Interesting Bellingham Herald article. Is Bellingham among the worst cities in America?
Finally, a pretty honest listing that might give some folks pause about moving to Bellingham.
From article it says. The study found that “a typical home in (Bellingham) is valued at more than $300,000, considerably higher than the national median home value of $181,200. While this suggests some level of prosperity among residents, compared to area income levels, area housing is not particularly affordable. The median home value is 7.3 times greater than the median income, making Bellingham one of the least affordable cities in the country.”
Also.
While the city scored well for educational attainment – 43.7 percent of residents have at least a bachelor’s degree – Bellingham’s higher-than-average poverty rate also was a negative. In Bellingham, 21.4 percent of residents live in poverty, far more than the national rate of 15.5 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
I'm lucky to be among the few non owners in affordable housing. There are some good things about living here. Friends, activities, dancing, bike riding and so forth, but it's a very hard city to become established in. Expensive housing, due in part to it's popularity as a retirement and college community. Hard to find a niche for middle aged workers, but if one has found a niche and an affordable place to live, it can be nice. A bit of the "Seattle Chill," however. North westerners can seem quite withdrawn and even clickish at first.
Here's this from another ranking in article.
Bellingham rated 15th among the 25 most hungover cities in America, according to businessinsider.com. Using business and research data, the site says 7.9 percent of people in Bellingham admitted to heavy drinking and 19.6 percent admitted to binge drinking. The city also rated high in the number of bars, alcohol stores and alcoholic-beverage-producing establishments per capita.
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