spokane, Washington

HoopTown

Looklyloo Score: 76

We're on it!