What is the best gay city to live in Washington?
We continue with our bonus series of the best gay cities to live in. Find out which city is the best in Washington State here and then start reaching financial sustainability and independence by getting rid of any credit card debt with the free 7-Step Credit Card Debt Slasher.
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What is the best gay city to live in Washington?
Washington State is the first state to highlight the challenges of being queer in a conservative country. We couldn’t separate rent prices and home values with Zillow’s data. This series of available data won’t negate that more LGBTQ+ friendly cities tend to be more expensive. We’ll probably have similar challenges with California.
So, the runner-up city is Olympia, WA.
Why?
Well, it only missed the top spot by one point. But its cost of rent is $2,019 and the average home value is considerably cheaper is $483,000. The cost of living is slightly in the middle for cities analyzed in Washington and the median and average household income are on the lower end. What puts Olympia on our map is it’s 100 on Human Rights Campaign Municipality Equality Index.
The winner for Washington State is Tacoma!
Why?
Tacoma gets lumped into the Washington metro area when it comes to the median and average household incomes. Yet, its cost of living is considerably lower than Seattle, Bellevue, and Kent and makes it more affordable than Seattle being only 40 minutes away.
Tacomas one of only three Washington cities to get 100 on the HRC MEI.
The average rent is $2,153, and the average home value is about $690,000. We assume that with the cost of living being lower, Tacoma likely brings averages down in the metro area.
If we had a better breakout of income and housing costs, probably likely that Olympia would be #1 because Tacoma probably doesn’t have as high a household income as the rest of the Seattle metro area.
If you’re from or have lived in the Seattle metro area, share your experience!
More great things about Tacoma:
- Names “America’s Gayest City” by NPR in 2013
- Nestled among emerald trees between Puget Sound and Mount Rainier
- Attraction for artists
- St. Helens District is the ‘gay district’ full of numerous
- The Mix is the heart of the scene
- Pride was early July last year, no info on 2023 yet
Thank you for listening to another episode. On next Thursday’s Queer Money bonus episode, we’re covering the most affordable and most gay friendly city in the state of Virginia.
If you’d like to see the results of all the cities in each state that we’re analyzing, go to queermoneypodcast.com/cities or click the link in your podcast player for a growing analysis.
Previous Bonus Podcast Episodes
- The Best Gay City to Live in West Virginia
- The Best Gay City to Live in Wisconsin
- The Best Gay City to Live in Wyoming
Click below to listen to this bonus episode