The Pacific Northwest allures me, but I've never been

I've been living in upstate NY my whole life, and I need to get out. I know I'm going to move, and yet I've never really known where. This means I've stifled myself and avoided long-term commitments since I know I don't want to stick around -- so I want to be decisive and just move, but since I'm young I don't want to make a silly decision.

Why I want to move to Seattle:

  1. Nature, hiking, etc. - this is a major draw for me.
  2. Washington is a good state for teachers, and I will be one soon (ik NY is better).
  3. The weather - I can handle gloomy, and it's apparently a good place for allergies. Summers aren't humid like they are here.
  4. Urbanism - decent walkability, bus-ability, bike-ability (+I don't have a car).
  5. There's actually people there and things to do! Plus there's actually a queer community there. I know this goes for any sizable city, but where I live right now there's so little to do and it drives me mad. I saw someone remark that one can search "lgbtq friendly (insert hobby) Seattle" and get plenty of results which boggles my mind - If I search "lgbtq (my city)" or "(hobby) (my city)" I'm lucky if I get a single result.

Issues with moving to Seattle:

  1. $$$ Expensive -- I live on very little at the moment and still get by. I'm pretty good at living below my means, so perhaps I could be thrifty and frugal and live with people? I don't have the experience of living in an expensive place, so I don't really know.
  2. I don't know anyone there -- but I'm not so bound by my connections here anyhow.
  3. "Seattle Freeze"? I'm not sure how much of a thing this is in actuality -- it can't be any worse than where I live.

Other cities I've looked into some are: Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Boston, Portland, etc. -- Oregon seems worse for teachers so I'm not positive about Portland. The East Coast cities give me big apprehensions since I've lived on the East Coast my whole life.

Something draws me to the PNW, so I'm going to try and budget a trip to Seattle during pride month. I finish grad school in December, and a part of me just wants to go for it and plan to move at the beginning (or middle) of 2026.

Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated!