Seattle
 

I am considering moving to Seattle (from the Minneapolis, Minnesota area) and am curious of what sort of general advice / info you guys could throw my way. I am probably leaning towards the Capitol Hill area for a few reasons, but I am certainly not locked into anything.

Job-wise, I would be looking for a [likely entry-level] php+mysql web developer position for around $30k. Rent-wise, probably something $600ish at the most. Does this sound feasible (it is roughly so in Mpls) or is Seattle a bit more expensive?

A Good place to start price checking is Craigslist - This ad: ( http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/apa/217811449.html) put a 2 bedroom capitol hill at $1500- from the description, it appears it will be a higher quality new property.

I haven't lived in Seattle myself, but have been eyeing the area also, potentially for when I finish grad school.

I've been poking around a bit on apartments.com and move.com and seen listings for 200-300 sq foot studio apartments at $425-575 which is a little high for the meager square footage.

From the articles I've read from / about the area, it sounds a lot like the "Uptown" area of Minneapolis, and a nice place to live.

your not gonna have much to live on if you want to live on capitol hill and you're making 30k a year....it's a bit unrealistic.

I am a simple man!

Capitol Hill isn't really a requirement, just the option I am having recommended to me on other boards. Would you recommend a different area in particular?

Advice: Try Pagliacci's. Go to the Capitol Hill store, dont order delivery. Pagliacci's Restaurant > Pagliacci's Delivery.

Other than that... Try the University AVE and Queen Anne stores.

Seattle has a pretty high cost of living.

I did a quick check at salary.com and found the following:

cost of living is 18% higher, so you'd need to make $35,656 if you are currently making $30K

salaries for comparable jobs are 4.1% higher, so you'd make about $31,243 there if you're making $30K now

All that could vary depending pon where you specifically live now and what part of town you'd want to move to... it could easily be much higher or lower.

At $30K/year and $600/month for an apartment you'd probably have less than $1K left over each month for all your expenses, i.e., food, utilities, phone, transportation, misc. clothing and fun money. A room mate might be a good idea!