DanNelson

I moved to the top of Queen Anne (south side, right across from old Queen Anne high school) back in 2007 after I graduated and it was the most ideal situation and place to live for a recent college grad.

First let me start off by saying that this is no longer an affordable place to live (like much of Seattle) unless you really have a great job or a fortunate financial situation. Back in 2007 rent was nearly 1/2 of what it is currently here. If you want to live in this part of Queen Anne now expect to pay between $2-$3k per month for studio or 1 bedroom (or maybe 2 bedroom in an older building). Anyhow, if you can afford it you'll be pleased with the area. My friends and I used to call it an Oasis in the city. The hill getting up Queen Anne is quite steep. If you're driving on a rainy day, and especially if you have an older car, you may experience skidding up the hill especially when trying to climb the hill in stop and go rush hour traffic. I experienced this on a regular basis with my older SUV...even with new tires. And on the off chance there's a snow day, forget about it. Your car isn't going anywhere. In fact, most of the time the city will shut down Queen Anne Ave which is the main street going up and down the hill and buses won't even make the attempt. The benefit of this though is that the top of Queen Anne is largely cut off from most of the rest of the city...you'll pretty much only find residents on top of the hill which gives it a quaint smaller town feel even though you're walking distance from downtown. Walking to any bar or restaurant in lower QA is very easy as well. And while I lived there we had season tickets to the Seattle Super Sonics (Seattle's old NBA team) and we walked to EVERY home game at Key Arena from our house which was awesome.

You don't have to travel off the hill for entertainment either as there are a bunch of very nice bars and restaurants along Queen Anne Ave. They're mostly old houses that have been converted to commercial buildings but it gives the Avenue a nice charm!

Within walking distance are some of the best parks Seattle has to offer. Kerry park (or postcard park) is a quick walk away and features amazing views. As you can imagine from the nickname Kerry Park is where they take the majority of the Seattle post cards that you'd see at the airport or anywhere else. In fact, the majority of the south end of Queen Anne is filled with amazing views just while walking along the streets and neighborhood. If you're a biker or runner, this will also be a paradise as the streets all feature great views and plenty of sidewalk room to run on.

The cons, other than price, are that no major highway other than highway 99 even come close to Queen Anne and getting from i-5 to Queen anne in rush hour can be a nightmare. They are, however, widening the main street (Mercer) from I-5 to queen anne and adding some new lanes... so this should help out.

I moved to the top of Queen Anne (south side, right across from old Queen Anne high school) back in 2007 after I graduated and it was the most ideal situation and place to live for a recent college grad.

First let me start off by saying that this is no longer an affordable place to live (like much of Seattle) unless you really have a great job or a fortunate financial situation. Back in 2007 rent was nearly 1/2 of what it is currently here. If you want to live in this part of Queen Anne now expect to pay between $2-$3k per month for studio or 1 bedroom (or maybe 2 bedroom in an older building). Anyhow, if you can afford it you'll be pleased with the area. My friends and I used to call it an Oasis in the city. The hill getting up Queen Anne is quite steep. If you're driving on a rainy day, and especially if you have an older car, you may experience skidding up the hill especially when trying to climb the hill in stop and go rush hour traffic. I experienced this on a regular basis with my older SUV...even with new tires. And on the off chance there's a snow day, forget about it. Your car isn't going anywhere. In fact, most of the time the city will shut down Queen Anne Ave which is the main street going up and down the hill and buses won't even make the attempt. The benefit of this though is that the top of Queen Anne is largely cut off from most of the rest of the city...you'll pretty much only find residents on top of the hill which gives it a quaint smaller town feel even though you're walking distance from downtown. Walking to any bar or restaurant in lower QA is very easy as well. And while I lived there we had season tickets to the Seattle Super Sonics (Seattle's old NBA team) and we walked to EVERY home game at Key Arena from our house which was awesome.

You don't have to travel off the hill for entertainment either as there are a bunch of very nice bars and restaurants along Queen Anne Ave. They're mostly old houses that have been converted to commercial buildings but it gives the Avenue a nice charm!

Within walking distance are some of the best parks Seattle has to offer. Kerry park (or postcard park) is a quick walk away and features amazing views. As you can imagine from the nickname Kerry Park is where they take the majority of the Seattle post cards that you'd see at the airport or anywhere else. In fact, the majority of the south end of Queen Anne is filled with amazing views just while walking along the streets and neighborhood. If you're a biker or runner, this will also be a paradise as the streets all feature great views and plenty of sidewalk room to run on.

The cons, other than price, are that no major highway other than highway 99 even come close to Queen Anne and getting from i-5 to Queen anne in rush hour can be a nightmare. They are, however, widening the main street (Mercer) from I-5 to queen anne and adding some new lanes... so this should help out.

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!