Crime and cost of living in your area.

The point of this thread is to help me decide where to move my family. I have no political intentions, and would like to keep politics out of this thread. I understand that is hard for some to do, especially when crime rate is discussed. I would love to hear everyone’s input on this one as I am pretty open.

I would also like to mention that I know that bad things can happen anywhere. I know that small town doesn’t automatically mean safe. I know things everywhere are more expensive now.

Here we go, I am 34 and I am raising a young family. I have 2 boys, and a little girl on the way. I recently moved from Las Vegas NV to Lacey WA in efforts to move my family somewhere safer and family friendly.

It’s beautiful here. I love the weather, and the scenery is awesome. Although Lacey was a great little town when I was younger, it has devolved in recent years.

The average cost of a house in the county I live in is $500,000. I am paying $1500 a month for a somewhat dingy 2 bed room apartment. I do have a secured garage, but it is shared with other tenants. Small yard, and we can hear our neighbors through our shared walls. Not the perfect situation, and very expensive for what it is.

The real issue is what I refer to as The Walking Dead. My neighborhood and the surrounding areas are full of homeless encampments. Drugged out losers wandering around, causing trouble, setting fires and worst of all wandering into my fenced yard where my children play. Right up the street are two giant half way houses. This wasn’t disclosed to me before signing the lease.

Is this just the way of the world now? My wife is a stay at home mom, and I work. I can barely make ends meet. I can’t save, and If I don’t sell parts, I can’t afford this hobby.

How the heck can I afford a half million dollar home if I can’t save for the down payment? I am a non-CDL truck driver. I make a decent hourly wage, but it’s not enough.

I want to move my family somewhere safe, where home ownership is a possibility. I also need to be able to find work, but I’ve noticed that’s pretty easy these days.

Where do you live? What is the average price of a house in your area? How is the crime?

View attachment 1716012754
I lived in Washington most of my life and moved to Morton Washington in 1994 to get away from all the crap and not as bad then as now. Lived on a big hill with forest land around me and lived without power for 5 years trying to stay away from crime as I have 8 kids and trying to keep my family safe. Still had problems so the summer of 1999 moved to North Dakota in the farm land and made a big difference. Never had to lock my house and no traffic and best of all no homeless people running around. I live in a very small town and not much around here but love it even putting up with the very cold winters is better than living in Washington for me. I have family in Gig Harbor and Graham Washington and go visit them once a year so I keep up on what's going on around there.
There is a house next door to me for sale I think it's a 3 bed 2 bath and an attached 2 car garage for sale that needs work but very livable on a big lot for $40,000 Farm land all around and farmers are always looking for help driving and maintaining equipment. Truck driving for farm use you don't need a CDL.