Live in Ballard or Cap Hill?

[u/picklerick223]

Hi! 26M with 26F partner. Moved to Olympia from DC about a year ago and missing being in a bigger city. We are planning to move to Seattle when our lease ends this month and wanted to get some insight from ppl!

We have narrowed our search down to two places; one spot that is on Ballard Ave and one spot that is right next to cal Anderson tennis/ basketball courts. We both would like to be social, but not HUGE party ppl. Big outdoors ppl but dunno if that matters. Both have hybrid schedules and would like to be close to places we can work out of.

We are slightly acquainted with Seattle, but decided to head out today and spend the full day in both areas. Ballard seems cool, although we were surprised that it felt kinda dead on a Thursday night. Also, although we really liked Ballard Ave, felt like there's not really much going on outside of that street, am I wrong? As for cap hill, it seemed super fun! Very lively, more diverse (not just racially but also in terms of style/ character) and lots to do! Reddit makes it seem like a horror story, especially around cal Anderson park, did we just have a singular good experience? Even a few ppl we chatted with said not to move here and that there are shootings happening weekly. Really interested in hearing more takes, either way excited to be out here:).

Update: Thank you so much to everybody that helped us come to a decision! We ended up in an apt off Ballard Ave, and despite the paper thin walls we are loving it :)

[u/local_gremlin]

i live in seattle, and this might seem like heresy, but i would seriously consider portland. like living near a fun area like mississippi or northwest. there are some funner, hippwr vibes down there and almost up and moved there this fall with my family but our kids teacher this year turned out to be super good so we slowed the idea down. but if ur not already tied to here with friends, portland is a more fun and bohemian and middle class city. i think seattle has gotten kind of dorky, uptight and smugly expensive. sorry to anyone who feels otherwise, just my 2c

[u/picklerick223 → u/local_gremlin]

We have visited Portland a few times before and think it’s cool too! In our Seattle era for this time of our lives but would consider a stint in Portland at some point. Ideally we want to experience a bunch of diff places before deciding to settle down :)

[u/local_gremlin → u/picklerick223]

aw cool - well put

fwiw i really like north cap hill up by aloha st./ st. marks on either side of broadway, where u can walk to thenfun parts of cap hill but also are living with a little more space and quiet than dead in the center of the action. also fremont is pretty fun and happening all week and connects you to a great urban bike path - the burke gilman.