Agree with TJ.
Research the area in which you will likely move into.
I am in South Federal Way. on the Border to North East Tacoma. North East Tacoma, Browns Point, NorthShore area is beautiful. You are a zip down the hill to Port of Tacoma, which takes you right into Downtown Tacoma fairly easily.
If you are going to be closer to the city or within the downtown area....You really want to know your neighborhood. Hill Top is slowly but surely cleaning up, but it can still be pretty rough around the edges.
Ruston Way area, or Old School Tacoma are up and around the Point Defiance Zoo is a very scenic area as well. Ruston can be a hang out spot for teenagers and car jocks. They like to park in the last lot and bump their music Friday nights. The police do what they can keeping the noise down, though.
The area around the Tacoma mall and a little North West from it is all fairly nice.
The Tacoma, area off of Hwy 16 going towards Gig Harbor is beautiful as well.
What I consider to be rural Tacoma Midland, Fir Crest, the Puyallup, Spanaway entry points are all awesome communities. They are slowly but surely cleaning up and growing nicely.
The Stadium High School area (where they filmed the movie ''Ten things I hate about you'' is in my opinion the high end or luxury part of Tacoma.
Going south further down I-5 the military base JBLM is a huge chunk of South Seattle. The area is not exactly awesome. Tillacom(spelling). Lakewood area are pretty run down. This area probably has its nice points and is probably not all that bad. It just looks rough from the first glance.
Here are a few links you can check out and start making your own mind on the different area's.
http://www.city-data.com/nbmaps/neigh-Tacoma-Washington.html
http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/wa/tacoma/crime/
http://www.areavibes.com/tacoma-wa/neighborhoods/ <-------This link is my favorite
Tacoma has become my City of choice. When you look at the differences between it and Seattle, hands down it is better all around imo.
I know we have a few Tacoma residents on this board. Hopefully one or more of them will be able to respond to give you an idea of what like their utilities and housing costs are.
My Best friend live across the County lines and she LOVES being on Tacoma's power grid as well as all the other living costs. The are quite a bit lower in comparison to what I pay for King County/Federal Way utilities.
If you need anymore help or recommendations do feel free to ask:)
I can vouch for Riley when she is explaining the ''Tacoma Aroma''. Anytime there is a slightly warmer temp out(say above 50 degree's)through the spine of the Port of Tacoma and the area's around the water, there is the worst smell. It is normally a rotten egg mixed with cow pie pudding pack. You dont even notice it after awhile. And does not spread ALL OVER. So not much to worry unless you are closer to the water/port.