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An editorial illustration of Bellevue, Washington
King County · Washington

Bellevue, WA

Three corporate campuses carry outsized weight in Bellevue.

Population
158,300
4% more from 2021 to 2026
Family households
63.3%
±2 points at 90% confidence
Local jobs
158,121
1% more from 2018 to 2023
Median income
$165,576
±$7,893 at 90% confidence
City overview

The forces shaping Bellevue now.

01
The employers behind the economy

Three corporate campuses carry outsized weight in Bellevue.

Bellevue contains 158,121 workplace jobs. Professional Services accounts for 26% of them. Information is next at 11%.

Amazon, T-Mobile, and Meta dominate Bellevue’s anchor list. That concentration helps explain the city’s high incomes and office demand—and why shifts in technology and telecom hiring are felt well beyond individual campuses.

Workplace jobs: 2023
02
A campus city

Bellevue College puts a campus population into Bellevue’s workday.

63% of households are estimated to be families. Bellevue College adds a postsecondary population that is not visible in the public-school count.

Bellevue College bring commuters, renters, and daytime customers into Bellevue with needs unlike a conventional workforce. Student and staff counts are the next useful measure.

Households: ACS 2024 · public-school locations: OSPI 2025–26
03
A split geography of work

36% work from home, while Seattle is Bellevue’s largest outside job destination.

36% of workers report usually working from home. In the separate workplace-flow data, 34% of observed resident jobs are in Seattle and 17% are in Redmond.

Remote-work policy and the trip to Seattle can therefore change demand for local cafés, office space, roads, and transit even when Bellevue itself adds no new employer.

Work from home: 2024 · job destinations: 2023
04
The trajectory

Both sides of Bellevue’s day are growing: the people who live there and the jobs located there.

Bellevue’s population rose 4% from 2021–2026; its workplace job count rose 1% from 2018–2023. The source periods differ because the two series are released on different schedules.

Bellevue has to absorb both forms of growth. If housing, services, or transportation lag, the 3-point gap between them will reappear as longer trips, higher prices, or harder hiring.

Population: 2021–2026 · jobs: 2018–2023
People

Who lives here—and which households shape demand?

The typical household estimate is 2.4 people. 63% are estimated to be family households, while 28% are estimated to be people living alone.

Average household size
2.4

±0.0 people at 90% confidence

Median age
38.5

±0.7 years at 90% confidence

Living alone
28%

±2 points at 90% confidence

Bachelor’s degree+
72%

Among residents age 25 and older. ±2 points at 90% confidence

Population composition

Who lives here

Estimated share of all Bellevue residents. Each percentage uses the city’s total population as its denominator.

White, non-Hispanic40% ±2 pts
Chinese, except Taiwanese16% ±1 pts
Asian Indian14% ±1 pts
Hispanic / Latino, any race7.9% ±1 pts
Two or more races, non-Hispanic5.8% ±0.6 pts
Korean3.2% ±0.5 pts
Black, non-Hispanic2.6% ±0.6 pts
Japanese2.2% ±0.4 pts
Vietnamese1.9% ±0.5 pts
Taiwanese1.4% ±0.4 pts
Two or more Asian groups1.1% ±0.3 pts
Filipino0.9% ±0.3 pts
Another race, non-Hispanic0.7% ±0.2 pts
Pakistani0.5% ±0.3 pts
Thai0.5% ±0.3 pts
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic0.3% ±0.2 pts
Nepalese0.2% ±0.2 pts
Indonesian0.2% ±0.1 pts
Cambodian0.1% ±0.1 pts
Laotian<0.1% ±0.1 pts
Other Asian, not specified<0.1% ±0.1 pts
American Indian / Alaska Native, non-Hispanic<0.1% ±<0.1 pt
Bangladeshi<0.1% ±0.1 pts
Singaporean<0.1% ±0.1 pts
Malaysian<0.1% ±<0.1 pt
Mongolian<0.1% ±<0.1 pt
Other Central Asian<0.1% ±<0.1 pt
Okinawan<0.1% ±<0.1 pt

0% published estimate: Hmong, Other East Asian, Burmese, Mien, Other Southeast Asian, Bhutanese, Sikh, Sri Lankan, Other South Asian, Afghan, Kazakh, Uzbek, Other Asian, specified. Zero is not proof that no residents identify with that group.

ACS 2020–2024 · 5-year estimates
Dataset
U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates · tables B03002 and B02015
Period
2020–2024
Geography
Bellevue Census place
Definition
Race and Hispanic/Latino origin are self-reported Census concepts. Hispanic/Latino may be of any race; the broad display uses non-Hispanic race categories plus Hispanic/Latino of any race.
Method
Every percentage is shown with its 90% margin of error. Detailed Asian estimates use the Asian-alone universe and are divided by the city population for display.
Open the official source ↗
Work

What powers the local economy—and how dependent is it?

Professional Services (partial technology proxy) accounts for 26% of jobs located in Bellevue. The city’s job base changed +37% between 2010 and 2023.

Jobs by sector

Workplace jobs inside the city—not the industries of residents who commute elsewhere.

Professional Services (partial technology proxy)26%
Information (partial technology proxy)11%
Administrative & Support Services11%
Healthcare & Social Assistance9%
Retail8%

Verified employer anchors

Jobs located in Bellevue · Current or recent profile · 2024. The stated employer vintage is within the current two-year publication window.

Amazon, T-Mobile, and Meta dominate Bellevue’s anchor list. That concentration helps explain the city’s high incomes and office demand—and why shifts in technology and telecom hiring are felt well beyond individual campuses.

Amazon14,300
T-Mobile7,800
Meta5,400
Overlake Medical Center3,800
Bellevue School District2,900

City of Bellevue economic profile ↗. Headcounts change faster than Census employment totals.

Housing

What kinds of homes exist—and where is pressure showing?

52% of occupied homes are estimated to be owner-occupied and 48% rented. The estimates suggest 36% of renter households and 24% of owner households spend at least 30% of income on housing.

Home value profile

What owner-occupied homes are worth

Owner estimates from the 2020–2024 American Community Survey—not listings, recorded sales, or appraisals. The final Census band is open-ended: $2 million and above.

Median estimate$1.3M±36998.0 at 90% confidence
Middle half of homes$954k–$1.9MLower to upper quartile of owner estimates
Luxury-home concentration24%≈7,598 homes · estimated at $2M+
Under $500k8%
$500–749k8%
$750–999k11%
$1–1.49M30%
$1.5–1.99M19%
$2M+24%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-year tables B25075–B25078. Values cover owner-occupied homes only and do not measure current asking prices or recent purchase prices.

The housing mix we can estimate confidently

This describes the existing stock. It does not imply that one building type is preferable.

Detached houses46%
Attached houses6%
2–4 unit buildings5%
5+ unit buildings42%
Other<1%
Owner-occupied
52%

±2 points at 90% confidence

Renter cost-burdened
36%

Spending 30% or more of income on gross rent. ±3 points at 90% confidence

Owner cost-burdened
24%

Spending 30% or more on selected owner costs. ±2 points at 90% confidence

Homes authorized, 2025
566

Permit authorizations—not construction starts or completed homes.

Permit activity: U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey, final annual estimate for 2025. Housing units authorized are not starts or completions.

Mobility

Where do residents need to go—and who has a real alternative to driving?

Current transit schedules include 421 stops and 27,290 weekday stop departures inside Bellevue. The 2020–2024 ACS separately estimates how workers usually commuted; it does not count every transit trip or describe today's schedule.

Weekday departures
27,290

Scheduled stop departures in the current covered-feed snapshot—not riders.

Transit stops
421

Matched inside city limits; nearby cross-border stops are separate.

Top outside workplace
Seattle

34% of observed resident job destinations in 2023 LODES.

Work inside the city
23%

Share of observed resident job destinations located in the same city in 2023 LODES.

Where resident workers go

Top observed workplace destinations. 23% work inside Bellevue.

Seattle34%
Peak drive: 30–60 min
Redmond17%
Peak drive: 5–20 min
Kirkland4%
Peak drive: 15–40 min
Renton3%

The strongest outside connection is Seattle. Employer or corridor changes there can alter everyday life in Bellevue, even when nothing changes inside the city boundary.

How residents usually get to work

Citywide ACS 2020–2024 estimates describe workers’ usual commute—not every trip made today.

Drive alone
46%

Share of workers usually driving alone. ±2 points at 90% confidence

Work from home
36%

Share of workers usually working from home. ±2 points at 90% confidence

Use public transit
5.1%

Usual commute mode—not all transit trips. ±0.7 points at 90% confidence

Commute 45+ minutes
11%

Share of workers with a one-way commute of at least 45 minutes. ±1 points at 90% confidence

For someone choosing a home in Bellevue, the practical test is the trip to Seattle, the leading outside workplace destination in the published flows. These citywide shares cannot show whether that trip works from a particular address.

Typical drive times

About how long does it take to get where people go?

Work destinations are selected from observed resident job flows. These are broad, reviewed planning ranges from representative parts of Bellevue—not live-traffic or door-to-door predictions.

Starting area
South Lake Union employment core

Seattle is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Bellevue, representing 32% of matched resident jobs from this city.

20–40 minWeekday morning peak
Details

Highway-dominant corridor: distance converted with a reviewed 1.25x circuity factor and an assumed 45 km/h peak-effective / 70 km/h off-peak effective speed, then widened and rounded to a broad band. The morning inbound peak is shown; the evening outbound return is assumed to fall within the same broad band.

Downtown Bellevue employment core

Bellevue is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Bellevue, representing 21% of matched resident jobs from this city.

15–30 minWeekday morning peak
Details

Local arterial-dominant corridor: distance converted with a reviewed 1.40x circuity factor and an assumed 28 km/h peak-effective / 42 km/h off-peak effective speed, then widened and rounded to a broad band. The morning inbound peak is shown; the evening outbound return is assumed to fall within the same broad band.

Overlake employment core

Redmond is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Bellevue, representing 16% of matched resident jobs from this city.

15–40 minWeekday morning peak
Details

Local arterial-dominant corridor: distance converted with a reviewed 1.40x circuity factor and an assumed 28 km/h peak-effective / 42 km/h off-peak effective speed, then widened and rounded to a broad band. The morning inbound peak is shown; the evening outbound return is assumed to fall within the same broad band.

South Kirkland employment core

Kirkland is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Bellevue, representing 4% of matched resident jobs from this city.

30–60 minWeekday morning peak
Details

Local arterial-dominant corridor: distance converted with a reviewed 1.40x circuity factor and an assumed 28 km/h peak-effective / 42 km/h off-peak effective speed, then widened and rounded to a broad band. The morning inbound peak is shown; the evening outbound return is assumed to fall within the same broad band.

Method, review date, and sources

Planning estimate; actual time varies by departure time, route, traffic, weather, incidents, and closures.

Estimates are derived from reviewed origin/destination coordinates using a documented distance-to-time heuristic (circuity factor and assumed effective speed by corridor type and period), then deliberately widened and rounded to a broad band. No live routing or traffic API was called.

Estimates reviewed 2026-09-10. Starting point: selected representative area.

City boundary and regional context● nearby   ● work destinations
Daily life

Community institutions and local activity

Public schools, libraries, pharmacies, and listed everyday places show part of the local inventory inside Bellevue; taxable sales show the scale and direction of local commercial activity. Residents also use places across city lines, so a boundary count is not the same as access.

Local field guide

Places for everyday needs in Bellevue

Care, errands, food, fitness, and personal services gathered into one browsable directory.

Hospitals1 in cityView all
Clinics and urgent care126 listedView 8 places
Pharmacies37 listedView 8 places
Coffee75 listedView 8 places
Fitness95 listedView 8 places
Groceries58 listedView 8 places
Convenience14 listedView 8 places
Restaurants577 listedView 8 places
Salons and barbers260 listedView 8 places

Counts reflect current directory records associated with the city, not a complete business census or a measure of access. Large categories show a sample.

Sources: U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), snapshot 2026-08-13; Overture Maps Foundation, release 2026-08-19.0; U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (NPPES NPI Registry), snapshot 2026-09-09.

Public library footprint

4 public-library branches inside Bellevue

Floor area shows the scale of the physical branches. Physical circulation is 2024 checkouts—not visits, unique users, or digital borrowing—and people routinely use libraries across city lines.

Branch floor area
102,430 sq ft

All matched branches must report floor area before a city total is shown.

Physical checkouts
897,513

Annual branch activity; not limited to city residents. All matched branches must report before a city total is shown.

Bellevue LibraryKing County Library System
80,000 sq ft444,854 physical checkouts56 scheduled hours/week
Crossroads LibraryKing County Library System
3,740 sq ft125,566 physical checkouts56 scheduled hours/week
Lake Hills LibraryKing County Library System
10,000 sq ft155,181 physical checkouts47 scheduled hours/week
Newport Way LibraryKing County Library System
8,690 sq ft171,912 physical checkouts47 scheduled hours/week

Source: Washington State Library public-library statistics, 2024. System-wide visits, digital circulation, and program attendance cannot be assigned honestly to one branch, so they are not folded into these city totals.

Education footprint

The schools inside Bellevue.

Institution counts and enrollment will remain separate. A school can serve students from outside the city, and residents may attend a school across the boundary or elsewhere in their district.

Public elementary16
  • Ardmore Elementary SchoolBellevue School District
  • Bennett Elementary SchoolBellevue School District
  • Cherry Crest Elementary SchoolBellevue School District
  • Cougar Ridge Elementary SchoolIssaquah School District
See all 16
  • Enatai Elementary SchoolBellevue School District
  • Jing Mei Elementary SchoolBellevue School District
  • Lake Hills Elementary SchoolBellevue School District
  • Newport Heights Elementary SchoolBellevue School District
  • Phantom Lake Elementary SchoolBellevue School District
  • Puesta del Sol Elementary SchoolBellevue School District
  • Sherwood Forest Elementary School (Bellevue)Bellevue School District
  • Somerset Elementary SchoolBellevue School District
  • Spiritridge Elementary SchoolBellevue School District
  • Stevenson Elementary SchoolBellevue School District
  • Sunset Elementary School (Bellevue)Issaquah School District
  • Woodridge Elementary School (Bellevue)Bellevue School District
Public middle4
  • Highland Middle School (Bellevue)Bellevue School District
  • Odle Middle SchoolBellevue School District
  • Tillicum Middle SchoolBellevue School District
  • Tyee Middle SchoolBellevue School District
Public high4
  • Bellevue High SchoolBellevue School District
  • Interlake Senior High SchoolBellevue School District
  • Newport Senior High SchoolBellevue School District
  • Sammamish Senior High SchoolBellevue School District
Other public programs4
  • Bellevue Big Picture SchoolBellevue School District
  • Bellevue Digital Discovery SchoolBellevue School District
  • Central Educational ServicesBellevue School District
  • International SchoolBellevue School District
College and university campuses
Bellevue CollegePublic four-year and community college

Public-school names and levels come from OSPI. Private schools, complete IPEDS college coverage, enrollment by level, and graduate destinations are active additions; absence here should not yet be read as “none.”

Retail role

Bellevue has an unusually large retail economy for its population.

Retail sales per resident rank among the 91% highest of the cities tracked by Metroscope. That is consistent with a city serving shoppers from beyond its borders, although sales records do not reveal where customers live.

Retail sales per resident, 2024
$25,289

Higher than 91% of 82 tracked cities.

Change from 2023
+1%

Nominal retail-sales change; inflation can account for some or all of an increase.

See the underlying sales totals
Retail trade, 2024
$4.0B

Sales reported by businesses classified in retail trade.

All taxable sales
$10.1B

Includes taxable activity outside retail trade.

Retail share
39%

Retailing industries’ share of all taxable sales.

Tracked-city median
$10,670

Median retail sales per resident across cities with comparable data.

Civic life

In Bellevue, the council—not the mayor—hires the person who runs City Hall.

Bellevue voters elect the council, which hires a professional city manager to run administration. The mayor is selected from the council, so executive oversight works through the council rather than a separately elected chief executive.

Government form
Council–Manager

The elected council hires and oversees the city manager.

Mayor listed
Mo Malakoutian

Generally selected from the council—not a separately elected executive.

Council representatives listed
6

Current directory entries; vacancies or updates can make this differ from authorized seats.

Incorporated
1953

Code city under Washington law.

Where decisions happen

When does the Bellevue council meet?

Regular meeting schedule listed in the current municipal directory:

Mon - 6:00pm

Schedules change and special meetings are separate. Check the city site for the live agenda, staff reports, public-comment rules, and video.

Election record

Where to check Bellevue election results.

Regular municipal offices generally return in 2027. Special measures can appear earlier, and charter provisions can differ.

The next data step is city-specific turnout, contested-seat share, ballot measures, and campaign money. Until those are normalized, Metroscope links the official record instead of guessing from partisan elections.

Structure, meetings, and current officials: Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington (MRSC), checked 2026-09-08. Election administration and certified results: the county election offices listed above. Confirm live agendas and officeholders at the source.

Change

What is changing the city’s trajectory?

Population and jobs do not always move together. Reading both helps distinguish a growing employment center from a city whose households are increasingly tied to opportunities elsewhere.

Residents
158,300

4% more from 2021 to 2026

Local jobs
158,121

1% more from 2018 to 2023

Retail trade, 2023–2024
+1%

Nominal taxable-sales change; not adjusted for inflation.

Data & details — selected comparable metrics across 82 places
Local jobs
LODES
158,121
1,506656,821
Higher than 97% of places
Long-run job change
LODES
+37%
−3%+166%
Higher than 53% of places
Weekday transit departures
GTFS snapshot
27,290
19256,385
Higher than 95% of places
Multifamily permitting
Census BPS
Near its usual pace
Recent annual pace compared with this city's own 2010–2025 record
2BR Fair Market Rent
HUD, county-level
$2,549
FY2027 HUD program benchmark; chart shows FY2020–FY2027 history. Shared across this HUD metro area—not a place-specific market rent.
Work — sector breakdown
Share of local jobs by sector · LODES · workplace location, not resident industry
Professional Services (partial technology proxy)26% (40,649)
Information (partial technology proxy)11% (16,984)
Administrative & Support Services11% (16,807)
Healthcare & Social Assistance9% (14,242)
Retail8% (12,726)
Hospitality7% (10,917)
Construction / Real Estate7% (10,700)
Logistics / Industrial6% (9,619)
Finance5% (8,620)
Education (includes academia/research)5% (8,240)
Other3% (4,358)
Manufacturing (includes, but is not limited to, aerospace)1% (2,176)
Government (Public Administration)1% (2,083)
Where Bellevue's workforce lives (inbound)
LODES OD — commuting flows into local jobs
Seattle
27.0%
Bellevue
14.2%
Kirkland
6.0%
Renton
5.3%
Redmond
4.7%