Quality of life falling after moving to HCOL?
After graduating from uni, packed up and left Florida to move to Bellevue, WA for work. I constantly get the feeling that my quality of life here feels significantly LOWER than what it was in Florida. One of the most striking differences is the lack of central ventilation, much less air conditioning, as the norm in rental housing. Common advice is "just open the window," but this is a subpar solution. I have to deal with loud noise from the road, and my room smells like cigarettes because the people below me smoke. In FL, clean, fresh, and filtered central air is expected (and far fewer people smoke). I've never seen chronically empty grocery store shelves (even during the height of the pandemic) before moving here. Now, I have come to expect that some things I want will simply not be in stock when I go to the store. Simple produce items like carrots and onions will sometimes just not be on the shelves at major grocery stores (i.e. T.J., QFC, Safeway). The people here feel cold, unhappy, and unfriendly. Walking down the street in the suburbs, people actively avoid eye contact and ignore you. Whenever I'd go for a walk in Florida, I'd always exchange smiles and waves with complete strangers. Crime is a lot more visible here than back home. Homeless people here seem to be genuinely mentally unstable compared to relatively mild-mannered panhandlers back home. On the Seattle side, hard drug use and smashed car windows are common sights. Layer on everything being much more expensive (esp. housing) and it's hard for me to envision a future here that I'd be happy with. The only reason I'm living here is that I get to be near an office (I abhor remote work after dealing with years of Zoom University). Have others had similar experiences moving from LCOL to HCOL? Or is this just a case of homesickness that will improve with time?
I actually did the opposite went from living to HCOL(California) to LCOL (Florida) and my only complaint is the humidity and shitty drivers. Aside from that, your right people are pretty friendly here and your income goes a long way. Iโve met plenty of good people here and not as many snobs, I hope it stays this way and pray that the media keeps on portraying FL as some wild GTA server, so that less people move here.๐
1. Your rental unit is bad and you cannot generalize, maybe a Seattle problem 2. Not sure about Seattle but bay area supermarkets are always stocked with vegetables 3. People are definitely less friendly and keep to themselves - could be a pro instead of con depending on personality 4. Crime is bad in the cities, Miami isn't no walk in the park either - the nicer suburbs are very safe 5. HCOL is expensive by definition so not sure what your point is
1. I've been on countless rental tours, in countless buildings, and even new construction does not have central ventilation until you get really high in price. This is the norm in the Seattle area -- I am not generalizing. 2. Bay area must be different. Perhaps I've just been unlucky, but every time I go shopping, there's at least one thing that is out of stock. 3. Definitely a con for me. I'm an introvert, so when I choose to go out, I'd at least like to know that the people out there are nice. 4. Seattle is known to be bad, but Bellevue is supposed to be the "nice" area (I'd guess similar to SF vs SJ, but I've never been to the bay). Miami is pretty bad, but some of the other towns in FL where I've spent a majority of my time are much safer even at night. 5. Fair point -- let me rephrase this. What is the *end* of this? If regular people working at stores keep getting priced out of the market, the quality of services will continue to fall and prices will continue to rise. Will the allure of working in a tech city be strong enough to keep people here, even if they are making sacrifices in their quality of life? Some of the houses I've seen here are *valued* at millions of dollars, but they are absolute trashcans rented out as AirBNBs to interns -- creaky, unleveled floors, unmaintained hardwood, rotting facades, old, wheezing appliances. I would feel genuinely ashamed and embarrassed to own a property in that condition, much less charge people to live in them.
I've lived in Seattle/Bellevue since 2013. Every apartment building I've lived in has had AC. You should have kept looking. Also I still make eye contact and smile at people; sure some people will think you're weird but some people look surprised and smile back. You'd be surprised how many people are prepared to be nice, they're just waiting for someone to make the first move.
How does Bellevue have crime? O_o itโs literally next door to bill gates and Jeff bezos. Or are you talking about downtown?
Bellevue has a higher crime rate compared to the (relatively) large city I'm from in Florida. The suburbs are safe as always, but there are sketchy people even in the nice parts of downtown.
Seattle sucks, itโs a known fact.
Why did you decide to go to Seattle. You could if stayed on the east coast and picked a job in New York. Even though New York has its own issues, at least you would be on the same coast as your home town.
Company I joined had no more space in the NY office for new hires. Options were: SF Bay, Seattle. Pay was only 6k difference between the offers. That doesn't cover CA income taxes, much less CoL diff.
Yea Seattle is like the complete opposite of Florida, Iโm pretty much every way. lol. I would just stay a year and move if I was you. Your mental health is more important.
People like to shit on Florida but it does offer a pretty good QOL compared with COL. Also, some people are more affected by lack of sunlight than others. It can be hard to generalize advice when it comes to climate preferences though, so maybe visit SF for a week to see if you could live there.
I think it's your choice of location not because it's HCOL necessarily. Areas got hit hard by pandemic.
Op...just move or get an ac lol.
Canโt move due to lease and dont want to because its close to my office and a good price. The lack of AC isnt as big of a problem as lack of central ventilation.