Is Washington Still a Good Spot to Retire?

Over the last decade Washington has become more like California than ever before. California has lost much of its attraction for retires with punishing taxes and horrifically high housing costs. Now I am going to mention politics in this post but not to make a judgement one way or the other on party politics, but rather to perhaps shed some light on the way Washington has moved recently, for better or worse depending on your personal perspective. I think Washington is moving in the wrong direction but not because Democrats control the state, but because a different kind of Democrat has taken over.

Although Washington has long since been a strong "blue" state having not elected a Republican Governor since 1980 while in contrast California has had three Republican Governors since 1980. California however has always had a much more extreme government with their legislature over the last 20 years having a veto proof 70%-80% Democrat assembly and senate.

Washington has had a mostly Democrat legislature since the 1980s and all Democrat control over the last 20 years. However, Washington until just recently has always had a fairly close balance with Democrats holding a range between 52% and 55% of the seats. Today 60% of the seats are held by Democrats.  

Over the last 40 years Washington politics have been much better in my opinion than California with the Democrat majorities and Governors focusing on real issues that affect all citizens regardless of party affiliation. The state has veered away from attacking the rights of specific groups and in contrast elevated civil rights for all whether they were 1st Amendment or 2nd Amendment rights, Washington upheld them. It has only been in the last 8-10 years that I have noticed a serious shift into what I am calling California politics. Suppression of ideas, ignoring the Supreme Court, writing laws that the members of the legislature know full well are not constitutional and passing them anyway. This of course being a direct violation of the oath of office they took. California has been doing this for decades, but only recently have I seen this here in Washington. 

As a true Independent voter I don't care much which party runs our state so long as they run it well and provide equal rights for all citizens even citizens in the opposition party. Washington is not likely to elect a Republican majority or Governor anytime soon, but I wish they would elect Washington Democrats instead of California Democrats.

All of that said: is Washington losing its retirement sheen? Well a little, the state has gotten very aggressive on taxation and I believe they will keep trying to pass an income tax. We still have no state income tax in Washington and for most retirees that is a huge benefit and gives us an edge over both California and Oregon. Should these new California style Democrats that have taken over our politics continue to win elections, Washington State will almost certainly see the failure that we see in California and that would be a true shame.

The solution is simple if you already live here and you are a Democrat, contact your local DNC office or your local member of the legislature and tell them you don't want California politics in Washington. It is not making the state better in any meaningful way. This state can continue to be a "blue" state and still not take the awful path that California did. It's really up to the local Democrats to make the shift back to the Washington we all loved and adored. It's not too late.

Washington State Gets A lot of Oregon and California Retirees.

Washington State is the only West Coast State without a state income tax. This continues to be a shiny, wiggly, lure in the waters of retiring boomers. Anyone retiring with an expected income in excess of $100,000 seems to be fleeing the states of California and Oregon with their aggressive if not even oppressive income tax scheme. Oregon of course is the only one of the three without a sales tax. Lower income people benefit more from a lack of sales tax than they do a lack of income tax. Once you start getting up towards $70,000 however, the table turn and in some case quite quickly.

This certainly explains the success of the Springs Living high-rise on Vancouver's Waterfront. I wrote about that here. Locally in Southwest Washington, especially Clark County, we are experiencing strong growth and a fair sized bit is in the senior citizen community. Clark also is picking up swarms of working adults moving in on a robust job market, slightly more affordable housing, and the proud badge of "We are not Portland." 

Population growth can have a negative effect on real estate prices. We have seen a sharp increase in home values over the last several years but like the market nationwide we have slowed a bit. We still look like a bargain to those moving in from the Puget Sound region and from The SF Bay Area. However we have managed to become more expensive than most of California's counties. Oregonians outside of the Portland Metro Area may face sticker shock as well. 

Recent news has indicated that Vancouver is considering a complete annexation of the entire Vancouver Urban Growth Boundary. This will provide opportunity for higher density development in a larger area that can help mitigate home expenses. It may also allow for even more development of properties like the Springs Living including a more suburban feeling layout for those not interested in the urban high-rise experience.

Seniors looking to stay close to an urban area for medical services will find it hard to beat Vancouver. The city already has two large hospitals one run by Legacy Health the other by Peace Heath that happens to be based in Vancouver. The medical services in Vancouver are excellent and even those looking to be outside of a big city can find lovely and charming real state in places like Ridgefield and Battle Ground that remain a short distance to big city services in Vancouver and Portland.

With massive amounts of new residents swarming in from Portland, Seattle, and to a lesser extent, California, Clark County should remain strong as ever.

Washington Economy Remains Strong

Washington State ranks 3rd among all states in Gross Domestic Product per capita. Only New York and Massachusetts rank higher. Yes California you lag behind us and a few others as well. Generally a high GDP is not a factor for retirees unless those retirees wish to be close to grand children. Parents often find themselves chasing income opportunities and those tend to happen in areas with a robust economy. 

With Washington State producing such a large economic output, your kids may be relocating here soon. Not only does Washington have the best economy on the West Coast it has pretty good conditions for retirees with good income. No state income tax means retirees keep more of their fixed income. 

Although no one is suggesting Washington State is a sun belt state, it does have very mild weather considering its northerly latitude. The western side of the state only sees modest snowfall, very modest in most years and the opportunities for outdoor activities is hard to beat anywhere in the US.

Washington State suffers from high housing cost as does most of the West Coast. This is the single most deterring factor especially for those coming from the central states where real estate is rather affordable. If you can overcome that, its as good as any place to retire and again your grand kids might already be here.

Get ready to Vote!

Here in Washington State most ballots are out already. Washington has been a vote by mail state for over 20 years. I am not a fan, but that is how we do it here. That said look over the lists of candidates for all the positions. Not just the President and Senators and such, but the state legislators and mayors, city council. These more local officials have more say over how your daily life runs than the federal leaders do.

It is very easy to get caught up in the Presidential race since that is the highest office we vote for. But don't forget about your local people. They are equally important to us locally. This year try and read about all the candidates or at least the top tier candidates that are likely to win before you cast your vote for the "usual" person. If Americans took their vote more seriously and voted for the people that they really thought were the best people rather than just the party they associate with, we would have a much better government.

For retired people this can be very important as most retirees are a little more dependent on government services than younger people.

The Wait is Over!

The long anticipated arrival of the Springs Living on Vancouver's amazing Waterfront is now here. The building is complete, save for a few final tweaks and the Springs is actively marketing for occupancy in the next few weeks.

What is the Springs Living? Well it is a locally owned (Oregon) chain of retirement communities noted for their luxury and ability to transition with seniors as they age. The so called "age in place" model. They offer fully independent living, assisted living, and complete memory care. 

I do not want to sound like an advertisement for the business, but rather note the significance of the project they built at the Waterfront. The 12 story tower will feature just about every amenity one could wish for and the location on Vancouver's spectacular waterfront is about as good as it gets in the entire region. From a retirement standpoint Vancouver just got a big boost for those seeking an urban lifestyle with the fully enclosed age in place opportunity normal found in suburbia. According to city records the tower should have about 300 units.

If you are interested in this project they have a website here.

 

 

Updated data for Washington State

I recently updated the cities data sheet on this website to reflect changing demographics and housing costs among other notable data. That data is stored locally at this URL: City Data for Selected Washington Cities or in the column to the right of this article if you are in a browser on PC/Mac. This data was designed to show the various areas in the state and how they compared for climate, population, housing, etc.

Some interesting things have happened over the last several years in Washington State. Washington remains one of if not the strongest economies in the USA. This has led us to rising population and higher housing costs do to strong demand.

Our market like most of the country has cooled a bit, but upward price pressure continues, just not at the feverish pace of a couple years ago. The Puget Sound region has become one of the most expensive large metro area housing markets in the USA.  

One thing that I have noticed is that Washington is no longer a "value" proposition for housing even for people moving from California. It is true that California still has a significantly higher median home price than does Washington. But when looking at pricing for Californian's not living near the coast, Washington is more expensive. 

Housing is important and Washington is very expensive, but other factors play a role in choosing a place to live or retire. When you take housing out of the equation Washington is a third less expensive than California for total cost of living. When factoring in housing we are still more than 25% cheaper.

The median home price in Sacramento CA for example at the end of May this year was $462,000. That is pretty cheap actually compared to Washington's west side cities, look at the chart comparing select cities in Washington to Northern California:

Locally here in Clark County, Bay Area residents can still move here and save a lot of money on housing. But people coming from Sacramento or anywhere in the Central Valley region will find our pricing a bit high compared to their hometowns.

Washington has fallen a bit lower on the "top states to retire" lists lately and I feel like our rapid rise in housing expenses has played a large role in that. Our tax benefits and cheap energy are still huge attractants for business, families, and yes, retirees.

Is it really all wet in Washington State?

Well not really, and if you head east it gets pretty dry actually. Take a look at the following article posted last month in Rod's Real Estate News.

Washington State has a damp reputation for soggy weather. Often the local Chamber of Commerce will chime in about how we get less rain than most cities in the USA east of the Rockies. This is true and for the nation as a whole we really do not get much in the way of precipitation. Those people originating from a state west of the Rockies will find us much wetter than they are. 

But even when we compare our Western Washington cities to Northern California, we are not that much higher on rainfall than they are, particularly within 50 miles of the ocean. The real issue is that we tend to have a lot more cloudy days than most of the western US. We however are no worse off than states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York on the sunshine scale.

Anchorage, AK; Portland, OR; Buffalo, NY; Pittsburgh, PA; and Cleveland, OH round out the top five "gloomiest" cities in America in a climate survey done by Move.org. Seattle and Spokane were 6th and 7th on that list.

So cloud cover is a thing and Washington gets allot of cloudy days. But often coastal areas in California are overlooked in the "gloomy" category despite having a heavy marine layer that tends to make for foggy and cool weather in the summertime. 

But what about actual rainfall? How rainy is it really. Typically rainfall is measured two ways by climatologists. Inches or Millimeters of rain measured in a rain gauge and number of days with measurable precipitation. When measuring actual rainfall volume we are lower than the national average, but when measured by number of days with rain, we are near the top. I created two lists below ranking Washington cities against other notable locales around the country for both rainfall and days of rain.

Here are the same four charts with a list of several cities from each region of the country. Each chart ranks the cities by a different metric starting with annual days of precipitation, then annual rainfall in inches, then the percentage of sunshine, then annual snowfall.

Here we rank near the bottom with 157 days on average with measurable precipitation. It should be noted that we get a lot of days with light drizzle that is just barely enough to register in a rain gauge.

Here we are right in the middle with our paltry 36.9 inches of annual precipitation. It should be noted that in fairness, the Portland International Airport is the official NWS reporting station and it is notably drier than the surrounding area. Our real precipitation is between 40-50 inches depending on location.

Sunny days are hard to find in the winter months and it takes a toll on our annual numbers. But sunshine is in abundance from mid June through mid September. Summertime is sunny almost every day and little to no rain at all.

Snowfall is another category we do well in unless you like snow. Our 6.5 inches a year average is pretty tame even for those who hate the snow. 

When I look at the locations people are moving to I can't help but notice our weather is better than a lot of them overall. South Carolina and Tennessee are popular spots but those places have hot and sticky summers. Tennessee doesn't get quite a much snow as we do but they get three shower a day humidity in the summer. The Carolinas have those pesky hurricanes.

So in closing, yes it is as rainy as they say but not as rainy as you think.