The Opportunity Atlas, which provides a map of how people are doing economically compared to their parents, is pretty depressing. Not surprising, but living in Seattle makes you poorer. (Or, rather, is correlated with you being poorer.) 
In a society that wasn't a vicious capitalist corporate dystopia, in which America was actually a land of opportunity, the map for people from low-income families would be predominantly green: poor children able to move into the middle class.
And the reverse would be true for the high-income map: making a *ton* of money would be an outlier, and kids from high-income families WOULDN'T necessarily make more than their parents did.
So, on one hand, the area *surrounding* Seattle looks pretty good on the low- and middle-income maps. People living in the area around Seattle are making more than their parents. Good! Opportunity! People getting out of poverty!
But, holy shit, Seattle. That's... a lot of red. For everyone. Like, in those red areas, everyone's just worse off.
And I think that's not even fully reflecting the brutality of Seattle's economy. The things that get hidden just in a cost of living average.
And I think that's not even fully reflecting the brutality of Seattle's economy. The things that get hidden just in a cost of living average.
Like, renewing your car's tabs out here is usually upwards of $300. That's a steep fee to be able to drive to work, especially when people are having to move further and further out to afford housing, and most public transit outside the city is woefully inadequate.
They're tearing down lower-income housing and building high-end apartments and condos like it's a race. "Invisible" homelessness in the tech industry is growing. But almost everything I read elsewhere is about how good the economy is out here.
And so, the question: good for whom?
Oh yeah, the "everyone" map is bad enough. Want to see something really depressing? Here's the map for Native residents of the area.
