“Economic refugees.”
That’s what this week’s Person of Interest, Luke Baumgarten, the cofounder of the arts organization Terrain, called people who were fleeing Seattle for Spokane, especially the artists who have struggled to pay $1,000-plus rents in this city.
Tacoma might be the next one up to be invaded in Washington State, but we’re looking ahead, far ahead—and east, to Spokane. Between 2000 and 2010, Spokane’s population has grown 6.8 percent according to the US Census. The median home price in Spokane is $160,000 (in Seattle it’s $624,000), and there’s just enough to do to not be bored. Spokane has a walkable downtown, plenty of bars and clubs, independent movie theaters and bookstores, and its restaurants—like Seattle’s—are getting more sophisticated by the day. As a Lyft driver told me, “It’s got some big-city trappings without big-city problems.”