Renton

Like many cities in south King county, Renton has come up a lot lately. South King county has a reputation of high crime rates and many of its cities were completely run down. In the past ten years, though, Renton has come up a lot. In many ways, it's more family friendly than Seattle. Houses are larger and driving and parking is easier. Still, you want to be sure to pick a good neighborhood, especially if you are raising a family. Some neighborhoods are really run down. Cedar Mountain is a great area for families, but it's getting expensive and traffic is crazy. We recently moved to Kent because we needed a four bedroom and my husband can just take the Sounder to Seattle instead of driving or taking the bus.

Moved to Renton from Queen Anne (Seattle) area about a year ago. Definitely a different vibe than what I was accustomed to closer to downtown Seattle. The pro's are, first and foremost, the cost. If you live in Seattle you already know how expensive it is...but if you can handle the commute (or better yet, if you don't have to commute anywhere) you can easily cut your rent in half or more by living down in Renton.

Largest Con of living in Renton is If you do have to commute up to Seattle or even Bellevue you'll likely be frustrated on a regular basis. Coming into the city anytime between 6am and 9am will take you 45 minutes at best and sometimes up to an hour and a half or more. And coming back between 4pm and 7pm is pretty much the same thing. If you don't need your car for work I would HIGHLY recommend taking the Light Rail or even a bus. The light rail is probably one of the best investments the city made for Renton and anywhere south of Seattle. You can catch it at a number of places near Southcenter, Tukwilla, the airport, etc. I would recommend driving to the park and ride in Tukwilla (about 5 min from downtown Renton) and riding that into the city. Obviously it's not effected by traffic and you can usually zip into town within 20-30 minutes at anytime of the day or night.

If you're married with kids etc. Renton is a pretty solid, cost-effective place to live, however, if you're younger and looking to be social and out on the town during the weekends Renton will let you down. The only happening part is The Landing which is right next to Boeing on the south end of Lake Washington. It's actually quite nice and has a good number of bars, restaurants, movie theater etc. Once you get bored with the Landing though (which will probably only take a weekend or two) your next best bet at a nightlife is to leave the city.

I do like the bike trails and hiking/walking trails that are very close to downtown. If you head a little further south, closer to Kent, there are tons of protected wetland areas that have beautiful walking/biking trails. We take our dog there almost every weekend and never really run out of new trails to explore. If you want to do outdoor type stuff even closer to the city, they have the Cedar park trail which is literally right downtown in 'Old Renton.' This trail cruises along the Cedar river for miles heading east. I've also heard the Cedar River is great to float down in the summer although I've never seen anyone doing it. It is a nice calm and long river though so I imagine it would be quite fun. In the Fall the river has a HUGE salmon run and in the downtown area they have a festival every year celebrating this (similar to Salmon Days in Issaquah if you're familiar with that). It's kind of cool because you can see all the salmon from the trails and numerous bridges going over the river.

Anyways, depending on what you're looking for Renton may be a viable alternative to Seattle or Bellevue...and your bank account will definitely thank you!

Renton is a lot better than it was about 10 years ago. The Renton Landing is the only "hot spot" worth visiting. It has lots of restaurants, a movie theater, Target, Petsmart, Ross, and other little stores.
Renton also has one of the most ghetto Walmart's I've ever been to. They recently renovated it, making it a "Super Walmart" that has a grocery section as well as the normal stuff. I seriously would not feel safe here at night, tho. There are homeless people hanging out at the parking lot, and it just has that ghetto vibe. Up the street on Rainier Ave, I have seen hookers hanging out at the motel.
The traffic to get into Renton is also horrible. You have to take 405 north or south to get there, and it's almost always a parking lot. On Union Ave is a serious speed trap. If you don't go just below the 20mph speed limit you will get a ticket from the camera (whether school is in session or not).
There are some fabulous restaurants that we've frequented. Nan and Curry is a great Indian restaurant downtown. Thai 65 is also great, which is at The Landing. There's ample places to get Pho, and Saars is a cheap grocery store, if you're looking for cheap groceries.
The houses here are pretty pricey considering the appeal of the area. $300k easily for a 1200 sq ft house.
There's only one dog park that I know of. Cedar River Dog Park, which is full of rocks, and only one bench to sit on. It has a nice long path to take a walk, but that's about it. Coulon park is a great place to take kids. It has a nice beach, and a huge playground. You can also watch the fireworks on the 4th of July.