I really like Tacoma. It is a lot chiller than seattle, has some cool gritty bars and an industrial sort of setting. 40k anywhere in Washington will be tight, but doable. Maybe check out the job market, 60k will be easier in Tacoma and Olympia. Olympia is very blue, it has evergreen state college which has a very liberal student body. It’s pretty small and out of the way. I’d personally rather live in Tacoma, you can still access nature really easily but it’s more of a city than a town.

Port Orchard is pretty quiet, not a lot going on but you can fairly reasonably (very easily, forgot about the ferry) get to Seattle on the weekends for more things to do city wise. There is a lot of accessible nature if that is your jam (head over the hood canal bridge and it is beautiful).