Could someone please give me their honest opinion about moving to Washington State?

its beautiful here! come enjoy the city!

Rent will be high in the Seattle suburbs that you mentioned. Eastern Washington is much cheaper

the cost of living in washington i believe is reasonable to good. although i can't really answer that accurately considering i have no idea what the cost if living is in central new york and ultimately what reasonable is to you. taxes, car tabs etc might be considered on the higher end. i can answer your other questions though! bellevue and kirkland are known as the eastside and everything there is expensive and affluent. it is a great place to live but for a thousand you'll be lucky to find a studio. bothell is a little further north and rent there would be more reasonable. anything NORTH of downtown is good to live in namely north east seattle (wedgewood, ravenna, roosevelt, sand point, view ridge, bryant). these are more middle class but housing prices still hover in the 500,000 area. rent there would be around 1000 for a one bedroom. reasonable and acceptable areas outside of the city limits are shoreline, lynwood, brier all of which are about 20 minutes or so from downtown and minutes from the official city line. another 5-8 minutes on I-5 puts you up in millcreek which is definitely outside of seattle and nice to raise a family. housing in these areas will be typically under 400,000 but a lot more bang for your buck as opposed to within seattle city limits. these areas are small drive from the city center but will be much cheaper and still good to raise a family in. for the family there are countless vacation areas within driving distance in ALL directions for a family, and public schools are up to par as many of the major ones have recently been remodeled. although like i said anywhere NORTH of downtown will be good to raise a family, with only few isolated exceptions. as far as the weather goes everyone loves to talk about how much it rains and bla bla bla. realistically the majority of the time its partly to mostly cloudy and the temps are mild. mild winters maybe a day or two of snow, and mild summer about a week in the 90's. weather usually holds good and sunny through september then it enters a state of fall till april-may (and this year june!) the majority of precipitation is drizzle or light rain. most of the times people don't even have umbrellas because its drizzle not heavy heavy traditional rain. the pros are a clean VERY green city and on sunny days it can't be beat. theres lakes all over the place so boating is huge in the summer and the hills of the city and bridges provide great views and scenery. if your in the mood for sunshine a short drive past the cascade mountains to eastern washington (a little less than 2 hours) offers over 300 days of sun but seasonal temps (scorching summer, freezing winter). eastern washington is much more rural and farmland. its conservative (as opposed to liberal seattle) and resembles the south with its small towns and farms. income there is lower as is cost of living but theres not a whole lot going on except for wineries and vacation spots. hope this helps!

I have recently moved to Seattle, Washington from Illinois. I moved about ten months ago. Washington is so beautiful. I do miss the sun! Just get some Vit D pills and you will be alright. If you live in Eastern Washington it gets less rain I hear. I have been to Redmond. It is a nice area to raise a family. Not too close to Seattle but more expensive to live there than in the city. Enjoy the mountains, rain forests, ocean and deserts of Washington! A lot of outdoor activities for children.