Unless you are against the idea of a commute, living in the downtown and Capital/First Hill areas can be prohibitively expensive (though there is an ever-increasing inventory of apartments and condos). East side is your best bet for buying, though there still are deals to be found in North Seattle and West Seattle. Of note is that the light rail is being extended to the Northgate transit center (to be completed ~2020), which will make commute a lot easier. If really don't mind the commute, housing is a lot cheaper in Everett/Kent/Tacoma, but you're looking at a 90 minute commute if you plan on driving during peak hours.

Training-wise, the world is your oyster in cycling. I like doing hot laps on Mercer Island when using the road bike(where you can an uninhibited 10 miles in before U-turning and getting another 10 miles in) and practicing my TT position in Snohomish County. For running, Green Lake is my destination of choice as it offers 3.2 miles of mostly gravel running on the outer loop and a 400m track very nearby (though the track can get soggy during winter). For swimming, well, godspeed. The YMCA downtown has a pool, but the denizens are a little sketch. If your job has Washington Athletic Club membership benefits, they have a pool. Otherwise, Masters at the Seattle U pool in Capital Hill is an option.

Also, many of the buildings downtown have built-in fitness centers with nominal fee or free membership; I'm in the Wells Fargo building (999 3rd Ave) and we have free access. Usually these gyms are limited, but they'll at least have a few well-maintained treadmills and space to do core/plyo workouts.

Feel free to PM if you have any questions.

If my commute wasn't my number one priority, but I still wanted to live in Seattle, I would choose to live in Ballard. A lot of good running options and Ballard high school has a track. Very good access to most of the major bike arteries with Magnolia hot laps ~4 miles away. Then LA Fitness has a 25 meter pool with good hours and it's not usually busy -- it's a little hot and over-chlorinated at times though.

With that said, you're coming with your family. Most people live well outside of Seattle with families due to cost. The bright side is that everywhere within a 20 mile radius of Seattle has pretty good bike commute options. If you let us know about your training priorities and what your family is looking for, I'm sure we can give a better answer.

I am looking to live outside of Seattle. I would like to keep the commute under an hour, but know that may be a challenge with the rising home costs. We are looking for a 3+ bedroom home. I primarily train for HIM and below. We are trying to find a good community and one that has a good landscape for riding. Thanks.

Thanks Quantum. I will reach out via PM.

As the others have noted, both cost of living and time spent commuting often factor heavily in people's choice of where to live. I live in Issaquah (about 17 miles east of downtown Seattle). The schools are excellent, and there is good access to multiple lakes, a few indoor pools (Mary Waite pool on Mercer Island; Golds Gym in Issaquah, Samena in south Bellevue), running trails (both paved and soft), and lots of lower traffic roads to ride on in the Snoqualmie valley just to the east.

For a while I had a job in the Pioneer Square area (the southern portion of downtown) and there was a direct bus route from Issaquah to there, making the commute convenient and inexpensive, at the cost of some flexibility on work schedule (not a big deal for me, but could be for others).

From what I hear on the traffic reports every morning and evening, the worst commutes appear to be for those that live north of Seattle and work downtown, and those that live south and have to come up I-405 every morning.

I'll leave it to locals to get you the right place to live, some friends of mine have had a triathlon club there for a very long time, maybe a good place to start for sport in the area, and perhaps a resource for living arrangements?? You didn't say if you were going to rent or buy, so perhaps rent for awhile until you get your bearings if buying was your eventual goal.

http://tnmultisports.com

I used to work on Capitol Hill. Started out living on First Hill in a tiny apartment (single with dog) but then moved out Newcastle. The Y there has a pool, you're at the base of Cougar Mountain for good trail running, there's a decent running pathway to the parks and you can ride out to hills with no problem or take the path into town across Mercer Island. Not sure on housing costs and it seemed a little boring but was an easy commute to make and had all the basic amenities.

I live in West Seattle, and work on the Eastside (Redmond). My $0.02 on a few Seattle Tri topics...

1) Tri event season in Seattle / Washington state is relatively short - basically from mid-May to mid-Sept. Usually kicks off with the Mt Rainier duathlon on last weekend of April. Some events are in Puget Sound area, while as many or more are over the Cascade mountains to the east (few hour drives). Almost all the events are Sprint or Oly distance. There had been one 70.3 event west of the mountains, but that ended last year. Closest long course events are Chelan, Spokane (Troika), Portland, and the IM 70.3s (Coeur d'Alene, ID and Victoria and Whistler in B.C. Canada).

2) The Seattle Green Lake Tri Group (SGLTG) is a low-key, socially oriented, tri community. They organize a variety of group training meetups. The most useful that I've found are the weekly OWS events - at Green Lake in Seattle, and Beaver Lake on Eastside. Nice opportunities to get in more OWS work, with the safety of a group with you.

3) I'm a member of the Pro Sports Club in Bellevue. They have excellent aquatic facilities (multiple 25 yd lap pools - I rarely need to split lanes), and the swim coaches I've used there have been a great help with swim technique improvements. I'm also a member of their Tri Team - and have found the tri-specific workouts and CompuTrainer studio rides to be very helpful in maintaining off-season fitness base.

4) If you want to do mostly outside work for bike and run, be prepared for a steady diet of "45-50 degrees and rainy", as those are the conditions much of the time from November through March. On the other hand, June through September are mostly sunny and warm (but not too hot)...

Welcome to Seattle!

The Seattle triathlon community is very active and very diverse. There is a spattering of small to large teams across the region. During the summers, often there will be multiple sprint-oly distance events on the same weekends - to the point where you could spit out a race every weekend if you so wanted to.

Welcome to Seattle -- its not all doom and gloom the summers are gorgeous here.
I live about 20 miles east of Seattle in Snoqualmie Ridge and work in DT Bellevue and swim in Issaquah, and OWS in Lake Sammamish. I have neighbors that work in DT Seattle, and there are a smattering of options for carpooling and ride sharing to get downtown during rush hour. The average is about 40 minutes but it really is a crapshoot if someone has a fender bender going over the water. Finding a 3B in DT is nigh impossible and would likely push you east. My personal bias is to avoid 405 like the plague - no good will come of it and you will lose years of your life sitting on the freeway. Stick to I-90 or 520 for your residential locations.
If you venture east of Bellevue towards Redmond, Issaquah, Sammamish, Snoqualmie, North Bend, there are a lot of cyclists and runners and a correspondingly large number of routes that will take you from 30-ish miles to 200miles.
Feel free to PM me if you need more info.

Quantum is a great resource.

So let's talk commuting... you've got north and south sounders: https://www.soundtransit.org/sounder

Also the RapidRides (A-H) are good for getting you from the edge into the core: http://kingcounty.gov/...maps/maps/route.aspx

Lastly there's Link but really only an option if coming from the south right now. Soon tho it'll be going to Shoreline as well as the eastside: https://static.seattletimes.com/...2c7228-1020x1341.jpg

Bike commuting can be rough but they are working really hard to make it a much more practical reality but most of those efforts are in the city proper. I haven't any idea how it is out in the burbs.

If you can make it work to live in the city I'd recommend it. It's totally doable for training (weekday outside TT rides aside) and the life is really great.

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36 kona qualifiers 2006-'23 - 3 Kona Podiums - 4 OA IM AG wins - 5 IM AG wins - 18 70.3 AG wins
I ka nana no a 'ike -- by observing, one learns | Kulia i ka nu'u -- strive for excellence
Garmin Glycogen Use App | Garmin Fat Use App

Depending on where he is coming from, his idea of warm and a Seattleite's idea of warm could be vastly different.

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Oui, mais pas de femme toute de suite (yes, but I am not ready for a woman straight away) -Stephen Roche's reply when asked whether he was okay after collapsing at the finish in the La Plagne stage of the 1987 Tour

Thanks Monty. We are looking to buy.

Thanks for the info Pacco.

I live in NE Seattle and bought a house here last year. I spent years on the Eastside (Redmond area) and do most of my training for longer rides out that way. For a team, I'm part of a PR Performance:

https://www.prperformance.net

They are based in the Redmond/ Bellevue area and are associated with Build Performance Center:


http://buildperformancecenter.com/about/

Build is an indoor training gym that has a number of rides and workouts throughout the week. Additionally PR has a team swim workout at Samena athletic club in Bellevue on Sundays and track workouts in Bellevue usually on Wednesday. There are lots of people of varying speeds and abilities on PR. If I was closer I would go to Build more often, the rides are really good.

For places to live, depending on budget you're gonna have a hard time, houses here are expensive and you usually end up in a bidding war. Do schools matter? The good districts are Issaquah, Lake Washington, Bellevue, and Northshore.

If you have any questions about specific areas or teams let me know. If you need a bike shop I drive across the lake to get to Edge & Spoke in Redmond. I won't bring my bikes anywhere else:

https://www.edgeandspoke.com

If you have other questions let me know or PM me. I grew up in the area and am familiar with most neighborhoods around here.

we are in kirkland. 30 minutes commute depending on where you're going downtown, the 520 bridge can add $10/day in tolls if you're going to amazon.

there is great riding as you go east towards the mountains. 7 Hills of Kirkland is a cool thing. cascade bike club has lots of rides

likewise for running, Seattle Running Club has a large membership, the trail running at cougar/squak/tiger is epic.

Swimming is a bit more limited, on one end of the spectrum - pro sports club (generally for the work sponsored)> Bellevue Club >Columbia Athletic Club, LA Fitness > Wave Aquatics (redmond public pools> juanita hs - if you're hardcore & had your shots). OWS in lake washington is great in may/june/july/early august after that the water gets a bit sticky.

im also and edge and spoke fan. or it's gerk's in issaquah

Seattle is a great city, I love living here. There is a healthy tri-scene. I'll post some links to my favorite local races.

Traffic congestion is a significant issue that will influence your choices. We're in Edmonds. A very nice, quiet town on Puget Sound. I work downtown Seattle (same building as the previous poster, “Quantum”!). My commute is 30 minutes at 5am, 60 minutes at 5pm. You'll get plenty of input to look at the "east side". Most of our residential development over the past 20 years has been there, alongside I-90. Lots of housing developments and related infrastructure. We prefer the older, gentrified, communities on the north end.

There are plenty of pools, some better than others, and a number of lakes with group swims in the summer. You'll find plenty of cyclists and plenty of cycling year round, although those damn autos can make it unbearable. Running is great here and will teach you to love the rain.

There are a few tri-clubs in town. I train with Pauole Sport and would be happy to introduce you. If nothing else, you should drop into our masters swim while you are here on recon.

Scott

Chris,

Thanks for the response. We are interested in Issaquah, but the inventory looks extremely low. Hopefully more will appear on the market soon.

Thanks for the great info Mongo.

Thanks Harshc. We have heard to stay clear on 5 and 405. We are looking at the areas you referenced and are hoping the inventory increases.

Thanks for the links MarkyV.

Great info Spudone. I will definitely heed your advice. Thanks again.

Thanks for the info ccddmm.

Good luck, the local paper has no shortage of stories on how low inventory is a general problem in the area, and not just for folks moving here. Those that already live here often don't move within the area (for example to upgrade or due to transfer) because even though they could sell quickly they then also want to buy. A friend of my wife is a local real estate agent here in Issaquah that I can put you in touch with. PM me if you are interested.