Living in First Hill, Seattle
Downtown & CoreSwedish Medical Center's First Hill campus and Virginia Mason's hospital buildings occupy several blocks of the neighborhood, a concentration of medical institutions that gave First Hill its old nickname of Pill Hill. Seattle University's campus sits at the neighborhood's eastern edge, its quad and chapel giving those blocks a quieter, more collegiate feel than the hospital corridor nearby. The Frye Art Museum offers free admission to its collection inside a modernist building on Terry Avenue. Town Hall occupies a former Christian Science church on Eighth Avenue, its sanctuary converted into a hall for lectures and performances. Century-old apartment buildings and a handful of rowhouses line the residential streets between these institutions, sitting on a plateau above downtown's office towers.
Sirens from the hospital campuses are a near-constant presence on the blocks closest to Swedish and Virginia Mason, background noise that residents farther from the medical corridor rarely notice.
An afternoon at the Frye, a walk through Seattle University's quad, and a lecture at Town Hall keep a visitor within a few blocks of First Hill's institutions for most of a day.
Rent & move-in cost
Typical upfront cash for a 1-bed in Seattle — first month, a deposit, and often last month's rent. No broker fee, unlike some cities.
≈ $4,900 to move in
Safety
About 556 violent offenses within about ½ mile of the center over the past year (Seattle PD publishes precise locations for about half of violent incidents).
Source: Seattle Open Data.
Getting around
Nearest station: Capitol Hill (1 Line,2 Line) — about 18 min walk.
Sound Transit Link light rail lines that stop nearby — the colors match the 1 Line and 2 Line on the platform signs. Link is a spine reaching a slice of Seattle; most neighborhoods get around by bus instead, which we don't tag here.
Livability
From 2,827 graffiti and 695 abandoned vehicles 311 complaints within ~½ mile over the past year.