Just looked at the job market for hygienists in San Francisco and counted a total of 12 listings. Most of those were concentrated in the city of SF itself or San Jose area. Only 1 listing on the Peninsula (heart of Silicon Valley) and that was in Daly City.

There were a total of 35 listings for the greater Seattle area. Of these listings quite a few were in the Bellevue Redmond area which is where Microsoft is located and where a lot of the new money coming into this area is at. Many jobs were also listed in Pierce and South King County where there are a lot of people, but jobs pay lower.

I've noticed working here in Federal Way and other parts, the pace of working is a bit more relaxed. Although most dental offices are still quite high strung. I feel a bit more at ease here with expectations not quite as high as they were in SF. I've noticed a slight drop off in the quality of dental assistants, at least the ones I work with in the clinic.

People on the whole seem just a bit nicer and cool about things, not as guarded. I felt like in the Bay Area I always had to be on my guard and politically correct all the time or I'd lose my job. One of the reasons of course why there is less competition here is because it's not that easy for someone from out of state to come here. The requirements to become a full fledged hygienist are quite high and planning must be done months in advance.

The economy here is different than the Bay Area (BA). The BA seems to rely heavily on e-commerce as well as overseas trade. It's driven heavily by tourism and high tech. The economy here seems more in check, down to earth, not skyrocketing out of control. We rely on Boeing, and Microsoft mostly, along with some other smaller start ups.

I must admit this however. The San Francisco Bay Area is the most innovative and progressive place in the world to live today. All the movers and shakers of the current high tech and computer industry (except Microsoft) are in the SF Bay Area. Apple and Google currently are turning the world practically by themselves with their new cell phones and tablet computers.

All the big websites (with the exception of Amazon) like Facebook, Google, Yahoo, eBay, etc. are in the Bay Area. I think the lack of sunlight turns some people away from this area and they can't take the gray. This keeps the population in check I guess for better or worse. Supposedly 40-50% of our population growth comes from Californians relocating.

I think being closer to nature, perhaps settles people down a bit more here as they definitely drive slower than in Bay Area. There are pine trees galore around here. It's not nearly as exciting here as in the BA. There's a lot fewer distractions, people live simpler lives here. Seattle pretty much shuts down after 9p, with the exception of Belletown where the bars are.

There is no equivalent to the Mission District or Hunter's Point in SF where it is very dangerous to be at night. We do have dangerous places in Seattle, but it's not the same. I have noticed that the homeless people here are actually more crazy, rude, and agressive than the ones in the BA. I don't know why, but I've interacted with lots of homeless in the Bay Area and I don't ever remember one being rude to me.

I've been accosted by some incredibly rude homeless people here in just two years. One of them followed me into the crepe store I was ordering from and hounded me for money while I was putting in my order at the cashier. Even the homeless people in SF don't do that, even they have their boundaries. Then again, now that I think about it, if a homeless pulled that crap in SF they would probably get their asses beat. I know it can be quite rough in SF and the business owners are not people you mess with, especially in the North Beach area, them's a rough lot.

In Seattle it's different. If you are rude, they'll admonish you, but you likely won't get a beat down. The people here are nicer but I guess sometimes this can have a bad side. Here it's more 'anything goes'. People are more tolerant.