Traffic Sucks, thus make sure you live close enough to work so that you can walk ( all year round ), in general too steep and too much traffic to ride a bike, unless your close to work. Much of downtown is insanely steep, and thus not safe in winter on a bike. If you like to Bike, go live in Portland, where its flat, and every direction from downtown is fairly 'hip'.
Problem with Seattle is that only few of the area's are HIP, most of Seattle is BOEING or DEFENSE ( ex-mil ), very conservative, and Seattle has it Barrios all over, which means NOT safe, or clean to go out at night. Most of PDX is safe, also PDX doesn't have as bad traffic problems.
If you can live near the Univ-of-Wash, that is best, and do a startup and hang out with other creative CS type, like the guy say's, if your just going to work for Microsoft, Amazon, or any other BIG-BOX in SEA your life will suck shit bad. The happy guys I know are working on the islands off shore of seattle, and work from home remote, mostly for SV companys', all making over $200k/year.
Winter light at 8am, dark at 5pm, summer light at 4am, dark at midnight, puget sound islands ferry system, if you manage to work downtown, taking the ferry to bainbridge can off a real nice lifestyle, that said if your high-tech for $180k, then I assume your working 18 hrs/day 8 days a week :), and it doesn't matter where you live or what you do, as you will never have a life,
If you have a life, then san-juan islands most nice, close by skiing in mountains all year round the music scene in seattle is AWESOME so is nightlife.
Seattle traffic started to suck in 1975, now its insane. Certain places like Bellevue where Microsoft live, are like chandler Arizona with rain, ugly boring, mono-culture, again you must live/work downtown near the Univ-of-Wash, or else you will be having to drive everytime U wish to have-fun. Driving means you will have to find a parking place, think san-francisco,
You $180k don't mean shit in seattle a shit house is $1M, and a condo up there too, sure buy stuff why not, the only way to 'keep' money is real-estate you have already figured out that 'stock' is for suckers. Your $180k will not get you much in Seattle, but if you try to commute you will go insane, even 10miles out in Seattle can mean 4 hours a day sitting in traffic, for instance east/west from Bellevue there is only one narrow bridge,
Your married, so I can't give the good, the women are plentiful, beautiful and easy, so if your single PDX/SEA are most EXCELLENT. If your married I would advise working downtown, and living on Bainbridge Isl, buy a house, and when you go out at night just take the ferry into town, and then stay on the 'island' on the weekend's, if you can.