Seattle Facts and Figures

Seattle has a population of approximately 600,000. White Americans make up 70% of the population followed by Asian Americans who make up 13% and African Americans who comprise 7.8% of the population. Citizens polled identifying as gay, lesbian, or bisexual is 12.9%. There has been an increase in immigration to Seattle, the foreign-born population has increased to 40% from 1990 to 2000.

The median income of a city household was last reported as $45,736, and the median income for a family was $62,195. Males had a median income of $40,929 and females $35,134. The per capita income for the city was $30,300 . The percentage of people in Seattle below the poverty level is 11.8%. Of people living in poverty, 13.8 percent are under the age of 18 and 10.2 percent are 65 or older.

Much higher than the national average, 25% of Seattle’s population over the age of 25 hold a bachelor’s degree and an astonishing 91% have a high school diploma or equivalent. Public schools in Seattle have not achieved racial balance in this ethnically divided city. With a majority of the schools being public, there is only a moderate number of private schools in the city. Seattle is the home of the University of Washington as well as Seattle University, Seattle Pacific University, City University, Antioch University; North Seattle Community College, Seattle Central Community College, South Seattle Community Cornish College of the Arts, and The Art Institute of Seattle.

Industry in Seattle is booming with an long list of startups as well as an impressive roster of Fortune 500 and top public companies that have their headquarters based there. Starbucks, Nordstrom, and Expeditors International, Costco, Paccar, and Weyerhaeuser are all notables. Tech giants including Amazon.com and Microsoft have headquarters there as well and Google has a large presence in Seattle too making software one of the cities leading industries.

Two industries in Seattle have shown job gains year over year despite the overall weak national economy. Jobs in healthcare have increased 3.4% and jobs in the government sector just made it into positive territory with an increase of .5%. The industry showing the greatest job losses was construction with a 15% decrease. As far as the composition of jobs in Seattle, the sectors with the highest number of employees are government, manufacturing, retail, professional/business, health services, and leisure/hospitality.

Seattle is a very liberal city with 80% of its residents voting democratic. It has a Mayor-Council government structure and is considered to be a “charter city” meaning that its system for governance is defined by the city’s own charter document rather than by state, provincial, regional or national laws. The city councilors, city attorney, and Municipal Court judges are all elected offices in Seattle. All offices in the city are non-partisan.

There are some interesting laws in Seattle. Of course, one major draw for the city, and state for that matter, is the fact that its residents do not have to pay state income tax. The sales tax is higher than the national average but, most residents agree, that is not a bad tradeoff for not having to pay state income tax. On the lighter side, there are some laws in Seattle that are lesser known but worthy of mention.

Riders of public transportation need not be worried about being disturbed by the sound of water sloshing around, it is illegal to carry a fishbowl onto a city bus. Women take note, if you are riding on a bus and decide to sit on a male passenger’s lap, you will face an automatic six-month jail term if you do not first place a pillow on his lap before you sit!