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BlueGiraffeArms t1_j9ow63h wrote

That hasn't been my experience at all in the last few years. Like any town/city, it does have some crime, but nowhere near on a scale like say Tacoma, etc. I think most people who live in Shelton want outsiders to believe that so they won't move there. 😉 It's a great area, nice smallish hometown feel, and people are generally pretty nice.

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Bamcfp t1_j9oxj2f wrote

Depends on what part. Probably not though. Shelton is pretty country like most towns in Mason County. There are definitely some low income areas especially around the "in town" area. Never had my car broken into or anything though unlike belfair

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Ltownbanger t1_j9oy8sv wrote

It's mostly property crime from tweakers.

I'm not sure it's the place I would want to raise my kids. But other than that it's a fine dumpy small town.

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Fideli91 OP t1_j9p2ysv wrote

Replying to BlueGiraffeArms (#1,940,379)

Yes indeed! I’m originally from the pnw and looking to move back. Just never lived in western Washington specifically and hoping to avoid the riff raff as much as possible. Spokane was terrible enough

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Extractedpen15bone t1_j9p32h7 wrote

It's not horrible, but weird shit happens there often.

The last couple months someone has been hurting outdoor pets. My sister's dog (who jumped the fence) seems to have been shot where the tail meets the rump, and my mother's cat came home with a broken leg. It's apparently happened to a few other people but I don't know the details.

Likely unrelated, someone's dog was lured onto another's property and shot at. He was arrested, I believe, and the pup made it out safe.

Two girls were just arrested a couple weeks ago for stabbing a guy

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sneezerlee t1_j9p6lqv wrote

Yes.

Cons: Literal convicts, The people aren’t very nice, it’s deeply racist, very few cultural events, isolated from major metropolitan areas, high rates of sex offenders, sad downtown, extreme car dependence, poor public transportation connectivity, high rates of property crime and violence.

Pros: close to pretty places

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ChelsieTheBrave t1_j9p6ozb wrote

No it's not bad. It's not like get shot in the street crime or get your car stolen. It was a very poor isolated area for a long time and had alot of tweakers. There is still some of that drug history there but for the most part it is growing rapidly and a nice town

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Fideli91 OP t1_j9p70ez wrote

Replying to ChelsieTheBrave (#1,941,256)

That’s good to hear. The car theft was my biggest concern. I had two cars stolen from me while living in Spokane and I currently live in the Midwest where I don’t lose sleep at night worrying about that anymore. Just trying to get a feel for whether or not that’s what’s I’m getting myself into again by moving to western Washington.

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youngfan1 t1_j9p7i1b wrote

No, I live in Olympia and go there all the time. It’s fine, not a place you I would want to live but it’s fine. It’s like any small rural town in Washington. Aberdeen is the one that’s really rough.

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s4ltydog t1_j9p9fb1 wrote

Only issue I’ve ever found here is the dumbass rednecks who don’t realize they live on the western side of one of the bluest states in the nation. Aside from that it’s pretty quiet, I’ve never seen any real crime issues aside from the occasional property theft. The food options are getting better and there’s definite growth with Olympia getting so much more expensive and aside from a couple regulars downtown and in the Fred Meyer parking lot there’s not a ton of homeless.

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jemmy321 t1_j9pbnaw wrote

If think it's ok if you like TRUMP PENCE banners

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REhumanWA t1_j9pfkdq wrote

Stayed at friends place up there. Very conservative area. Mostly quite little place not much to do. We never figured out If they were tweaker or what but some people showed still don't know if they bought the land or what, but a couple houses down from just in the woods. They parked some rvs there at first then they showed up with random pieces of wood and such started building " structures" themselves but they only worked on it between the hours of 2am and 7am it was nuts you could hear em all night.

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AllMaya t1_j9plfpy wrote

Have you been to one of those old industry towns that are economically dead and run down? It’s one of those. It’s depressing to just drive through.

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Perma-Chonk t1_j9pm9m0 wrote

There’s a good bbq place there. No one stole from me while I ate my lunch. That’s the extent of my experience.

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AltOnMain t1_j9pphli wrote

I haven’t lived there, but I worked there for several years. The area around Shelton can be pretty nice and Shelton itself has decent shopping and a few alright places to eat. Living in Shelton would be fine, but not great in my opinion. I would rather live in the outskirts or some of the nicer (and often very nice) rural areas that surround it. There’s quite a bit of poverty and most of the neighborhoods aren’t great. It’s hard for me to believe it’s more dangerous than parts or LA or Chicago in terms of violent crime but there sure is a lot of petty crime and drugs.

Other than that, it’s just a really small town. It’s not too far to Olympia which is also small but notably much nicer. It’s also not far to the bremerton area which has a ferry to Seattle. Great access to the Olympics.

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amaninseattle t1_j9ps68z wrote

Meth meth meth meet the meth heads. Did I mention all the meth? And the meth heads? There’s lots of both.

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AgeAgitated317 t1_j9ps7te wrote

My husband's daughter grew up there. Her mother is a tweaker and shit. I only ever heard bad things. She only spoke poorly of it.

Meth heads are everywhere, though.

Sounds like a bad place if you're already struggling.

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piroglith t1_j9pslpe wrote

High crime rate, dying town, and main roads often slammed with out of towners heading to the peninsula. You can always cherry pick the comments in here to make it sound really magical though, good luck!

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Gwtheyrn t1_j9psug7 wrote

Never felt unsafe in Shelton, but I never left the doors unlocked either.

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avalonjee t1_j9q0769 wrote

I moved to Shelton about a year ago and I honestly don't mind it here at all, but I'm used to the small town vibes here. I admit I do not live in town, so I don't know how it is "downtown", but I've never had any issues here.

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Pizzastork t1_j9q1nhg wrote

Replying to Voter_McVotey (#1,939,331)

Ironically there's a pretty strong theory that Shelbyville from The Simpsons is Shelton.

Matt Groening based the Simpsons and Springfield on his life. He lived in Olympia and attended The Evergreen State College.

The failed Satsop nuclear power plant isn't too far down the road and Simpsons lumber in Shelton. Several side characters (I think including mole man) apparently were most likely based on Olympians.

So, yeah, if you want to move to Shelbyville. >.>

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Makhnovist t1_j9q1xe4 wrote

Like many of the contributors to this thread, the general population of people who comment negatively about Shelton and similar communities are simply repulsed by poor people, some apparently to the extent that they will drive 100+ miles out of their way just to not have to look at them through a car window for 15 seconds.

Is Shelton more economically depressed than, say, Olympia and Seattle? Yes. Is it more conservative than those communities? Yes. Do some residents have problems with drugs? Yes. Are there other places you might prefer to live? Absolutely. But is it somehow too scary or depressing to drive through? If you think it is, you might want to reflect on the real reasons you feel that way.

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Fideli91 OP t1_j9q27s6 wrote

Replying to Makhnovist (#1,945,552)

I like this way of thinking. Kind of sums up my current living situation. The idea of people being low income doesn’t scare me. But it’s interesting to see how it can make people associate low income with “bad people”

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Old-AF t1_j9q38x7 wrote

Yes, it is. But if you’re a Trumper, you’d be among your people.

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Stabbymcappleton t1_j9q47y1 wrote

The schools suck. The culture is shitty. Very redneck. The cops are dicks. You’re a long-ass drive from everywhere. Excellent Mexican food though.

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RedRedBettie t1_j9q5wmw wrote

It’s fine, not my first choice but I have family that lives there and I never saw anything criminal when visiting. Their neighborhood looked nice. It is a little methy though

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MischiefXO t1_j9q88yr wrote

Well, I'm born and raised in shelton. I can't speak to it much over the past 10 years, but I can say it was awful growing up there (nothing to do in the early 2000s) and my family still lives there. The schools are still terrible, or so im told. Violent crime went up - used to live in a pretty safe area. A few years back, a drug deal down the street went wrong and a guy was executed in his house over it. Drugs are an even bigger problem now than it used to be.

Personally, I'd never move back there. Won't raise a family there. No way.

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fatmanchoo t1_j9q970p wrote

I am a little familiar with Shelton, for better or for worse.

Quiet, quaint, and people are slightly nicer than in larger cities/towns.

Shelton, in my opinion is a dying town that is being kept alive by the few thousand Guatemalans that have arrived to the area in the last decade or so.

I see more sketch folks loitering these days than I did a decade ago..

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fatmanchoo t1_j9qa64z wrote

Replying to Extractedpen15bone (#1,940,763)

I've had a LARGE dog run towards me in absolute fury in the past. I saw my life flash before my eyes. He jumped the fence and bolted toward me and a friend.

I yelled, waved my arms, and the dog backed off.

I no longer walk around Shelton without carrying my Glock.

This is the #1 danger in Shelton. Not the tweakers.

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n2photographs t1_j9qcuqj wrote

Anyone I’ve met from Shelton hated living there but I think its a beautiful place to visit.

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bananadickpin t1_j9qd9tf wrote

It's a depressing, run down, and racist dying town but the crime is generally small time stuff. Not a place I'd ever suggest living or trying to raise a family in

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Darqologist t1_j9qeeuz wrote

Meth and property crimes to acquire said Meth.

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Stabbymcappleton t1_j9qfalw wrote

I’d even take Bremerton over Shelton. The crime rate is about the same. More to do and less redneck and Podunk. At least in Bremerton, you can hop on the ferry to Seattle to spend a day.

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Loach_Goby t1_j9qinti wrote

Kelso is the worst place, Shelton ain't shit compared to kelso or even spokane

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Unique_Engineering_3 t1_j9qouf0 wrote

A friend moved there and she loves Shelton. She’s trying to recruit her dyed in the wool Seattle friends to see the light and move out there too.

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Unique_Engineering_3 t1_j9qtajn wrote

Replying to Fideli91 (#1,949,144)

I have little experience there myself as I’ve only transited through on the way to other places. I did take my kid to see a race at The Ridge and that was good fun. Getting to the ocean is easy—you would be a couple hours ahead of people coming from Seattle on the weekend.

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_former_self t1_j9r9ftv wrote

Just moved here over a year ago. It's not too bad. There's a lot of poverty but also million dollar houses. The schools do suck. Politics wise it's fairly even. My husband isn't white and we haven't had issues. My oldest is non-binary and no issues. There are 3 places that I know of that are known to be racist. There's like no traffic. It has almost everything. The safeway is a little sketchy because of their location. I have no issues with Walmart. It's only 25-30mins from Olympia.

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pallesaides t1_j9rafve wrote

It's extremely conservative, so of course the crime rate is terrible.

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Dabber_chick710 t1_j9rfwjd wrote

We recently moved to the outskirts of Shelton it’s not bad. Definitely depends on what neighborhood you move to.

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Fartknocker500 t1_j9rgo7u wrote

Replying to Fideli91 (#1,940,751)

I'm in Kingston and the surrounding areas around here are really nice. Been here almost 30 years, love it. Drive through Shelton often and I kind of like it....great restaurants, antique stores and at Christmas they have everything beautifully lit up and decorated---there's even a Christmas parade!

I'm not sure I'd raise kids there, though. Too many pedophiles imho.

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tots_on_tots t1_j9rtgte wrote

I worked there and commuted from Olympia for two years, definitely beautiful but I don’t love the people there. Very small town vibe, and not in the best way. Spent probably more time there than in Oly to be honest and I’d pay the Oly premium for only 23 mins away

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munkeynutsGoon t1_j9ry3mk wrote

It’s just really an impoverished town. Sad really.

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AtlasShrugged- t1_j9s6plu wrote

I have a theory that as more folks move from Olympia it is cleaning up but there is still a sizable number of people that think that environmentalists ruined the lumber mill. Which runs 7 days a week. It was mechanization that killed the easy job of being a tree cutter. But it has its moments

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spiderfightersupreme t1_j9sez5s wrote

I grew up in the area. Don’t ask people from Olympia. Tbh I think a lot of it comes from classism, it was considered a poor area most of my life, but they are extra critical. If you have kids, I’d reconsider because unless they’ve changed anything, the schools there kind of suck. But besides that, it’s really not that unsafe or anything. Lock your car, don’t be an idiot, don’t do meth, and you have nothing to worry about. And for what it’s worth, I think it’s a truly gorgeous area of the state.

People who think it’s all that dangerous have never lived anywhere worth worrying about, I think.

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spiderfightersupreme t1_j9sg5u1 wrote

Replying to Fideli91 (#1,957,616)

After reading the other comments I’d like to add on that yes, it is conservative, but in the same way most more rural places in Washington are. And you notice the conservatives more than the sizable liberal population (Shelton too has lawyers, doctors, teachers, etc.)

It does have a sizable Guatemalan population that brings a lot of life to the town! And great food! It’s really not a “cesspool” or anything. It’s economically depressed. A lot of people in the PNW harbor a semi-secret hatred for poor people, and poor migrants. Often under the guise of disliking conservatives. I think a lot of Mason county’s harshest critics are guilty of that.

For the record, I also think the real estate is valuable enough there that the town will likely become less impoverished in the next couple decades. It’s already less rough around the edges than when I was a kid, from what I know.

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Meat_Container t1_j9si5c3 wrote

Shelton has a tradition, running seven decades, of being Christmastown USA the entire month of December. The town feels like a magical wonderland at that time

I live in northern mason county along the hood canal and plan to raise my 1 year old daughter out here because my childhood in a larger city was rough at best

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Capable_Nature_644 t1_j9sk6jn wrote

Don't move to tocoma my cousins thought buying a home in a 500k area would avoid the theft. They've been near robbed three times now and one at gun point on a walk.

Please avoid auburn. I volunteered there for a year and saw how shitty it was. Crime rates super high. Homelessness out of control and the city is really run down and dirty.

Renton is okay but not great. It too has it's issues. Homelessness is a huge issue but swept under the rug. There's a lot of scummy areas but some of the higher income areas aren't bad. The city tends to focus on it's down town area and screws over the rural areas. I'd highly avoid cascade fairwood area. It has a lot of issues. Fairwood it self is a run down area that has a ton of issues. Renton highlands is decent but you def want a newer developed area.

Newcastle is okay. Prices are high and the city doesn't have a ton of money to manage it self.

Bellevue is a wonderful area if you can afford the insane house prices. I'd avoid neighborhoods that look run down or a little on the older side. If they are well managed then that's a good sign.

Redmond is amazing. We lived there once upon a time. Higher prices drove us down to renton/kent area.

Issaquah. It's a nice area but most of the homes will be on mountain hills. You will encounter more snow in these areas. It's a town with $$$ so you will have to deal with that attitude as well. I worked at a grocer out there and was harassed left and right by rich snobs. After 8 yrs I left because the harassment got so bad I was crying three nights a week. Management didn't give two shits about it and said it was part of the job to have douche bags. Really? to what degree. The day crowd wasn't bad and decent folk. The evening crowd is when the hidden element of the city came out. Druggies and low income people. issaquah doesn't have much of a middle class because they're not building middle income housing out there. It's either poor or rich out there. I was literally judged by the job out there. Let me juts say "health insurance job" Maybe people shouldn't judge people by the job they have. Yet society does. So they lost another worker. The store became super dirty because I was the only decent cleaner and sco was pushed more heavily because they lost me the glue to the staff that was holding it together.

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Large-Welder304 t1_j9skfw5 wrote

Shelton - Mason Lake = Crackhead Central. That's why the crime is so high. That and everyone lives out in the sticks, so it's not like there's anyone around to watch your back anyway.

Too bad. Mason Lake used to be good a mushroom picking spot. Lots of Chantrelle and Matsutake out there. Not so much anymore.

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Baiken31 t1_j9sly69 wrote

Go visit in person to get a feel for the area. Talk with the locals and find out where the good areas are and what the place is like during the winter.

I had neighbors in Port Townsend who came to visit during the summer and fell in love. Moved there and didn’t like how dark, gray, rainy, and damp it is during the winter time.

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Fideli91 OP t1_j9t3itv wrote

Replying to Baiken31 (#1,958,629)

Wish I could. I’m half way across the country and can’t take the time off work. Not to mention visiting doesn’t give a great idea of what crime rate is like.

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Resident_Courage1354 t1_j9taaqm wrote

Ya'll need to face the facts.
America sucks, period.

Get out of the country, see the world, you will learn what many already know.

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Kay_swizz t1_j9taji1 wrote

If you’re black, I don’t recommend.

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Bamcfp t1_j9xab7k wrote

Replying to youngfan1 (#1,941,379)

I've been to Aberdeen probably a hundred times and I've only ever seen the sun out once there, it is just perpetually raining somehow. Also its the only place I've ever seen houses shift around due to pest damage.

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