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PCS-ing to fort lewis,WA.... Suggestions on NICE areas to live

momawof4momawof4 member
in Military Families
Looking at places near the fort lewis area live, dont want to be further than 20mins from base, Safe neighborhoods, lots of stuff to do (kid and shopping friendly), but like the earthy feel .... Any suggestions? Looked into on base housing the new stuff is nice, but its a 90 plus day wait and I hate the idea of moving again in 3 months. Where would you stay?
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Re: PCS-ing to fort lewis,WA.... Suggestions on NICE areas to live

  • candicea31candicea31
    I'm in the same boat as you are. Our PCS date isnt till Sept but thats cause DH has a ton more training before we move but I will have a few day old baby.
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  • brangela2009brangela2009
    I am more familiar with the areas south of Ft. Lewis versus those closer to Seattle/Tacoma.  We have a house in Olympia and love it, but that may be too far for you.  Take a look at Steilacoom, DuPont and Lacey. 
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  • blue_angeleyes06blue_angeleyes06 member

    We lived in WA for a couple of years, and loved it!  Lacey is a really nice town.  Really anywhere south of Ft. Lewis is nice.  There is so much to do out there.  Go to the mountains, the beach, and Seattle has a lot to do! 

    Hope you guys enjoy it as much as we did!!

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  • cmchristiancmchristian
    Puyallup has some nice areas to live.  Parts of Tacoma are good.  Close to base is not a good area.  My hubby and I live in Sumner, but that is about 40 mins away.  We love it here in Sumner though.  Schools are amazing.
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  • lew0509lew0509 member

    We're currently at Ft. Lewis, and I've lived in WA my whole life. We lived on-post for a while, and there are some definite advantages as traffic in the area can be a mess. Rush hour starts about 3 and is over about 6:30, and is the worst trying to get on/off post. There are some nice neighborhoods on post, and some not as nice ones. Dupont is the closest nice area, but is also the most expensive. It's about 5-10 min to get on post and is near a separate gate so you wouldn't have to use the main gate.  It's a smaller "town" and always has apts, townhouses and condos available. Depending on your kids ages, there is an elementary school, middle school and day care in town. It doesn't have an "earthy" feel, it's more of a Pleasantville/Suburbia. Moms with jogging strollers out running, manicured trees and streets, etc; it's very cute. Further south is Lacey, which is also nice and more affordable. Good schools, great houses, but it will be a bit more of a drive depending on how far into Lacey you live. We had friends that lived there and it took me 45 min. to get to their house, but it was gorgeous. Then further south is Olympia, which we lived in for a while. Very much of an earthy feel, there are farmer's markets and natural food stores, etc. It's right on the water and has TONS of kids activities. Capitol park is right there and it's very nice to bring kids to or go running or jsut wander around on nice days. Olympia is the only city that has a cloth diaper store, to give you an idea. Houses are going to be older, but there are some new developments. We were in an Apartment- Cambridge Court, and liked it. It did take DH 30 min. to get to and from work, longer if traffic is bad. There is a mall right there, otherwise you have to go to the Tacoma mall. If you go north of post, there's Tillicum and Lakewood which I wouldn't recommend. The schools aren't as good and it's just not as nice of an area. Past Lakewood you're in Parkland, which I also wouldn't recommend. There's always Puyallup, but it's quite a commute, however has really good houses/stores/schools/mall. I'm not sure what your budget is, but I would absolutely recommend living south of post. Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions!

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  • punnybunny punnybunny member

    imagecmchristian:
    Puyallup has some nice areas to live.  Parts of Tacoma are good.  Close to base is not a good area.  My hubby and I live in Sumner, but that is about 40 mins away.  We love it here in Sumner though.  Schools are amazing.

    This. Also, I grew up in the area (Federal Way- which is more like 30-40 minutes depending on traffic and has gotten a little more, er, "ghetto" according to my younger sister's friend's) and DH and I live in Fife. Fife is small and mostly industrial, but I would recommend parts of Puyallup for sure. Takes my DH about 25-30 minutes to get to FT Lewis.


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  • shineceshinece member
    We live in the nicer part of Tacoma and love it. We didn't want to be to far from base. On a bad traffic day it takes 10 minutes to get to base. Dh is now deployed but before we were able to meet him everyday for lunch. The base is nice as well. As said earlier from one of the other ladies def. Live off base. We are able to pocket about $300 a month after rent and utilities from BAH.
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  • ateal2490ateal2490 member
    I've been here about 3 years and I've tried a few areas...Tacoma generally sucks and is ghetto...(Lakewood included). Olympia is nice, but its about 25 minutes away with traffic. Lacey is like Olympia but closer, which is nice. Dupont is amazing...but kind of expensive. Just stay between Ft. Lewis and Olympia and you'll be golden,
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  • Dani0602Dani0602
    We've never lived near Fort Lewis, but our friends live in Lakewood. We visited them last Spring and the area was very nice. They have a great house in a nice neighborhood.  Lots of your normal amenities (grocery store, drug store) close by.
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  • armywifestylearmywifestyle

    we moved from lewis in july... the housing is really nice, when we moved on post my husband was an E4 and we had a single family home it was 2 br with a fenced in yard and a garage. it was heaven.

    as far as other nice areas, dupont, steilacoom and lacey are all nice and if you dont mind being kind of far so are yelm and roy.

    stay away from lakewood/tacoma. 

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  • armybride31armybride31 member
    I'm here now been here for 2 1/2 years and I agree with all the places the other ladies have said. We live on post and I use to work for on post housing and I enjoy my house and being close to everything. We lived in Puyallup when we first moved here and we loved it but with traffic it was INSANE to get to post especially for DH. We were spending like $200 a week on gas because it would take like an hour if not longer sometimes to get home. Lacey is a great place and if we ever lived off post again I would definitely live there. Dupont is nice as well but it's a little pricey. Lakewood is SKETCHY so I would be careful, but there are some nicer areas in Lakewood. Tacoma is the same with nice areas and then your sketchy ones. Good luck and message me if you have any other questions about here!
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