What Are The Pros And Cons Of Living In Vancouver, WA?

Moving to Washington State is becoming trendy. It’s easy to see why. Washington gained a lot of top tech companies and also became famous for its liberal-leaning cities and beautiful nature trails. Vancouver, WA, is one of the many larger cities to gain new residents in recent years. The city is often mistaken for the Canadian city by the same name. But, is Vancouver really that bad? Not quite. It’s a good place to move to, if you ask locals…

Vancouver, Washington, offers beautiful scenery with a trendy vibe. Reasonably low tax rates and a decent economy make it an attractive place to be. However, bad traffic, increasing housing costs, and a spike in homelessness make this place a somewhat dicey choice for many people.

A lot of new locals in the Vancouver area view this city as “Portland Lite,” if you know what I mean. This article will help you learn about the pros and cons of living in this city.

The nature trails in and around Vancouver are pretty famous for being bike-friendly and ready for hikes. The parks here are pretty famous for being family-friendly and at the same time, being challenging enough for people who want to improve their health. Of course, seeing what Mother Nature has to offer here isn’t the only pastime.

In the Vancouver area, there are tons of hip and trendy places to have fun. Over 30 microbreweries call the area home, as well as several art galleries. If you love the nightlife, you’ll be happy to know that this area is right next door to Portland, Oregon. This means that you can also take a quick ride to the next big city just so that you can hit up concert venues.

On a national level, both Portland and Vancouver tend to have schools that are above average. This includes matters of funding, high school graduation rates, as well as test scores. It’s not surprising, though. Schooling is kind of a way of life here, so positive reinforcement is one of the main cornerstones of the city’s culture.

If you are a fan of having a big support network for your children, then you are going to enjoy the school system here. The truth is that the schools here do everything possible to improve kids’ chances of getting into a good college. The after-school systems here are gold, too!

Unsurprisingly, Vancouver’s close relationship with Portland tends to mean that there are a lot of people who get Portland wages with a short commute to the big city. However, the overall outlook of jobs in town isn’t that bad either. The unemployment rate is 6.8 percent, which is higher than average but this isn’t a bad thing. The median household income is over $61,3000. That’s around the national average.

This means that many homes in the Vancouver area are single earner, which bodes well for people who want to stay at home with the kids. Moreover, many people who are surveyed about the economy in the area tend to find it to be good. Many new business owners are also starting to move here simply because the tax systems are more amenable to them.

With all that said, we want to point out that Vancouver is a good place for young professionals who don’t have kids quite yet. It can be a bit dicey in terms of affordability with kids.

We all have heard that one of the problems with living in Portland is the home prices. It’s no joke. Portland real estate prices are skyrocketing and that’s kind of wildly out of control. Nowadays, the same issue is happening in Vancouver. The median home price in this area is around $326,000 to $350,000. This puts it above the national average, and it also happens to mean that you will struggle to pay bills.

After all, the median household income is $61,000 or so. This means that a typical home in the area is not affordable for locals without a seriously sizable down payment. Most people do not have that and will be stuck with renting a place. This is okay if you are okay with eventually being priced out.

Okay, so “high” is definitely in the eyes of the beholder here. The cost of living index places the cost of living at 114.3 to 114.7 for Vancouver, depending on the exact area. This means that a person who earns $100,000 in a typical part of America would need to make $114,300 to have the same quality of life. Everything is a little pricier here, though housing remains the hot-button ticket of the day.

Overall, you will need to make a point of earning extra if you want to live here comfortably. For a family of four, you would need to have a salary that is around $89,000 in order to make a decent living. This isn’t good, considering that the median home income is under $70,000. As a result, many people who want to have big families tend to put things off for a bit so they can continue to live in the area.

Vancouver and Portland go together hand-in-hand when it comes to most things. This is true for culture, job opportunities, as well as things like leisure. Unsurprisingly, this means that there is a ton of traffic that goes on back and forth between the two places. In most times of the day and week, it’s not that bad.

However, if you are like most commuters and work a 9 to 5, things get ugly. It’s not uncommon to hear about standstill traffic at major intersections or massive amounts of congestion. As the populations of both cities increase, the traffic will continue to worsen. Hopefully, we’ll see a lot more mass transit in the future.

Portland has gained a reputation for being high in homeless populations as of late, and that much is true. The city has several large-scale homeless encampments on the outskirts of the city. Unfortunately, this primarily Portland issue has started to spread to the cities surrounding it, too. That includes Vancouver.

While Vancouver’s homelessness problem is nowhere near as bad as Portland, the truth is that it’s hard to ignore the groups of people who live on the street. To make matters worse, the local resources that are available don’t really have much to offer all these people. So, it’s going to be a prolonged problem.

Find out if Washington is better than Tennessee.

Related Questions

What’s the weather like in Vancouver, WA?

The weather in Vancouver is fairly temperate. You won’t have many days that dip below 45 during the winter, and summers tend to get as warm as 80 degrees. Much like the majority of the Pacific Northwest, this area has a lot of rainy days and overcast moments. So if you don’t want too much sun and are okay with a lot of rain, you will find Vancouver to be a great place to live.

Is Vancouver, WA a safe city?

It really is, actually. Much like Portland, Vancouver boasts a violent crime rate that is below the national average. The one issue that people may have with this city is the property crime rate. Due to an uptick in homelessness and drug addiction, theft has been on the rise.There’s about 33 percent more property crime in Vancouver than in a typical city in the US. Until there is a lot of work done to reduce theft and improve the safety of homes, getting a home security device will be a must.

What’s the difference between people from Portland and people from Vancouver?

They both tend to have that classic Northwestern vibe, but many people find living in Vancouver to be slightly more relaxed. People tend to view themselves less seriously and tend to avoid pretension here. While both Portland and Vancouver are famous for their love of coffee and craft beer, Portland also tends to be a little bit more extreme about it.Overall, Vancouverites are best described as Portlandians who finally learned to chill out.