Living in Tacoma vs. Seattle – Which One is Better?

Tacoma and Seattle are both great cities to live in. If you are wedging into the pros and cons of making a decision, here are some factors you should consider.

Although the cultural differences and weather are not too different, living in Tacoma is more affordable and offers excellent live music and diverse outdoor activities. On the other hand, Seattle is richer in culture and has great economic opportunities in tech industries. Let’s discuss them in detail.

Pros of Living in Tacoma

Tacoma is a port city situated in Washington state along Washington’s Puget Sound. This location blessed this city with Pacific weather, gloomy and rainy weather, and short-lived bright summer. Here are the things you will enjoy if you move to Tacoma.

Gorgeous Outdoors

Tacoma offers beautiful outdoor space to explore. She has 46 miles of waterfront space and excellent Point Defiance Park. This park contains 760 acres of trails, playgrounds, manicured gardens, and waterfront activities like swimming and kayaking.

You can also spend your weekends in Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. If you love exploring out in nature, you will find a Japanese Garden, saltwater beach, old-growth forests, and picnic areas with covered barbecues.

Locals in Tacoma enjoy strolling, paddleboarding, yoga, and biking along the shore regardless of rainy or sunny weather.

Vibrant Walkable Museum Row

The downtown area of Tacoma is filled with several museums. You can explore several museums within walking distance of one another. Here is a list of museums you can explore:

• Foss Waterway Seaport
• Tacoma Art Museum
• Washington State History Museum
• LeMay America’s Car Museum
• Museum of Glass
• Children’s Museum of Tacoma

If you are an art enthusiast or history buff, Tacoma is a great place to settle for you.

Live Music City

Tacoma is known to be a city with vibrant cultural attractions like theater, sports, and concerts. This city hosts Tacoma City Ballet, Tacoma Symphony Orchestra, Tacoma Philharmonic, three theaters, and Puget Sound Revels.

The world’s largest wooden dome arena Tacoma Dome hosts major concerts, wrestling matches, political rallies, expos, music festivals, and basketball games. You can explore several other venues in Tacoma, like piano bars, small lounges, concert halls, etc.

Cons of Living in Tacoma

Compared to Seattle, Tacoma may not offer the same quality of education. Tacoma has fewer teachers than students and a lower high school graduation rate.

Tacoma contains fewer large businesses than Seattle. This often results in hardship to find a good-paying job. However, more and more businesses are shifting to Tacoma nowadays.

As a diverse city, Tacoma has a higher cultural tolerance. However, conservative opinions are frowned upon here. So, if you have a conservative mindset, living in Tacoma can be a problem.

Pros of Living in Seattle

Thriving Cultural Scene

Seattle is known for its excellent music scene. This city features the Pacific Northwest Ballet, the Seattle Symphony, the Seattle Opera, historic music venue the Moore theater for you to explore.

You can spend your weekend afternoons at the Museum of Pop Culture or the Seattle Art Museum. You may also find exhibits of tattoo culture, Nirvana, and Minecraft.

Booming Tech Industries

Seattle has a concentrated job market with a faster-growing economy. Seattle hosts the headquarters for Microsoft, Amazon, T-mobile, and many other renowned companies.

The faster growth in STEM job opportunities attracts many engineers of different backgrounds, architects, mathematicians, and many others. This has made the city desirable for many.

Cons of Living in Seattle

Seattle has one of the highest housing costs in the state.The home price growth is one of the fastest in Seattle among the country. The steady job growth and fewer housing areas contribute to the rise of housing prices.

Seattle has one of the highest homelessness rates as well. The number of homeless people in this city is rising alarmingly.

Other than humanitarian issues, homelessness has brought up the crime rate and drug addiction. This has brought up several safety concerns for people living in Seattle.

From parks to sidewalks, storm drains, needles are found almost everywhere routinely. Back in 2017, it was recorded that 32.000 hypodermic syringes were found within 15 months throughout the city.

Bottom Line

Both Tacoma and Seattle have similar weather and roads with busy traffic. However, the difference comes at the living cost of these cities. Tacoma has a considerably lower living cost than Seattle. Also, factoring in crime rates, Tacoma is much safer than Seattle. Therefore, many people with jobs in Seattle live in Tacoma for better living conditions.

If you compare Tacoma vs. Seattle, there are several factors you may find to choose your preferable city. If you want to live in an affordable city, Tacoma is an easy pick. On the other hand, if you want to have the best city vibes, Seattle offers you the best experience.