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Hiring here: Avail Home Health (1) · CommonSpirit Health (1) · Family First (1)

Family First

University Place, WA

  • RN
  • 8-⁠hour days
  • Floating required

Avail Home Health

University Place, WA

  • New grads welcomed
  • RN/LPN
  • Ratio 1:1
  • Day shift
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CommonSpirit Health

University Place, WA

LPN Clinic

$29–$48/hr

  • LPN
  • Per diem

Working and living in University Place

· 3 open roles

Open to new grads

1 postings explicitly welcome new grads.

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Credentials accepted

  • RN2
  • LPN2

One posting may accept more than one credential.

Shifts listed

  • Days2
  • per-diem1

Postings may list several shifts or leave the shift unspecified.

Living in University Place

University Place, often called UP, is a Puget Sound suburb of Tacoma that feels residential rather than urban: west-side trails and Chambers Bay on one edge, Bridgeport Way errands on the other.

More about life here

What makes it distinct is that mix of shoreline parkland—Chambers Creek, the 3M Trail, Chambers Bay Golf Course—and a compact commercial spine with Happy Duo Cafe, Lefty’s Burger Shack, Green Firs groceries including Trader Joe’s, and Town Center services. Nurses working in Tacoma typically treat Route 16 as the spine into the city, a short hop that still varies with time of day; Green Firs and Fircrest-border streets are the ones locals flag for highway access.

Housing is ramblers, split-levels, condos, and scarce Day Island or view properties, so the pocket you pick changes noise, slope, and whether coffee is on the way to a shift. The honest tradeoff is lifestyle, not skyline: residents praise it as a place people stay and raise families, then still go to Tacoma or Seattle for a bigger night out, with gray-rain months and traffic part of the deal.

Sources
As of Sep 14, 2026
Neighborhoods

University Place pockets are informal labels, not ranked districts, and two homes under the same name can differ in road noise, slope, and school assignment. Chambers Bay and the west-side view streets are the search area for Puget Sound outlooks and walkable access to Chambers Creek Regional Park; Day Island is a scarce waterfront pocket with an island feel and extra due diligence on access and shoreline.

Sunset Terrace and nearby west-central streets, plus Regents Park and Curtis-area subdivisions, read as established residential University Place with a classic suburban texture. Bridgeport Way, Town Center, and the Green Firs/Fircrest-border side skew toward convenience, condos and townhomes, and Highway 16 access rather than quiet west-side views; Sunset Beach also appears among named shoreline neighborhoods in and around the city.

Sources
Housing

Stock runs from two- and three-bedroom ramblers and split-levels to contemporary waterfront homes along the coast, plus condos that can include mountain or water views. Bridgeport Way and Town Center are the practical search area for condos, townhomes, and lower-maintenance living, with road noise, parking, and HOA rules as the tradeoffs.

Chambers Bay view streets and Day Island are the premium-setting pockets—outlooks, shoreline, and scarcity—while Sunset Terrace, Regents Park, and Curtis-area streets are the established inland residential fabric. Pocket name is not enough: condition, drainage, slope, retaining walls, and whether the floor plan fits daily life can matter more than the label on the listing.

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Getting around

The sourced commute picture is into Tacoma, not to a named hospital campus: a 2026 local-guide video describes hopping on Route 16 for a six-mile ride from University Place into Tacoma. Local listing guidance flags the Fircrest-border and Green Firs side when Highway 16 access is the priority.

University Place is close enough that Tacoma can stay in a normal weekly routine, but that proximity does not erase congestion—drive quality depends on destination, time of day, and route. Visit the streets you would actually use at shift-change hours rather than trusting map distance alone.

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Food and dining

Everyday eating clusters along Bridgeport Way and 27th Street West rather than a big downtown restaurant row. Named stops include Happy Duo Cafe for hot or iced espresso, Lefty’s Burger Shack for old-school burgers and fries, Pine Cone Cafe for hearty breakfasts, Grassi’s Garden Cafe & Deli, and Maria’s Cocina Mexicana at Green Firs Village.

Classic Coffee Drive-Thru & Café on Bridgeport Way is the kind of habitual morning stop that sits on the main commercial corridor. Green Firs also functions as a grocery-and-errand hub with Trader Joe’s and Safeway; visitor material and a local video likewise point to Whole Foods, and Facebook locals add Boathouse 19 when hosting guests.

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Outdoors

Chambers Bay is the city’s landmark outdoor setting: an 18-hole course that hosted the U.S. Open, plus parkland, Puget Sound views, and walking trails that residents use as everyday recreation, not only as a golf destination. Locals stroll the 3M Trail at Chambers Creek; visitor guides also highlight Chambers Creek Regional Park for walking and biking, off-leash dog areas, and Grandview Trail outlooks.

Curran Apple Orchard Park is a community orchard with picnic areas and paths, with apple picking and cider making in the fall. Waterfront parks look toward Fox Island, the Olympic Mountains, and Puget Sound, which is the west-side lifestyle people associate with University Place.

Sources
Arts and culture

University Place’s identity is outdoor and everyday-commercial more than an arts or nightlife district. The compact Town Center/downtown stretch includes the public library and small shops; visitor material points to personality stops such as Sasquatch Bricks and Mystic Sanctuary Pagan Gift Shop rather than a dense music-venue strip.

The city’s events page exists, but the crawled listing did not surface named festivals or recurring cultural series. Residents who want museums, a bigger night out, or guest-worthy culture typically treat Tacoma destinations—Point Defiance, the Glass Museum—as the outing, which both local Facebook itineraries and relocation videos describe as a normal pattern.

Sources
Seasons and weather

The weather reality local guides warn newcomers about is Western Washington’s long gray, rainy stretch, including extra wear on cars. Fall is the season Curran Apple Orchard Park is known for apple picking and cider making.

Puget Sound and Olympic Mountain views are part of the setting year-round, though west-side listings can have views that are seasonal or only clear from one spot. Sources do not give a full four-season breakdown of heat, snow, or summer crowd patterns.

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For families

A 2026 Homes.com guide walks the local school path as Sunset Primary, then Narrow View Intermediate and Curtis Junior High—both described there as earning an A from Niche—before Curtis Senior High. Buyers who want that established school-and-street feel often look around Regents Park and Curtis-area pockets and are told to confirm boundaries rather than trust listing assumptions.

Facebook resident comments call University Place a good, safe place to raise a family, even as traffic has become a recurring complaint. Neighborhood parks, Curran Apple Orchard Park, and the Chambers Creek trails are the family outdoor circuit described in local guides.

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What locals say

Long-time residents describe University Place as a strong, relatively safe place to live and raise a family, while also flagging growing traffic. Relocation threads often group it with Fircrest, Steilacoom, and Gig Harbor as a Tacoma-adjacent suburb for people who want residential living rather than central Tacoma, the Stadium District, or Ruston.

Local agent writing frames the appeal as being close to Tacoma without living in the middle of it, with the honest tradeoff that it will not match Tacoma’s denser restaurant, nightlife, or walk-out-the-door urban scene. A Homes.com lifestyle video notes that many residents tend to stay put; a 2023 critic video argued there is not enough in-town activity and that people routinely leave for Tacoma or Seattle—treat that last point as an older opinion, not a current inventory of amenities.

Sources

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