Today I’m going to give you a breakdown of the pros and cons of living in Spokane Washington in 2023. 

I’m really excited to jump into this video with you as we’ve had a lot of changes and I need to make an update from the last time I talked about this. 

PROS

PROS #1: AWESOME ENVIRONMENT

So first off living here in Spokane and eastern washington specifically gives you an absolutely amazing environment to live in. The outdoor activities that we access to in our area are some of the best and I feel like they’re still slightly undiscovered from the rest of the world. 

If you live in or around Spokane you are within a thirty to sixty minute drive of any outdoor activity you can think of. We have 76 lakes within an hour drive, we have Mt Spokane right in our backyard but access to half a dozen ski resorts within a two hour drive, and dozens and dozens of locations all around Spokane for hiking, mountain biking, and rock climbing so there’s really something for everyone. 

We’ve had quite a bit of snow this year which has made a great ski season and even though I’m not a skier myself, many of my clients and friends are making it up to the mountains at least once a week if not a few times a week so if you’re into the outdoors Spokane is a great place to do so. Many people who have that high on their priority list might think Denver or Salt Lake City as the best place for that, but those places are crowded when you get to the mountain. Spokane still has quite a bit of growing to do before we get to that size so the lines are a lot shorter. 

PROS #2: GENERALLY FAIR WEATHER

This leads right into my second point is the weather here in Spokane. Overall it is very mild here in Spokane but you get access to all four seasons. We get hot summers but nothing brutal like Las Vegas and Phoenix and we get cold winters but nothing like Montana or Upstate New York. We just ride the line of comfortability so on average in the winters it gets down to about twenty six degrees and in the summer can get up to eighty eight degrees with a few extremes on either end each year. We get a healthy amount of snow and rainfall each year with forty four inches and seventeen inches respectively but the biggest thing to know is you will just end up having multiple wardrobes here in Spokane for the different seasons. I would say Denver is a city where you can have two major extremes in one day from blizzards to beautiful blue skies and Spokane is probably sixty to seventy percent as extreme as they are. 

Overall, Spokane is also very dry and not super windy so the cold isn’t nearly as bad as really humid places like Chicago or New York or Windy places like Missoula, MT where the wind really drives in the cold, and I’m speaking from experience from when I used to live there. 

PROS #3: GREAT PLACE FOR BUSINESS

Next up, Spokane and Washington in general are great places for businesses. According to CNBC Washington ranked as the second best place for business owners especially those businesses that have a focus in the science, technology, engineering or mathematics fields. The cost of doing business is ranked 33 out of 50 states just due to the cost of living mostly over in Seattle but that is why we’ve seen a rapid increase in technology companies moving to Spokane. They get the best of both worlds, a state where there is no individual or company income tax while also living in an affordable city. Our population growth in Washington is currently at 1.26% and Spokane is at 1.1% so we have really positive growth here. So if you’re running your own business or are self employed like me, you will have a lot of advantages here. 

PROS #4: AFFORDABLE HOUSING/RENT

So let’s talk about the house prices and then we chat about some of the Cons here in Spokane. 

Now when it comes to house prices they have really changed quite dramatically over the last seven to eight months as you can see by this graph and actually year over year we have now seen a negative change in home values. So anyone that bought at this exact same time last year is down nearly four percent and anyone who bought at the peak is down over fifteen percent. We’ve had seven straight months of price declines and I will make a market update video next week when the January numbers come out so we can see if we bounced off the bottom or if prices continue to go down so make sure to subscribe and hit the bell so you get notified when that comes out. 

My predictions for the market right now is that we will bounce up here in the late winter and early spring as mortgage applicants are up over 25% for the last weeks in a row and more and more people are getting use to the fact that they are going to get a six percent interest rate, and beyond that it is hard to say but we are in a very nervous environment right now so any bad news from the government in terms of inflation will cause rates to go back up and kill demand so it could be an interesting summer and I’ll do my best to keep you as updated as I can while you’re making your move here. 

Compared to other major cities or even other parts of Washington, we are still a relatively affordable market. You can buy a livable three bedroom 2 bath resale home below three hundred and fifty thousand dollars and you can get into new construction around four fifty to six hundred and fifty thousand. And then if you’re moving here with big city money, you can find the dream home on ten plus acres for less than a million dollars when that could be three times that in other markets. 

When you’re relocating to spokane from one of these major cities, most people realize how much further their dollar goes which allows them to either live their big dreams and go for the big house or they can live in a very nice house for a fraction of what it would cost and then save and invest that money elsewhere. This same thing also applies to the rental prices. Currently we’ve seen rent prices come down almost ten percent from their peak and has led to only a point three percent growth from this time last year which is three percent lower than the national average. 

Rents went crazy high along with the housing market because there was a level of desperation in the rental market earlier this year. 

And to be completely honest renting a home is a cheaper option than owning a home in todays market if you’re considering your out of pocket costs. The median rent for a 3 bed 2 bath house is right around $2000 a month and the median price of a 3 bed 2 bath house in Spokane is right at $425,000 which would lead to a total payment of around three thousand dollars a month with a five percent down payment. 

Now of course you’re not building any equity or getting any of the tax benefits when you rent and your money is going soly to your landlord instead of your home that acts more like a piggy bank, but if you’re looking at what is your out of pocket expense, renting is still cheaper so that could be something to consider depending on your situation and your goals. 

CONS

Now let's move onto talking about some of the cons that you should know about. 

CONS #1: FOREST FIRE/GLOOMY WEATHER

The first con that I want to mention is going back to some of the weather that I was talking about. Even though it is very moderate here there are a couple things you should know about. The first is that the fire season is very real here. Now if you’re from really anywhere on the West coast, you know what i mean but the smoke can get pretty bad here in Spokane. We honestly don’t get that many crazy fires right around us but we’re within range of all of the Montana, California, and Canadian fires that can get massive and all of that smoke tends to find its way to our valley and can be a real drag. This past summer wasn’t too bad but the summer before it looked like Armageddon and was pretty tough to go outside even for me and I don’t suffer from asthma or any respiratory issues. So just be ready for that every few years or so. 

And talking about blocking out the sun, we only experience sunny days here in Spokane forty six percent of the year. That’s right, we get about a hundred and seventy one days of sunshine here in Spokane and were actually ranked as the seventh gloomiest city in all the US. So I like most other people here are vitamin D deficient and we take our supplements but you’ll notice how many people in their 50s, 60s and up have second homes down in Arizona and make the trip down there in the winter. I have one friend that flies down nearly every weekend so if you do move here and find yourself needing that second home, I have some great realtor partners down there that I can hook you up with. 

CONS #2: NOT MUCH NIGHT LIFE/ENTERTAINMENT?

Now one thing I think people believe is a con here in Spokane but I want to debunk it a little is that there isn’t a nightlife here. 

Now if you’re moving from LA or Seattle it might seem bleak but to be honest there is something going on that you can be a part of almost every night of the week. There is a place where you can go see live music every day, our food scene in Spokane is really legit, there’s some really cool bars like Hogwash whiskey den, Bistango Martini bar, and lucky you lounge to name a few. So I think if you’re not looking expecting or looking for what a big city could necessarily provide you, then I know you won’t find yourself bored here. 

And then alongside entertainment I also want to talk about sports for your sports fans out there. Spokane loves our minor league teams. We have the Spokane indians for baseball, the chiefs for hockey and yes hockey is a beloved sport here, and soon we will have a professional soccer team if that’s something that you’re into. We are most notably known for our college basketball team, the Gonzaga bulldogs but you have to know somebody to get tickets because every seat in the McCarthy athletic center is held by a season ticket holder and there’s a waiting list. The awesome thing is that once you do get in, it is like no other basketball game you’ve ever been to. We have one of the largest student sections across the country, they literally take up half the stadium so the energy is insane when you’re in there. But if you like watching live sports, just know if want the pros you’ll have to drive over to Seattle but if you’re okay with just a good game from our minor league teams then there is a lot of games that you attend. 

CONS #3: TRAVELLING

And along with needing to travel to go do things, traveling in the inland northwest isn’t the best. And what I mean by that is that if you leave in the midwest or the east coast you can be in the next major city within an hour or two drive. It’s nothing to go from chicago to indianapolis or new york to new jersey but over on this side of the country you’re a minimum 4 to 5 hour drive to the next major city. That’s how long it takes to get to Seattle but if you want to go to Portland or boise, that’s an eight hour drive and salt lake city is the next closest big city at 12 hours. 

So it’s not a big deal if you fly all the time and our airport is small so it’s easy to navigate but if you like having the convenience of just jumping in the car and going to the next city over, then that’s something to consider as well. 

CONS #4: UNEMPLOYMENT

And then relating back to one of our other pros that Spokane and Washington in general are a great place for businesses, I wanted to mention that our unemployment rate is actually pretty high right now. We are sitting at five and half percent for Spokane and four point two percent for the state when the average for the united states is three point five. 

One of our highest rankings on that CNBC chart was how strong our workforce is and that’s measured by the number of people moving here with high levels of education which makes sense as to why we are a great place for the STEM type jobs. Now with the massive layoffs in the tech industry and the lull in the economy that has caused some employers to not be hiring as much we’ve sat pretty high on the unemployment rate. 

So that’s what I have today, if you are thinking about making the move to Spokane I’m helping dozens of people just like you make the move and would love to help you too.