Bellevue or Mercer Island?
The Neighborhood Edit
Tell me what’s important to you. I’ll set the two side by side on the things you choose.
Nine short questions
Your Neighborhood Edit
Compare them on what matters to you
Answer nine short questions. The decision stays yours.
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Your priorities, side by side
How each place answers up to three things you pick.
The tradeoff, stated plainly
The main tension between the two, for your answers.
Where to start
Which of the two your answers point to, and why.
Side by side
Stats to know
Bellevue
In its own words
Bellevue isn't one neighborhood, it's dozens, and that's the first thing to understand if you're looking here.
Mercer Island
In its own words
Perfectly situated between Seattle and Bellevue
My read on these two
Bellevue is a lively city with a lot to do: restaurants, shopping, a great mall, and entertainment for all age groups. I-405 runs through the middle, so access is easy, and depending on where you are you can have water views of Lake Washington or, in the far east, Lake Sammamish. It offers both the hustle and bustle and quiet. Mercer Island sits between Seattle and the Eastside, with I-90 as the main route either way. If you live there, you will want to love living around water, with views north, south, east and west depending on where you are on the island. Home styles vary, from older homes to a good deal of new construction. The pace is slower than Bellevue, with room to get to know your neighbors and explore the local trails.
Choosing between two places
- How should I compare two neighborhoods?
- Start with your own week. Where you drive, walk and spend your evenings decides more than any figure. Then read each neighborhood’s own introduction and its published figures, and treat them as the start of a question.
- How long should I spend in each one before I decide?
- Walk both at the hours you would actually live them — a weekday morning and a weekend evening. Two visits at the wrong hour tell you less than one at the right one.
- What do the figures on this page tell me?
- Each one carries the period it covers, where it came from and the date it was accurate. I publish them as they were reported, and I do not combine them or turn them into a verdict.
Ready to compare the two?
Nine short questions. The decision stays yours.