I live in Seattle proper. Three miles from downtown. I'm walking distance to light rail, lots of parks, Lake Washington, great restaurants, cool neighborhood businesses, a diversity of ages/incomes/languages/backgrounds, I dig my neighborhood. Traffic here (pre-pandemic) was atrocious but I took light rail or rode my bike to work, so I rarely drive more than 5,000-6,000 miles per year. I've been here for about 20 years and I'm pretty happy, although not completely content. The only reason I can afford to live where I do is that I bought my house near the bottom of the Great Recession. I could not afford to buy here if I was in the market today.
I just spent 5 months traveling the country in my LR3, working remotely in MI, FL, NC, NM, and CA. Part of the reason for the journey was to try out living in other areas to see where else I might want to call home in the future. Each place has its charms, but ultimately none of them has all the things I love about Seattle. Some places have things I want that Seattle doesn't, but I'm yet to find a better match for my lifestyle than the Emerald City (other than South Africa, where I used to live, and hope to again).