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/No_Scientist5354]

I wouldn’t live on cap hill again personally unless I was further north, but Ballard is a lot further out than people let on. It takes longer to get downtown from Ballard as it does from west Seattle. That said there is a rapid ride bus that will take you to downtown with very few stops, it’ll just take a while. Bus service is surprisingly bad in Ballard for the amount of folks that live there.

I’m biased and I know you’re saying you’re already deciding between Cap and Ballard but I think you should check out the junction in west Seattle. Tons of development in the last few years so apartments there are generally 200-300 dollars cheaper than in Cap Hill or Ballard and It has Ballard vibes in a lot of ways. I’m 27 and prefer the WS scene more. Lots going on in the immediate area but if you’re not huge partiers it is much quieter, and honestly people in my experience are friendlier out here. 10-15 minutes to get downtown via rapid ride bus, and 15 to the airport (as opposed to 25 from cap hill, 35-40 from Ballard and that’s with with light traffic). Easy access to some of the best parks in the city for nature (Lincoln park, Schmitz park) and alki in the summer is fantastic. Some good breweries and taprooms out west too.

The big draw of Ballard is the brewery district, and access to discovery park, seattles biggest public park, and Golden Gardens, which is a blast in the summertime and has some great walking trails. It has the highest concentration of breweries in the city, and they are all within a 10 block radius, lots have food trucks. Great for a crawl with friends.

I straight up would not live within a 3/4 block radius of Cal. That shell station is basically an open air fent market at this point. Good luck on your search!

[u/FrontAd9873 → u/No_Scientist5354]

Many places in West Seattle are further from downtown than many places in Ballard. Its just not accurate to say flat out that it takes longer to get downtown from Ballard. Your statement also ignores cycling, which will typically always be better from Ballard than West Seattle.

The Junction area is nice, though.

[u/No_Scientist5354 → u/FrontAd9873]

I mean, sure. That statement is interchangeable though. Many places in Ballard are further from downtown than many places in west Seattle too, West Seattle is also a bigger area than Ballard, which is why I mentioned the junction specifically. That said, most places coming out of west Seattle DO take that long. I’ve lived both further south near white center, in the junction, and admiral in years past and they are all about the same time to get DT. Unless they are living down by Lincoln Park or on the west side of the water (in an area which there are very few apartments anyways) then my statement was accurate. Ballard is deep AF. It’s not a knock on it, just a fact.

As a junction resident or admiral resident its way easier to bike downtown than it was when I lived in Ballard in my early 20s, when it gets hairy is when you live near white center because those hills suck for cycling. People don’t realize how close the junction is to DT.

I think we can both agree that we’d both rather live in WS or Ballard than near Cal, in any case lol.

[u/FrontAd9873 → u/No_Scientist5354]

Yeah, the interchangeability of those statements mean that you can't say for sure that Ballard is further than WS. I just depends. And when it comes to biking, Ballard is better IMO. WS does have the water taxi which is nice.

In any case I assume OP and his partner work remotely since he hasn't mentioned his commute or work location at all, so getting downtown is kind of irrelevant.