Two institutions shape Seattle at metropolitan scale.
Seattle contains 656,821 workplace jobs. Professional Services accounts for 23% of them. Healthcare is next at 13%.
The region’s biggest university and its biggest technology employer each support roughly 50,000 Seattle jobs. Their hiring, office, and commute decisions can move neighborhood demand at a scale few cities face.
42% of households are estimated to be families. University of Washington Seattle, Seattle University, and 6 other institutions add a postsecondary population that is not visible in the public-school count.
Seattle’s campuses change demand by hour and season: transit, rentals, and inexpensive food matter in ways an office count misses. Enrollment at University of Washington Seattle and Seattle University, plus 6 more will show the scale.
19% of households have no vehicle. Current GTFS schedules 256,385 weekday stop departures at 2,789 stops inside the city, while Bellevue is the largest outside job destination.
For Seattle’s no-vehicle households, route frequency matters only if it reaches work, groceries, school, and care at the needed hour—including the connection to Bellevue. They feel missing links first.
Seattle’s population rose 11% from 2021–2026; its workplace job count rose 6% from 2018–2023. The source periods differ because the two series are released on different schedules.
Seattle has to absorb both forms of growth. If housing, services, or transportation lag, the 5-point gap between them will reappear as longer trips, higher prices, or harder hiring.
44% of measured renter households are cost-burdened, compared with 23% of measured owners. 56% of occupied homes are rentals.
Seattle’s 21-point burden gap makes rental availability a distinct question, not a footnote to citywide affordability.
The typical household estimate is 2.0 people. 42% are estimated to be family households, while 43% are estimated to be people living alone.
±0.0 people at 90% confidence
±0.2 years at 90% confidence
±0.9 points at 90% confidence
Among residents age 25 and older. ±0.9 points at 90% confidence
Estimated share of all Seattle residents. Each percentage uses the city’s total population as its denominator.
0% published estimate: Other East Asian, Other Southeast Asian, Bhutanese. Zero is not proof that no residents identify with that group.
Professional Services (partial technology proxy) accounts for 23% of jobs located in Seattle. The city’s job base changed +30% between 2010 and 2023.
Workplace jobs inside the city—not the industries of residents who commute elsewhere.
Seattle-based employment anchors; headcount geography varies and is stated where it is not city-only · Current or recent profile · 2024–2025. The stated employer vintage is within the current two-year publication window.
The region’s biggest university and its biggest technology employer each support roughly 50,000 Seattle jobs. Their hiring, office, and commute decisions can move neighborhood demand at a scale few cities face.
City of Seattle 2026 offering statement and employer disclosures ↗ · Seattle Children’s FY2025 facts and stats ↗. Headcounts change faster than Census employment totals.
44% of occupied homes are estimated to be owner-occupied and 56% rented. The estimates suggest 44% of renter households and 23% of owner households spend at least 30% of income on housing.
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.
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.
This describes the existing stock. It does not imply that one building type is preferable.
±0.6 points at 90% confidence
Spending 30% or more of income on gross rent. ±1 points at 90% confidence
Spending 30% or more on selected owner costs. ±1 points at 90% confidence
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.
Current transit schedules include 2,789 stops and 256,385 weekday stop departures inside Seattle. The 2020–2024 ACS separately estimates how workers usually commuted; it does not count every transit trip or describe today's schedule.
Scheduled stop departures in the current covered-feed snapshot—not riders.
Matched inside city limits; nearby cross-border stops are separate.
8% of observed resident job destinations in 2023 LODES.
Share of observed resident job destinations located in the same city in 2023 LODES.
Top observed workplace destinations. 65% work inside Seattle.
The strongest outside connection is Bellevue. Employer or corridor changes there can alter everyday life in Seattle, even when nothing changes inside the city boundary.
Citywide ACS 2020–2024 estimates describe workers’ usual commute—not every trip made today.
Share of workers usually driving alone. ±0.7 points at 90% confidence
Share of workers usually working from home. ±0.8 points at 90% confidence
Usual commute mode—not all transit trips. ±0.5 points at 90% confidence
Share of workers with a one-way commute of at least 45 minutes. ±0.6 points at 90% confidence
For someone choosing a home in Seattle, the practical test is the trip to Bellevue, the leading outside workplace destination in the published flows. These citywide shares cannot show whether that trip works from a particular address.
Work destinations are selected from observed resident job flows. These are broad, reviewed planning ranges from representative parts of Seattle—not live-traffic or door-to-door predictions.
Seattle is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Seattle, representing 61% of matched resident jobs from this city.
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.
Bellevue is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Seattle, representing 8% of matched resident jobs from this city.
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.
Redmond is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Seattle, representing 5% of matched resident jobs from this city.
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.
Kirkland is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Seattle, representing 2% of matched resident jobs from this city.
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.
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.
Public schools, libraries, pharmacies, and listed everyday places show part of the local inventory inside Seattle; 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.
Care, errands, food, fitness, and personal services gathered into one browsable directory.
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.
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.
All matched branches must report floor area before a city total is shown.
Annual branch activity; not limited to city residents. All matched branches must report before a city total is shown.
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.
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-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 sales per resident rank among the 62% highest of the cities tracked by Metroscope. The city appears to play more than a purely neighborhood retail role, but the sales records cannot identify who made the purchases.
Higher than 62% of 82 tracked cities.
Nominal retail-sales change; inflation can account for some or all of an increase.
Sales reported by businesses classified in retail trade.
Includes taxable activity outside retail trade.
Retailing industries’ share of all taxable sales.
Median retail sales per resident across cities with comparable data.
Seattle voters elect the mayor separately from the council. The mayor leads city administration, while the council adopts laws, policy, and the budget—so executive accountability sits directly with an elected office.
The mayor is separately elected to lead administration.
The separately elected chief executive.
Current directory entries; vacancies or updates can make this differ from authorized seats.
First city under Washington law.
Regular meeting schedule listed in the current municipal directory:
Schedules change and special meetings are separate. Check the city site for the live agenda, staff reports, public-comment rules, and video.
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.
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.
11% more from 2021 to 2026
6% more from 2018 to 2023
Nominal taxable-sales change; not adjusted for inflation.