Feel like it's tough to recommend any city not New York to a New Yorker. But my two cents:

Music scene is great, especially now that it looks like Seattle is climbing out of a two-year "all sixties garage punk all the time" trench. I mean, I like basic, disaffected harmonies floating in a sea of reverb and jangly guitars as much as the next guy, but that shit was starting to grate.

KEXP is moving to a new home- it'll mean dick to anybody not living in Seattle, but if you live (or move) here, they're planning on having live shows in the lobby, viewing areas for people who want to watch stuff get recorded (as opposed to tourists just cramming into the control room right now, which has a certain provincial charm, but I don't think anybody'll miss it), and like a cafe and hangout spot or some shit. Should be pretty incredible. Ground broke last week, projected finish is end of 2016 (good luck with that). Anyways, if you're already a fan, that should provide greater incentive.

Downtown is beautiful. I've commuted into the city for the past four years, and the sight of the rising sun reflected off the sound never gets old (or more often it's the rising clouds reflected off the other clouds, but I'm a cloud person, so that don't bother me none).

Real estate is expensive, but coming from NYC, that probably means bubkes.

You'll miss the culture, but that'll be anywhere you move. I personally would appreciate more multiculturalism, less aquavit, but we're trudging in the right direction. Mainly, though, you just won't find the same oomf to the Seattle boroughs that you've come to expect. They're all kind of within cultural spitting distance of each other, with a few superficial differences. It's not bad, it's just... it's not vividly painted. Seattlites aren't the most colorful people. So you get a lot of shades of grey. Literally, figuratively, culturally, morally.

That last paragraph should be taken with a grain or two, though. Keep in mind that since we can only afford to live in the burby margins of Seattle, I'm not reaping the benefits of living right in the thick of it. Single twentysomething (er... teensomething) with investment banking experience and a college stipend? Fugeddabaddit. You'd be right in the middle of things, and you'd have a blast.