5 Reasons You'll Want to Live in Totem Lake, Kirkland

Totem Lake is one of thirteen neighborhoods of Kirkland, WA. Southern part of the Kirkland, bordering Bellevue and Lake Washington is encompassed in more expensive and urban part of the City and has 98033 zip code. Northern part of City, bordering to Kenmore and Bothell, belongs to zip code 98034 and has more residential feel, with more affordable home prices.

Totem Lake Neighborhood lies in more affordable part of Kirkland (98034), north of Rose Hill and Highlands neighborhoods, west of Juanita, and south of Kingsgate (Evergreen Hill). See MAP here.

Here are 5 reasons you'll want to live in Totem Lake neighborhood.

Reason #1

As I mentioned above, home prices are more affordable than in other parts of Kirkland, even the entire eastside. In the beginning of 2023, median price for that area was $935,000, but in more expensive part of Kirkland (downtown) it was around $1.6M. See the difference?

Reason #2

Connected to the reason mentioned above, but living in area with lower home prices will give you the advantage of lower property taxes. As you may know, each year county assessors estimate the home values and according to that adjust the property taxes that homeowners are required to pay.

Reason #3

Totem Lake is the connector between all other Kirkland neighborhoods by having the access to Interstate 405. You'll use it almost daily if going to work. Though, I must say, it gets congested in peak hours. But, for drivers who regularly experience congestion accessing Interstate 405 in Kirkland’s Totem Lake area, relief is coming soon. The new interchange (at Northeast 132nd Street, which will include a new on-ramp to northbound I-405 and a new off-ramp from southbound I-405) will reduce pressure on the heavily congested neighboring interchanges at Northeast 124th Street and Northeast 160th Street. The project includes roundabouts at two intersections and improves pedestrian and bicycle connections in the area.

Reason #4

Here you'll find recently renovated mall. The Village at Totem Lake consists of approximately 400,000 square feet. Totem Lake is the redevelopment of a newly imagined lifestyle center complete with a village feel, mixed-use, gourmet grocery, high-end residential and other desirable experiences.

Kirkland’s unique neighborhoods are proud of their strong sense of community and places a special importance on maintaining a highly desirable quality of life for its residents. All of this makes The Village at Totem Lake the ultimate gathering place for locals to live, shop, dine and play.

Reason #5

Just above the hill is highly awarded EvergreenHospital. EvergreenHealth in Kirkland had been recognized by healthcare company Healthgrades as one of America's finest hospitals. This is the third year in a row that EvergreenHealth has received this recognition, placing it once again in the top 1 percent of hospitals in the U.S.

This is public district hospital, which means some services and resources are, in part, funded by community contributions through a tax levy.

Similar to a school district, this means neighbors effectively decide the future of EvergreenHealth by electing leaders to Board of Commissioners. This ensures that the hospital is and stays community-owned and community-led.

For more visual people out there, here you have my very short VIDEO on this topic.

Thanks for reading and let me know if I can help you answering any question about this beautiful neighborhood.