<html> <head> <title>Washington cost of living</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=unicode"> <style type="text/css"> <!-- body,td,th { font-family: Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; color: #000000; } body { background-color: #000000; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; } a:link { color: #0000FF; } a:visited { color: #0000FF; } a:active { color: #0000FF; } .style2 { font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; font-family: Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #FF0000; } .style17 {font-weight: bold; font-family: Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000; font-size: 14px;} .style21 {font-size: 10px} .style22 { font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; } .style23 {font-size: 12px} .style24 { font-family: "Bookman Old Style"; font-size: 10px; } .style26 { font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; } .style28 {font-size: 12pt} .style30 { font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #FF0000; } .style32 { font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #FF0000; } .style33 { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; } .style34 { font-size: 9pt; font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; } .style35 { font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; } .style36 {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif} --> </style> <meta name="Keywords" content="cost of living washington"> <meta name="Description" content="Cost Of Living In Washington. Statistics on Electricity, Gas, Rent, home mortgage, ect"> <meta content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16441" name="GENERATOR"> </head> <body> <table width="746" height="1262" border="0" align="center" bgcolor="#ffffff"> <tr height="498"> <td height="1258" align="left" valign="top" bordercolor="#ffffff" bgcolor="#ffffff"><br class="style2"> <br> <p align="center" class="style17"><IMG height=115 alt="" src="pics/washingtonstate.jpg" width=94></p> <p align="center" class="style17"><u><span class="style28"> Washington Cost Of Living</span></u> <br> <span class="style26"><a href="cost-of-living-calculator.html">Washington Cost of Living Calculator</a> /<a href="washington-realestate.html"> Real Estate</a> / <a href="washingtonapartments.html">Apartment Rent</a> </span> <br> <br><script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "pub-2346121780353164"; /* 468x60, created 5/27/10 */ google_ad_slot = "7438779569"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><hr> <br> <u><strong><span class="style30">Washington Apartment Rent By City</span><br> </strong></u><span class="style26"><A href="apartments/apartments-seattle-wa.html">Seattle</A> <A href="apartments/apartments-tacoma-wa.html">Tacoma</A> <A href="apartments/apartments-bellevue-wa.html">Bellevue</A>&nbsp;<A href="apartments/apartments-vancouver-wa.html">Vancouver</A> <A href="apartments/apartments-spokane-wa.html">Spokane</A><strong> </p> </strong> </span> <hr> <span class="style32"><u>Cost of Living Comparisons</u></span> <br> <span class="style33"><a href="seattle-cost-of-living.html">Seattle</A> / <a href="cost-of-living-olympia.html">Olympia</A> / <a href="cost-of-living-bremerton.html">Bremerton</a> / <a href="spokane-washington-cost-of-living.html">Spokane</A> </span> <hr> <span class="style32"><u>Cost of Living Information</u></span><br><script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "pub-2346121780353164"; /* 468x15, created 5/27/10 */ google_ad_slot = "5770710737"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 15; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><hr> <span class="style34">Washington State</span>, one of the more expensive places to live in the northwest is currently 3% above the national average in overall cost of living. The evergreen state does in fact have a 6.5% sales tax which naturally drives their cost of living upward.<br> <br> <strong>Looking to buy a house in Washington?</strong> Compared to other northwest states Washington has a higher median housing cost which is $419,900. This is the average cost of a home in the Sea-Tac area. The average median income state wide is $52,000 which is below the average house hold income of $56,000 per year. This actually makes Washington a very affordable place to live if you are in a higher income bracket. Electricity is very affordable in Washington. Recent advances in cost efficient alternative energy have made Washington one of the most affordable. Gas prices are pretty consistent with other cities with in the great northwest at $2.75 average a gallon. Apartment rent&nbsp;varies depending on where you live. If you are looking to live in Seattle try the surround suburbs instead on the inner city. Rent is significantly cheaper across the border and commuting from place to place comes with less of a headache. Average rent for the area is $860.00. Overall Washington has a great economy and high paying jobs. The ratio between income and cost of living is very good. This makes Washington state a great place to live. <hr> </p> <span class="style34"><u>The Real Cost of Living in Washington </u></span> <P class=m2></P> Washington state offers a clean, quiet, and pleasant living situation. It often drizzles at a steady pace for weeks a time, which for locals is considered quite average.<BR> Lately, the price of houses has been creeping skywards, while all other expenses remain at a standstill. In Bellingham, WA, you can expect the cheapest house to be between 300 and 350k, while in the nicer waterfront neighborhoods a new house will sell for more than $1 million. At the same time, minimum wage in Washington state--8.55--is the highest in the union.<BR> The threat of higher  class divisions, however, is rising thanks to the current mortgage crisis, and because of continued gentrification of already-wealthy areas. Exhibited in numerous other communities across the country, decreasing home values in poorer neighborhoods, alongside increasing land values in the more gentrified areas, ever-widen the gap between communities--communities which were already clashing culturally, but still self-sustainable. The situation in Bellingham is scarcely different than those in other communities, but the potentially culturally devastating consequences of its recent history make all of these cases worth noticing.<BR> A good place to start is with the homeowners. While Bellingham is notorious for having well-informed and caring individuals, the fact that the entire town is broke makes relief possibilities difficult for homeowners in danger of defaulting on their mortgages. During a brief stint as a door-to-door charity worker for homeowners in need, I unofficially observed that about 4 out of 5 of the polite people that answered their doors told me that they themselves were in a hard spot, and therefore unable to donate. How much of that is purely speculative remains unknown, but the fact that most people don't feel confident enough about their own living situations to help out others, puts our community in an even rougher spot: not only are funds limited, but our cohesiveness as a community is put to risk when landowners are reluctant to make a leap of faith for their fellow citizens, and our land is that much closer to being owned by federally regulated banks.<BR> From the neighborhoods, we now move to the local businesses, which truly shouldn't be that far away at all. However, for some of our citizens, they may well not exist at all. I have spoken to families that live less than 3 miles from downtown who have never set foot there, let alone have heard of any establishments in that area. In a city of roughly 80k people, how many actually do their daily errands with local businesses? After a surge of suburban developments within the past two decades, many of the new houses are in secluded little pockets several miles north of the center of town, right next to a shopping mall and a WalMart. It makes sense that people will travel to the closer establishments, so poor urban planning, like the latter situation, does not help preserve a unique community.<BR> If the more fortunate landowners continue to be stingy about helping their lesser-fortunate counterparts, then relief will either come from outside sources and continue to offset economic balances, or relief will not come in sufficient amounts, and cultural gaps will widen more. Bellingham is certainly a city of good intentions, but intent isn't enough in this situation to bring about real, positive change. The fate of countless American communities is at the mercy of responsible homeowners, and urban planning. If the unique qualities of a city are to be preserved, general outlook on life and personal values need some serious revision. <p align="center" class="style17"><u><span class="style33">Other Cost of Living Statistics</span></u> </p> <table width="97%" height="26" border="1" align="center" bordercolor="#0000ff" bgcolor="#ffffcc"> <tr> <td align="middle" valign="top" class="style21"><span class="style22">Electricity</span><strong> -</strong> <span class="style23">.11 KPH</span> - <span class="style22">Average Apartment Rent</span> - <span class="style23">$860.00 -</span> <span class="style22">Gas</span> -<span class="style23"> 2.75 Per Gallon</span></td> </tr> </table> <br> <p align="left" class="style35"><u>More Information </u></p> <p> <span class="style24"><span class="style36"><A href="cost-of-living-calculator.html" cost-of-living-calculator.html=""><font color="#000000">Cost of Living&nbsp;Calculators </font></A>/<A href="cost-of-living-index.html"><font color="#000000">Cost of Living Index</font></A>&nbsp;/ <A href="average-cost-of-living.html" a=""><A href="average-cost-of-living.html"><font color="#000000">Average Cost of Living</font></A> /&nbsp;<A href="cost-of-living-chicago.html"><font color="#000000">Chicago Cost of Living&nbsp; </font> </A><br> <A href="cost-of-living-new-york.html"><font color="#000000">New York Cost of Living</font></A>&nbsp;/ <A href="hawaii-cost-of-living.html"><font color="#000000">Hawaii&nbsp; Cost of Living</font></A>&nbsp;/ &nbsp;<A href="florida-cost-of-living.html"><font color="#000000">Florida Cost of Living</font></A><font DESIGNTIMEURL="cost-of-living-calculator.html"> &nbsp;/<A href="texas-cost-of-living.html"><font color="#000000">Cost of Living in Texas</font></A>&nbsp;/ <A href="international-cost-of-living .html"><font color="#000000">International Cost of Living</font></A>&nbsp; <A href="california-cost-of-living.html"><font color="#000000">California Cost of Living</font></A></font></span></span> <span class="style36"> <script type="text/javascript"> <!-- google_ad_client = "pub-2346121780353164"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60; google_ad_format = "468x60_as"; google_ad_type = "text"; //2007-07-20: wa cost google_ad_channel = "3010955617"; google_color_border = "FFFFFF"; google_color_bg = "FFFFFF"; google_color_link = "0000FF"; google_color_text = "000000"; google_color_url = "000000"; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </span><br> <br> </p> </td> </tr> </table> </body> </html>