Bellevue or Kirkland: the side-by-side, then the honest answer

Price

Days on market and competition

Housing stock

This is the row that decides most purchases. Bellevue has the Eastside's only concentration of residential high-rises, all in the downtown core, and the largest single-family lots west of I-405, where rebuilds have replaced much of the original 1950s stock. East of 148th Avenue the housing is 1960s and 1970s houses and townhomes at a lower price point. Bellevue is five markets under one name.

Kirkland has no residential towers and few large lots. What it has is water: lakefront and lake-view homes along Lake Washington Boulevard and in Juanita, mid-century houses on standard lots across Houghton, Rose Hill and Finn Hill, infill townhomes wherever a lot has been split, and low- and mid-rise condos downtown and in Totem Lake. If the requirement is a high-rise, only one city has it. If the requirement is a view of the lake from a house, the odds favor Kirkland.

Commute

School districts

Bellevue addresses are served by the Bellevue School District. Kirkland addresses are served by the Lake Washington School District, which also covers Redmond. Attendance boundaries are set by each district and do not follow neighborhood names or city limits precisely, so verify the boundary for a specific address before you offer. The school pages under each city hub list attendance areas and the neighborhoods that feed them; they do not rate schools.

The two downtowns

Downtown Bellevue is built on large blocks. Bellevue Square and Lincoln Square anchor the retail, office and residential towers rise around them, and Downtown Park sits at the south edge. You are inside a city center that was planned at the scale of the car and then filled in for pedestrians. Downtown Kirkland is built on small blocks that end at the water. Marina Park is the terminus of Central Way, Park Lane is a short pedestrian street of storefronts, Lake Street runs along the shore, and the tallest buildings are a few stories. One downtown offers height and a rail station. The other offers a shoreline and a scale where errands are on foot. Neither is the better downtown; they are different shapes.

Pick Bellevue if, pick Kirkland if

Pick Bellevue if

• You want a high-rise condo. Kirkland does not have one.
• Your job is downtown or on the 2 Line and you want to leave the car at home.

Pick Kirkland if

• You want a house within reach of the lake, or a lake view, at any price tier.
• Your job is at Google Kirkland or requires a car regardless, so rail is not a factor.

The Bellevue home-buying guide and the Kirkland home-buying guide take each city down to the neighborhood and price-tier level.