migrating to seattle

hello.i am a registerd nurse working here in the UK.my husband and I are both nurses and we're blessed with 5 children.we're considering of migrating to america and we thought of seattle as preferable state to settle and for our children to grow up.just wanting some information or advice perhaps about cost of living,child benefit/allowance(if there's any),best hospital to work which is family friendly.i'll probably start with those few questions first.hopefully if someone is kind enough to help us consider the pros and cons of our initial decision to try seattle it will be grately appreciated.thank you.

Hello Liezl - I noticed your post is over 2 months old. Are you still planning on transplanting to Seattle?

Pmc in Seattle, Washington said: Hello Liezl - I noticed your post is over 2 months old. Are you still planning on transplanting to Seattle?

yes,we are still considering of moving to seattle at some point.and we really appreciate if somebody could give us info to help us make this move a definite one.we've also got north carolina as another option though,but we would like to limit our options more with seattle.

Hi Liz,
I'm a pharmacist who moved to Seattle about a year ago and I've worked for a couple hospitals around here and also know about some of the other ones. Nurses are in high demand over here so I'm sure you won't have a problem finding a job. Typical pay, based on experience and assuming you're an RN, is about $50-70K/year. With 5 children, the child allowance you'll get is a tax cut, but I don't believe there is any other ones. As far as Seattle, traffic is bad, but there's public transportation, not as good as ones in England (I'm assuming London). If you want a decent place in Seattle, it's quite expensive, and few. There are very few good public schools in Seattle itself. However, surrounding cities of Seattle are very nice (personally, I'd prefer them over Seattle and would never move my kids inside of Seattle). Nice places with good school districts are Newcastle, Issaquah, Upper Renton, Bellevue. These are all within commuting distances to Seattle. North of Seattle, you have Bothel, Milcreek, Shoreline, and Lynnwood.
As far as hospitals, I heard from friends that Children's Hospital in Seattle is nice, Overlake in Bellevue is nice, Swedish is nice, Harborview is big (you'd get benefits as a government employee), but not as good pay, don't go to Virginia Mason (poorly run and has bad service overall), University of Washington Medical Centers (similar to Harborview as far as pros and cons). There's also Valley Medical Center in Renton if you prefer to go south. In general, if you plan to drive and not live in the heart of Seattle, it would be best if you go away from Seattle in the morning. Hope this helps, if you have any more questions, you could email me at ntkm79@yahoo.com

Rosalie in Newcastle, Washington said: Hi Liz,
I'm a pharmacist who moved to Seattle about a year ago and I've worked for a couple hospitals around here and also know about some of the other ones. Nurses are in high demand over here so I'm sure you won't have a problem finding a job. Typical pay, based on experience and assuming you're an RN, is about $50-70K/year. With 5 children, the child allowance you'll get is a tax cut, but I don't believe there is any other ones. As far as Seattle, traffic is bad, but there's public transportation, not as good as ones in England (I'm assuming London). If you want a decent place in Seattle, it's quite expensive, and few. There are very few good public schools in Seattle itself. However, surrounding cities of Seattle are very nice (personally, I'd prefer them over Seattle and would never move my kids inside of Seattle). Nice places with good school districts are Newcastle, Issaquah, Upper Renton, Bellevue. These are all within commuting distances to Seattle. North of Seattle, you have Bothel, Milcreek, Shoreline, and Lynnwood.
As far as hospitals, I heard from friends that Children's Hospital in Seattle is nice, Overlake in Bellevue is nice, Swedish is nice, Harborview is big (you'd get benefits as a government employee), but not as good pay, don't go to Virginia Mason (poorly run and has bad service overall), University of Washington Medical Centers (similar to Harborview as far as pros and cons). There's also Valley Medical Center in Renton if you prefer to go south. In general, if you plan to drive and not live in the heart of Seattle, it would be best if you go away from Seattle in the morning. Hope this helps, if you have any more questions, you could email me at ntkm79@yahoo.com

thanks rosalie.that was really helpful.in terms of weather,how is seattle?here in salisbury,we can get good summer from june to august(20-23 C)and the rest of the year is on and off rain and then the winter.

HI Liz,
Weather here is Seattle is quite nice if you're already used to the rain. Pretty mild weather. Not too hot in the summer and not too cold in the winter. Summer, I'd say it goes up to 90F max? Usually around 70-85 or so in mid summer. Winter doesn't get too cold either. Usually around 40-50F. A few days of snow here and there...maybe total of 5-7 days of snow out of the whole year? Then mostly rain in the winter, and also in the spring...I'd say the weather is pretty nice from May to the end of Sept...But we're also surrounded by the ocean, lakes, and many other bodies of water. So water sports/parks/activities are plenty...also, we have many mountains to enjoy skiing in the winter and hiking in the summer....If you like big and busy cities, then the heart of Seattle is filled with activities....but if you prefer to have more family time and for the kids, then the outside cities I mentioned earlier is better for them....Those cities are within reasonable commute distance to Seattle (20-30min to down town Seattle, usually). Oh, I forgot, Redmond to the East of Seattle is also affordable, but commuting to Seattle may be a bit more (not much more) difficult since the bridge (520) only has a couple lanes. Kirkland is nice, but quite expensive.

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