I’m reading this from Ballard and I think we do alright on school quality and house size, although my east side colleagues think the deal is better in more suburban Kirkland or Bellevue.

Ballard hardly has houses left, it's a condo jungle now.

Townhome jungle. We still have lots of single family homes, especially north of 65th.

Without the townhomes it would be even more unaffordable.

Seattle is an interesting area, so many different pockets. I moved to Seattle in 2016 from Southern California, could never shake the depression. Moved to Cupertino in Jan and am as happy as a (very busy) clam.

I visited Seattle the city proper recently, and also felt depressed. Not sure why I got that vibe. On paper Seattle is great, and no-doubt, the Pacific north west has good nature and tech-industry. It felt odd why Seattle felt "different".

The weather? it's well documented. SAAD.

Seasonal Affective Disorder, i.e. lack of sun? Not sure what the other A stands for.

The Seattle Freeze seems like one of those broad stereotypes, but I experienced it as very real. People are not unfriendly, but they are unsocial. I felt lonelier than any other place I've lived. There are of course many other factors, but I'm not the only one, which is validating.