Gotta put my two cents in even though it might get downvoted. The majority of the people leaving comments are only talking to you op about the north end of Tacoma and the city center, places like stadium and proctor and point defiance. Nothing wrong with that but some people here will only mention that.

The north end is where the better off live or those that make more then the $12 minimum wage job. Tacoma isn’t just arts and museums because we only have like 2 and Its not just beer. It’s a port town that has a lot of regular blue collar workers and regular people raising families. It isn’t fancy nor magical but it is great.

Tacoma isn’t LA nor hipster Seattle. It’s a bit ghetto not going to lie, it’s a mix of people from different walks of life and cultures. It is families and single people struggling to live everyday because the housing market is saturated and housing is getting expensive. It’s faced with inequality just like many cities . Tacoma isn’t full of snobs even though some try (looking at you north end, stadium, proctor district) if you decide to venture into the whole city you will find culturally diverse neighborhoods in the east side, south end from African Americans, Hispanics, Russians, Cambodians, Samoans, Vietnamese and many other places. Also hilltop isn’t as scary as some people will make it sound.

The food is pretty good and the people are amazing and hard working. Also since you live in LA don’t complain about the restaurants here or lack there of . We have all kinds of people providing their culture of food to us and they’re proud of what they serve, so don’t be that snob. We get you have “better” tacos in LA.

We are so much closer to nature than you might think, it’s small enough to make you feel comfortable but big enough to be a city of opportunity. If you do move here, explore everywhere and everything the city has to offer.