Living In Capitol Hill & First Hill Near Downtown Seattle, WA

If you want to live in one of the most historically trendy and now convenient and luxurious neighborhoods near downtown Seattle, Capitol Hill and First Hill are a good place to look.

Both neighborhoods are on a hill (duh) across the freeway (I-5) to the East of downtown Seattle where all the tall buildings are.  They are still very close and walkable to downtown, with great bus service as well.  

Broadway is the “Main Drag” In Capitol Hill

Capitol Hill has a large arterial street called Broadway – this is the hip shopping street wtih restaurants, bars and clubs – lots of businesses. I first became acquainted with it in high school. This is where I used to hang out on Saturday nights with my high school friends (When I wasn’t watching Star Trek Deep Space 9 with my parents). 

The father of one of my friends was a dermatologist and he had a nice home in the Capitol Hill area.  We would drive over and park at his house (Parking can be tight everywhere in downtown Seattle.). From there we would walk to a Mongolian Grill buffet for dinner and then walk around and try to be cool til it was time to head home in my mini-van before curfew. 

At this point, I don’t know if I would recommend going down there at night. (Or sending my kids there alone due to vagrancy and unpredictable people), I have never personally had a problem there.

View from the rooftop deck of a Capitol Hill Condo Building

What Are Other Main Landmarks In Capitol Hill?

Off Broadway, there are a lot of magnificent older Victorian Style homes, cathedrals and some parks – including Volunteer Park which has an old Conservatory (Greenhouse) filled with orchids, which is  where my sister got her wedding pictures taken.  

Older Homes In Capitol Hill – Co-ops, Condos and Apartments

Many of the older houses on Capitol Hill are still used as single family homes, and some have been converted into multi-family residences.   There is not a lot of new construction here, but sometimes they will just scrape an old building in a good location and build a fabulous new house on the lot. This is mostly done by owners with a builder that they are paying, rather than spec builders.

First Hill – Right By Seattle’s Downtown Hospitals

First Hill is just south of Capitol Hill and East of downtown Seattle.

I grew up calling it “Pill Hill” – not for the illegal drugs – but because this is the location of downtown Seattle’s hospital district and includes Virginia Mason and Harborview Hospitals.

Take a walk on First Hill and you’ll notice people with green scrubs walking the streets in search of coffee or a sandwich as you weave between the nearby hospitals and medical buildings.  

I’ve taken several real estate buyer clients clients to this area looking at AirBnB condos that would be attractive to visiting traveling nurses here for a short term stint or residents in training at a local hospital. 

First Hill is close to the freeway and just up the hill from Pioneer Square which is an older historic part of Seattle, but tends to be a gathering place for homeless people and addicts. 

My Dad had his law practice in one of the iconic historical buildings in Pioneer Square and when I was a kid, I remember my mom would drop us off there to go see him. To reach the front door, we’d have to navigate around people sleeping it off in the stairwell… One time when we were there we wanted to chase some pigeons, but mom got nervous we were getting too close to some shady characters so I remember she snapped at us (something she rarely did) to get us to come back to her side. so even back in the day it was a little dicey, and the nice urban courtyard there does seem to attract loiterers.

One of the cool things about First Hill, though, is that it has service from the unfortunately-acronymed South Lake Union Trolley (S.L.U.T.), so if you like public transportation, that might be worth looking into.  

Political Activism In Capitol Hill

Capitol Hill does tend to be a politically active area, with a lot of posters touting favored causes stapled to telephone poles and bulletin boards and people dressed to make a statement.  This was also the location of the nationally famed CHAZ/CHOP “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” during what Seattle’s mayor dubbed “The Summer of Love” in 2020.  

Nobody was surprised that it happened there, but my husband’s friend had a condo nearby in Capitol Hill, and he could see the whole thing from his deck.  Starbucks were burned, cheesecakes were looted, the police station was attacked, and an area was fenced off and labeled as an “autonomous zone” where protestors would not allow police or ambulances to enter, and there was some violence that happened inside that area.

I spoke with a gentleman who come through one of my Open Houses who lived in Cap Hill and said rents there had dropped 10-15% and he would not recommend anybody live there at that time.

The Convenience Of Living In Capitol Hill

Since the end of Covid, more people are looking to be back closer to the core of downtown Seattle, and Capitol Hill and First Hill both offer an easy commute to the skyscrapers that house so many workplaces. Some even commute by walking or on a bike. Electric-assisted bikes and scooters have become especially popular because of all the hills in the area (it’s hard to bike up one of those steep slopes after a long day, and it’s undesirable arrive to work in the morning feeling sweaty from your workout on the bike).

Crime and Homelessness

Near downtown Seattle, and to some extent, throughout the entire city, you are going to see some effects of their soft on crime policies. At the moment, this primarily consists of vagrancy, pan-handling, graffiti, tent-camping, open drug use and prostitution. It’s good to keep your wits about you and practice situational awareness in all settings, but especially in urban neighborhoods like these.

As you get out of the busier streets frequented by buses, and into the more purely residential parts of the neighborhood, you should see fewer people milling around. They depend on heavy traffic for profitability.

I always recommend that if you are thinking about buying a house or living in a neighborhood you’re not familiar with, you can call the local police department to get crime statistics and discover what to “look out for” in your area.

Housing Options In Capitol Hill and First Hill

The closer you are to downtown, the more high-rise housing options you’ll have. In Capitol Hill and First Hill, there are an abundance of Apartment Buildings and Condominiums, as well as Co-Ops, which are like condominiums, but have a slightly different legal structure and a tendency toward more rules and a greater sense of community.

Small condos tend to be relatively affordable – with many options available between $300K and $500K. To buy a nice home, you’d be looking at ~ $1 Million price point, and luxury options go up into the multi-millions.

There’s something for everyone in these diverse and convenient downtown areas.