Washington Residents Are Abandoning Seattle for These 15 Appealing Cities

How many times have you heard someone use the adage “If you don’t like it here, leave?” Some people who are fed up with Seattle are doing exactly that. 

We spent the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day 2024 in Seattle to enjoy a little downtime before the highlight of our trip - the NHL Winter Classic between the Seattle Kraken and Stanley Cup Champion Las Vegas Knights. After a stressful holiday season, the getaway was EXACTLY what we needed! 

Thanks to CityPASS being a great value, we got to take in some of Seattle’s major tourist attractions like the Space Needle, Museum of Pop Culture and Seattle Aquarium. We spent hours wandering around the city’s famous Pike’s Place Market and loved every second that we got to browse its Golden Age Collectables! The Gum Wall may gross people out, but it’s a photo op that we couldn’t resist! 

As for the cuisine? We thoroughly enjoyed some fantastic meals at Old Stove Brewing, Shaker + Spear, Luke’s Lobster and thanks to T-Mobile Park having some fantastic vendors, Ivar’s. This author happened to grow up in Ohio, so she REALLY enjoyed the hospitality of the Ohio State alumni group watching the Buckeyes’ bowl game (as painful the outcome was) at Cairdre Public House. 

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That said, there were some cringe things we saw around the city that made us excited to come back to Boise. Vomit all over the door at the Starbucks by our hotel that was there for days. Security guards at the door of nearly every store. A large gathering of folks clearly using drugs on a busy street. Those are things that would stand out like a sore thumb in Boise, but no one blinked twice about them in Seattle. 

Don’t get us wrong, Seattle’s a GREAT place to visit and we had a wonderful time there, but could we see ourselves living there? Not really. And apparently an estimated 127,000 Washington residents wanted to get out of King County, more specifically Seattle. So where did they go? According to US Census Data, a small portion decided to stay in King County, but moved north to Bellingham. Most chose other cities outside of King County or set their sights on California, Oregon, Arizona, New York or Texas. 

Here’s a look at where people abandoned Seattle in favor of.