Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

and in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

region of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

King County King County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 12th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle ...

, the most populous county in Washington. The

Seattle metropolitan area The Seattle metropolitan area is an urban conglomeration in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington that comprises Seattle, its surrounding Satellite city, satellites and suburbs. The United States Census Bureau defines the Seattle–T ...

's population is 4.02 million, making it the 15th-most populous in the United States. Its growth rate of 21.1% between 2010 and 2020 made it one of the country's fastest-growing large cities. Seattle is situated on an

isthmus An isthmus (; : isthmuses or isthmi) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea count ...

between

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ; ) is a complex estuary, estuarine system of interconnected Marine habitat, marine waterways and basins located on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As a part of the Salish Sea, the sound ...

, an inlet of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, and

Lake Washington Lake Washington () is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the largest lake in King County, Washington, King County and the second largest natural lake in the state of Washington (state), Was ...

. It is the northernmost major city in the United States, located about south of the

Canadian border The borders of Canada include: * To the south and west: An international boundary with the United States, forming the Canada–United States border, longest shared border in the world, ; (Informally referred as the 49th parallel north which make ...

. A gateway for trade with

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

, the

Port of Seattle The Port of Seattle is a public agency that is in King County, Washington. It oversees the seaport of Seattle as well as Seattle–Tacoma International Airport. With a portfolio of properties ranging from parks and waterfront real estate, to ...

is the fourth-largest port in North America in terms of container handling . The Seattle area has been inhabited by Native Americans (such as the

Duwamish Duwamish may refer to: People * Duwamish people, a Lushootseed-speaking Indigenous people in Washington state * Duwamish Tribe, an unrecognized tribe of Duwamish descendants Places * Duwamish Head, a promontory jutting into Elliott Bay * Duw ...

, who had at least 17 villages around Elliot Bay) for at least 4,000 years before the first permanent European settlers.

Arthur A. Denny Arthur Armstrong Denny (June 20, 1822 – January 9, 1899) was an American politician and businessman who is regarded as one of the founders of Seattle, Washington., Special Collections, Washington State Historical Society (WSHS). Accessed online ...

and his group of travelers, subsequently known as the

Denny Party The Denny Party was a group of American pioneers credited with founding Seattle, Washington. They settled at Alki Point on November 13, 1851. History On April 10, 1851, a wagon party headed by Arthur A. Denny left Cherry Grove, Illinois and he ...

, arrived from

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

via

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, on the schooner ''Exact'' at

Alki Point Alki Point (, ) is a neighborhood in western Seattle, Washington. It is a point jutting into Puget Sound, the westernmost landform in the city's West Seattle district. Alki is the peninsular neighborhood on Alki Point. Alki was the original se ...

on November 13, 1851. The settlement was moved to the eastern shore of

Elliott Bay Elliott Bay is a part of the Central Basin region of Puget Sound. It is in the U.S. state of Washington, extending southeastward between West Point in the north and Alki Point in the south. Seattle was founded on this body of water in the 1850s ...

in 1852 and named "Seattle" in honor of

Chief Seattle Seattle ( – June 7, 1866; , ; usually styled as Chief Seattle) was a leader of the Duwamish and Suquamish peoples. A leading figure among his people, he pursued a path of accommodation to white settlers, forming a personal relationship wi ...

, a prominent 19th-century leader of the local

and

Suquamish The Suquamish () are a Lushootseed-speaking Native American people, located in present-day Washington in the United States. They are a southern Coast Salish people. Today, most Suquamish people are enrolled in the federally recognized Su ...

tribes. Seattle currently has high populations of Native Americans alongside Americans with strong Asian, African, European, and Scandinavian ancestry, and, as of 2015, hosts the fifth-highest percentage of residents who identify as

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

in the U.S.

Logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucksAlaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

during the Klondike Gold Rush. The city grew after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, partly due to the local company

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

, which established Seattle as a center for its manufacturing of aircraft. Beginning in the 1980s, the Seattle area developed into a technology center;

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

established its headquarters in the region.

Alaska Airlines Alaska Airlines is a major American airline headquartered in SeaTac, Washington, within the Seattle metropolitan area. It is the fifth-largest airline in North America when measured by scheduled passengers carried, as of 2024. Alaska, togethe ...

is based in

SeaTac, Washington SeaTac () is a city in southern King County, Washington, United States. The city is an inner-ring suburb of Seattle and part of the Seattle metropolitan area. The name "SeaTac" is derived from Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, itself a ...

, serving

Seattle–Tacoma International Airport Seattle–Tacoma International Airport is the primary international airport serving Seattle and its surrounding metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. It is in the city of SeaTac, which was named after the airport's nickname Se ...

, Seattle's international airport. The stream of new software,

biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

, and Internet companies led to an economic revival, which increased the city's population by almost 50,000 in the decade between 1990 and 2000. The culture of Seattle is heavily defined by its significant musical history. Between 1918 and 1951, nearly 24

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

nightclubs existed along Jackson Street, from the current Chinatown/International District to the Central District. The jazz scene nurtured the early careers of

Ernestine Anderson Ernestine Anderson (November 11, 1928 – March 10, 2016) was an American jazz and blues singer. In a career spanning more than six decades, she recorded over 30 albums. She was nominated four times for a Grammy Award. She sang at Carnegie Hall, ...

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received List of awards and nominations re ...

, and others. In the late 20th and early 21st century, the city also was the origin of several

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

artists, including

Foo Fighters The Foo Fighters are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Initially founded as a one-man project by former Nirvana (band), Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the band comprises vocalist/guitarist Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, gu ...

Heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrie ...

, and

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

, and the subgenre of

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock Music genre, genre and subculture that emerged during the in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, particularly in Seattle and Music of Olympia, Washington, O ...

and its pioneering bands, including

Alice in Chains Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AiC) is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1987. Since 2006, the band's lineup has comprised vocalist/guitarists Jerry Cantrell and William DuVall, bassist Mike Inez, and drummer Sean Kinney. Voca ...

Nirvana Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. One of the key bands in the grunge, grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam has outsold and outlasted many of its contemporaries from the early 1990s, ...

Soundgarden Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Cornell switched to rhythm guitar in 1985, replaced on drums initially ...

, and others.

History

Archaeological excavation In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

s suggest that Native Americans have inhabited the Seattle area for at least 4,000 years. By the time the first European settlers arrived, the

Duwamish people The Duwamish (, ) are a Lushootseed-speaking Southern Coast Salish people in western Washington, and the Indigenous people of metropolitan Seattle. Prior to colonization, the center of Duwamish society was around the Black and Duwamish rivers ...

occupied at least 17 villages in the areas around

. The name for the modern city of Seattle in

Lushootseed Lushootseed ( ), historically known as Puget Salish, Puget Sound Salish, or Skagit-Nisqually, is a Central Coast Salish language of the Salishan language family. Lushootseed is the general name for the dialect continuum composed of two main di ...

, , meaning "little crossing-over place", comes from one of these villages, which was located at the present-day

King Street Station King Street Station is a train station in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is served by Amtrak's '' Cascades'', '' Coast Starlight'', and ''Empire Builder'', as well as Sounder commuter trains run by Sound Transit. The station also anc ...

. In May 1792,

George Vancouver Captain (Royal Navy), Captain George Vancouver (; 22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer best known for leading the Vancouver Expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern West Coast of the Uni ...

was the first European to visit the Seattle area during his 1791–1795 expedition for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, which sought to chart the

for the British.

19th century

In 1851, a large party of

American pioneer American pioneers, also known as American settlers, were European American,Asian American, and African American settlers who migrated westward from the British Thirteen Colonies and later the United States of America to settle and develop areas ...

s led by Luther Collins made a location on land at the mouth of the

Duwamish River In

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

the Sounders made their first-ever home-field appearance in MLS Cup, once again against Toronto FC, and won the game 3–1 to earn their second MLS Cup title in front of a club-record attendance of 69,274. The stadium also hosted the second leg of the 2022 CONCACAF Champions League Final, played in front of 68,741 to break the tournament attendance record. The Sounders became the first MLS team to win a continental title since 2000 and the first to win the modern Champions League. Seattle's Major League Rugby team, the

Seattle Seawolves The Seattle Seawolves are an American professional rugby union team based in the Seattle metropolitan area that competes in Major League Rugby (MLR). The team was founded in 2017. The Seawolves won two MLR championships in 2018 and 2019, and los ...

, play in nearby Tukwila at the

Starfire Sports Complex Starfire Sports is a multi-purpose stadium and sporting facility in Tukwila, Washington, United States. It is located on the banks of the Green River, just south of Seattle. The stadium is operated by the nonprofit corporation Starfire Sports a ...

, a small stadium that is also used by the Sounders for their

U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States. It is the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. The competition was first held duri ...

matches. The team began play in 2018 and won the league's inaugural championship. They successfully defended their title in the

2019 season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

and finished as runners-up in the 2022 championship game. From 1967 to 2008, Seattle was home to the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly shortened to Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Division (1967–1970), and ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA). A frequent playoff participant, the Sonics were the 1978–79 NBA champions, and also contended for the championship in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

and

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

. Following a team sale in 2006, a failed effort to replace the aging

KeyArena Climate Pledge Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is located north of downtown Seattle in the entertainment complex known as the Seattle Center, the site of the 1962 World's Fair, for which it wa ...

, and settlement of a lawsuit to hold the team to the final two years of its lease with the city, the SuperSonics relocated to

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

and became the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Confer ...

ahead of the 2008–09 season. An effort in 2013 to purchase the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...

franchise and relocate it to Seattle as a resurrected Sonics squad was denied by the NBA board of governors. The

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team was founded by Gi ...

of the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. The league comprises 13 teams (scheduled to expand to 15 in 2026). The WNBA is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The WNBA w ...

have also played their games at KeyArena (now

Climate Pledge Arena Climate Pledge Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is located north of downtown Seattle in the entertainment complex known as the Seattle Center, the site of the 1962 World's Fair, for which it was ...

) since their foundation in 2000. The WNBA granted Seattle their expansion side following the popularity of the recently folded

Seattle Reign Seattle Reign FC is an American professional soccer team based in Seattle, Washington, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2012, it is one of eight inaugural members of the NWSL. Since June 2024, the Reign ar ...

, a women's professional basketball team that played from 1996 to 1998 in the rival American Basketball League. The Storm began as a sister team to the now-defunct Sonics of the NBA, but sold to separate Seattle-based ownership in 2006. Tied for the league record, the Storm have claimed the

WNBA championship The WNBA Finals is the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the conclusion of the league's postseason each fall. The series was named the WNBA Championship until 2002. The series is played between the win ...

on four occasions, winning in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, and

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

. The team also won the first-ever

WNBA Commissioner's Cup The WNBA Commissioner's Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the WNBA Commissioner's Cup Presented By Coinbase, is an in-season competition of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) that begins at the start of the regular season and ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

. The

Seattle Thunderbirds The Seattle Thunderbirds are a major junior ice hockey team based in the city of Kent, Washington. They are part of the U.S. Division of the Western Conference in the Western Hockey League. Founded in 1971 as the Vancouver Nats, the team arrive ...

hockey team has represented Seattle in the Canadian major-junior

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior hocke ...

since 1977. Originally playing in

Mercer Arena Mercer Arena, previously known as the Exposition Building, Civic Ice Arena, and Seattle Center Arena, was a performing arts venue situated in Seattle Center in Seattle, Washington. Constructed in 1927 next to the Seattle Civic Auditorium (now th ...

and the

Seattle Center Coliseum Climate Pledge Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is located north of downtown Seattle in the entertainment complex known as the Seattle Center, the site of the 1962 World's Fair, for which it was ...

(which had hosted previous minor-league hockey teams), the Thunderbirds have been based at the

ShoWare Center The accesso ShoWare Center is a multi-purpose arena in the Northwestern United States, located in Kent, Washington, a suburb south of Seattle. About the venue Construction began in September 2007, and the venue opened in January 2009. The princi ...

in the suburb of

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

since 2007, and have won one WHL championship in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

. In 1974, Seattle was awarded a conditional expansion franchise in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

; however, this opportunity did not come to fruition. In 2018, a new Seattle-based group successfully applied for an expansion team in the NHL, which was named the

Seattle Kraken The Seattle Kraken are a professional ice hockey team based in Seattle. The Kraken compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. The t ...

and began play in 2021. The SuperSonics' former home arena, KeyArena (now

), underwent major renovations from 2018 to 2021 to accommodate the new NHL team. The NHL ownership group reached its goal of 10,000 deposits within 12 minutes of opening a ticket drive, which later increased to 25,000 in 75 minutes.

Seattle Reign FC Seattle Reign FC is an American professional soccer team based in Seattle, Washington, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2012, it is one of eight inaugural members of the NWSL. Since June 2024, the Reign ar ...

, a founding member of the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

, was founded in 2012, holding their home games in Seattle from 2014 to 2018 and again since 2022. The team name was chosen to honor the defunct women's basketball team of the same name. The club played at the Starfire Sports Complex in nearby Tukwila for the league's inaugural 2013 season before moving to

Seattle Center The Seattle Center is an entertainment, education, tourism and performing arts center located in the Lower Queen Anne, Seattle, Lower Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. Constructed for the Century 21 Exposition, 1962 W ...

's Memorial Stadium in 2014. Under new management, the team moved to

Tacoma Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, northwest of Mount ...

Cheney Stadium Cheney Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Tacoma, Washington, United States. It is primarily used for baseball and is home to the Tacoma Rainiers of the minor league Pacific Coast League. The stadium also hosted professional soccer t ...

in 2019, before moving to Seattle's Lumen Field in 2022. In 2020, OL Groupe, the

parent company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

of French clubs

Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a French professional association football, football club based in Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. With origins dating back to 1899, they were founded in 1950 and p ...

and , became the team's majority owner and rebranded the club as OL Reign. The Seattle Reign name was restored in 2024. Seattle has also been home to various minor-league professional teams, of which currently

Ballard FC Ballard FC is an American soccer club based in Seattle, Washington, competing in the Northwest Division of USL League Two. They began play in the 2022 season and won their first league championship in 2023. The team plays their home matches a ...

and West Seattle Junction FC of USL League 2 in soccer remain. Representing the Seattle neighborhood of Ballard, Ballard FC was founded in 2022 as an independent, semi-professional soccer team in the fourth-division USL League 2. The team is owned by a group led by former Sounders player

Lamar Neagle Lamar Neagle (born May 7, 1987) is an American professional soccer player who plays for the Tacoma Stars in the Major Arena Soccer League. He has spent most of his career with the Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer over the course of sev ...

and won its first national title in 2023. Ballard FC's primary home is the 1,000-seat Interbay Soccer Stadium (also home to

Seattle Pacific University Seattle Pacific University (SPU) is a private Christian university in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 in conjunction with the Oregon and Washington Conference of the Free Methodist Church as the Seattle Seminary. It ...

's and Ballard High School's soccer teams), but during that field's renovations in the 2024 season, Ballard will play out of Memorial Stadium at the Seattle Center. West Seattle Junction FC, representing the neighborhood of

West Seattle West Seattle is a conglomeration of List of neighborhoods in Seattle, neighborhoods in Seattle, Washington, United States. It comprises two of the List of neighborhoods in Seattle, thirteen districts, Delridge, Seattle, Delridge and Southwest, ...

, joined USL League 2 during the 2024 season. The short-lived

Seattle Sea Dragons The Seattle Sea Dragons were a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. The Sea Dragons competed in the second incarnation of the XFL. The team was founded by Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment as the Seattle Dragons ...

, originally the Dragons, of the XFL played at Lumen Field in the league's inaugural season in 2020 prior to its suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Sea Dragons returned alongside the XFL in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

after the league's re-launch under new ownership. The team folded prior to the 2024 season during the XFL's merger with the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

to form the United Football League. Seattle also boasts two collegiate sports teams based at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

and

Seattle University Seattle University (Seattle U or SU) is a private Jesuit university in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the largest independent university in the Northwestern United States, with over 7,500 students enrolled in undergraduate and grad ...

, both competing in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

for various sports. The University of Washington's athletic program, nicknamed the Huskies, competes in the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

, and Seattle University's athletic program, nicknamed the Redhawks, mostly competes in the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

. The Huskies teams use several facilities, including the 70,000-seat

Husky Stadium Husky Stadium (officially Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium for sponsorship purposes) is an outdoor American football, football stadium in the Northwestern United States, located on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle, Wa ...

for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and the

Hec Edmundson Pavilion Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion (formerly and still commonly referred to as Hec Edmundson Pavilion or simply Hec Ed) is an indoor arena on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. It serves ...

for basketball and volleyball. The two schools have basketball and soccer teams that compete against each other in non-conference games and have formed a local rivalry due to their sporting success. The

Major League Baseball All-Star Game The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual professional baseball game sanctioned by Major League Baseball (MLB) and contested between the all-stars from the American League (AL) and National ...

has been held in Seattle three times, once at the Kingdome in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

, and twice at T-Mobile Park in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

and

. The

NBA All-Star Game The National Basketball Association All-Star Game is the annual all-star game hosted each February by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and showcases 24 of the league's All-star, star players. Since 2022, it was held on the third Sunday of ...

was also held in Seattle twice: the first in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

at the

and the second in

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

at the Kingdome.

Lumen Field Lumen Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. Located in the city's SoDo neighborhood, it is the home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL), Seattle Sounders FC of Major League ...

hosted

MLS Cup 2009 MLS Cup 2009 was the 14th edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer (MLS). The soccer match took place on November 22, 2009, at Qwest Field in Seattle, Washington, and was contested between the Los Angeles Galaxy a ...

, played between

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake (RSL) is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Fou ...

and the

Los Angeles Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Gal ...

, as a neutral site in front of 46,011 spectators. Seattle will be one of eleven US host cities for the

2026 FIFA World Cup The 2026 FIFA World Cup, marketed as FIFA World Cup 26, will be the 23rd FIFA World Cup, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's Association football, soccer championship contested by the List of men's n ...

, with matches played at Lumen Field and training facilities at

Longacres Longacres was a Thoroughbred racing, Thoroughbred horse racetrack in Renton, Washington, Renton, Washington (U.S. state), Washington, United States. Owned by the Gottstein/Alhadeff family and operated by the Washington Jockey Club for the va ...

Renton, Washington Renton is a city in King County, Washington, United States, and an inner-ring suburb of Seattle. Situated southeast of downtown Seattle, Renton straddles the southeast shore of Lake Washington, at the mouth of the Cedar River. As of the 202 ...

Parks and recreation

Seattle's mild, temperate marine climate allows year-round outdoor recreation, including walking, cycling, hiking, skiing, snowboarding, kayaking, rock climbing, motorboating, sailing, team sports, and swimming. The city parks system encompasses 485 parks, shorelines, and preserved spaces that total —12 percent of the land area of Seattle. These city-owned facilities include of boulevards and of walking and hiking trails, athletic fields, swimming pools, community centers, bathhouses, and performance spaces. The

Trust for Public Land The Trust for Public Land is a U.S. nonprofit organization with a mission to "create parks and protect land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come". Since its founding in 1972, the Trust for Public Land has compl ...

ranked Seattle eighth in the United States among municipal parks systems in 2023 and estimates that 99 percent of residents live within a of a park. The largest park in the city is Discovery Park, which includes of forestland and saltwater beaches along the bluffs in

Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...

. Among the most popular Seattle parks are Green Lake, which is ringed by a walking trail;

Alki Beach Park Alki Beach Park is a park located in the West Seattle, Seattle, West Seattle neighborhood of Seattle, Washington (state), Washington that consists of the Elliott Bay beach between Alki Point, Seattle, Alki Point and Duwamish Head. It has a of b ...

on the southwest side of Elliott Bay;

Myrtle Edwards Park Myrtle Edwards Park in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington is a public park along the Elliott Bay waterfront north of Belltown, Seattle, in the state of Washington (state), Washington, United States. It features a long bicycle and walki ...

near the downtown waterfront; Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill; and Seward Park on Lake Washington. Several city parks include panoramic views of the Seattle skyline, including Kerry Park on Queen Anne Hill and

Gas Works Park Gas Works Park is a park located in Seattle, Washington, United States. It has a public park on the site of the former Seattle Gas Light Company gasification plant, located on the north shore of Lake Union at the south end of the Wallingfor ...

in Wallingford, which features the preserved

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

of a

coal gasification In industrial chemistry, coal gasification is the process of producing syngas—a mixture consisting primarily of carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (), carbon dioxide (), methane (), and water vapour ()—from coal and water, air and/or oxygen. H ...

plant closed in 1956. Seattle has a network of recreational and commuting trails for cyclists and pedestrians, mainly repurposed from disused railroads or built alongside regional highways. The

Burke–Gilman Trail The Burke–Gilman Trail is a rail trail in King County, Washington. The multi-use recreational trail is part of the King County Regional Trail System and occupies an abandoned Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway (SLS&E) corridor. A po ...

, which travels for along the Ship Canal and Lake Washington between Ballard and Bothell, first opened in 1978 on a former railroad. The Mountains to Sound Trail connects the Interstate 90 corridor, including the north side of the

Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge The Third Lake Washington Bridge, officially the Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge, is a floating bridge in the Seattle metropolitan area of the U.S. state of Washington. It is one of the Interstate 90 floating bridges, carrying the westboun ...

, and is planned to be extended to Snoqualmie. Other non-motorized paths include the

Overlook Walk Overlook Walk is a bridge over Alaskan Way in Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington. Completed in 2024, the bridge serves as a pedestrian path to connect the Central Waterfront district and Pike Place Market Pike Place Market is a Marke ...

, which opened in 2024 to connect Pike Place Market to the downtown waterfront via a set of overpasses that integrate with an expansion of the Seattle Aquarium. Also popular among Seattle residents are hikes and skiing in the nearby Cascade or Olympic Mountains and kayaking and sailing in the region's waterways.

Government and politics

Seattle is a

charter city Home rule in the United States relates to the authority of a constituent part of a U.S. state to exercise powers of governance (i.e., whether such powers must be specifically delegated to it by the state—typically by legislative action—or a ...

, with a mayor–council form of government. From 1911 to 2013, Seattle's nine city councillors were elected at large, rather than by geographic subdivisions. For the 2015 election, this changed to a hybrid system of seven district members and two at-large members as a result of a ballot measure passed on November 5, 2013. The only other elected offices are the city attorney and Municipal Court judges. All city offices are officially

non-partisan Nonpartisanship, also known as nonpartisanism, is a lack of affiliation with a political party and a lack of political bias. While an ''Oxford English Dictionary'' definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., ...

. Like some other parts of the United States, government and laws are also run by a series of ballot initiatives (allowing citizens to pass or reject laws), referendums (allowing citizens to approve or reject legislation already passed), and propositions (allowing specific government agencies to propose new laws or tax increases directly to the people). Seattle is widely considered one of the most socially liberal cities in the United States. In the 2012 U.S. general election, a majority of Seattleites voted to approve Referendum 74 and legalize gay marriage in Washington state. In the same election, an overwhelming majority of Seattleites also voted to approve the legalization of the recreational use of

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

in the state. Like much of the

(which has the lowest rate of

church attendance Church attendance is a central religious practice for many Christians; some Christian denominations require church attendance on the Lord's Day (Sunday). The Catholic Church teaches that on Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithf ...

in the United States and consistently reports the highest percentage of

atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the Existence of God, existence of Deity, deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the ...

), church attendance, religious belief, and political influence of religious leaders are much lower than in other parts of America. Seattle's political culture is very liberal and progressive for the United States, with over 80% of the population voting for the Democratic Party. All precincts in Seattle voted for Democratic Party candidate

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

in the

2012 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: ...

. In partisan elections for the

Washington State Legislature The Washington State Legislature is the state legislature of the State of Washington. It is a bicameral body, composed of the lower Washington House of Representatives, composed of 98 representatives, and the upper Washington State Senate, w ...

and

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

, nearly all elections are won by Democrats. Although local elections are nonpartisan, most of the city's elected officials are known to be Democrats, the most notable exception being

Seattle City Attorney The Seattle City Attorney is a non-partisan elected official in Seattle, Washington whose job is to "prosecute people for misdemeanor offenses, defend the city against lawsuits, and gives legal advice to the city". Since 2022, the position has bee ...

Ann Davison. In 1926, Seattle became the first major American city to elect a female mayor,

Bertha Knight Landes Bertha Ethel Knight Landes (October 19, 1868 – November 29, 1943) was the first female mayor of a major American city, serving as mayor of Seattle, Washington from 1926 to 1928. After years of civic activism, primarily with women's organization ...

. It has also elected an openly gay mayor, Ed Murray, and a third-party socialist councillor,

Kshama Sawant Kshama Sawant ( ; born October 17, 1973) is an Indian-American politician and economist who served on the Seattle City Council from 2014 to 2024. She was a member of Socialist Alternative as the first and only member of the party to date to be ...

. For the first time in United States history, an openly gay black woman was elected to public office when Sherry Harris was elected as a Seattle city councilor in 1991. In 2015, the majority of the city council was female.

Bruce Harrell Bruce Allen Harrell (born October 10, 1958) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 57th and current Mayor of Seattle, mayor of Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. He was a member of the Seattle City Council from 2008 to 2020. ...

was elected as mayor in the 2021 mayoral election, succeeding

Jenny Durkan Jenny Anne Durkan (born May 19, 1958) is an American attorney, former federal prosecutor, and politician who served as the 56th mayor of Seattle, Washington. She is the daughter of Martin Durkan. Durkan is a member of the Democratic Party. Afte ...

, and took office on January 1, 2022. The mayor's office also includes three

deputy mayor The deputy mayor (also known as vice mayor and assistant mayor) is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official that is present in many local governments. Duties and functions Many elected deputy mayors are members of the loca ...

s, appointed to advise the mayor on policies. In 2023, the city council voted to ban caste discrimination as part of the city's anti-discrimination laws. The ban is the first in the United States. Seattle lies within four districts on the

King County Council The Metropolitan King County Council, the legislative body of King County, Washington, consists of nine members elected by district. The Council adopts laws, sets policy, and holds final approval over the budget. Its current name and structure is ...

: the 1st district includes the northeastern corner of the city; the 2nd district generally covers areas east of

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels thro ...

and south of Northeast 65th Street; the 4th district consists of the northwestern neighborhoods of Ballard, Fremont, Magnolia, and Queen Anne; and the 8th district includes Downtown Seattle, First Hill, SODO, and West Seattle. At the state level, Seattle is divided into six districts that each have one

state senator A state senator is a member of a State legislature (United States), state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. History There are typically fewer state senators than there ...

and two state representatives. Federally, Seattle is split between two congressional districts. Most of the city is in 7th congressional district, represented by Democrat

Pramila Jayapal Pramila Jayapal (born September 21, 1965) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she represents most of Seattle, as well as some suburban areas of King County. Jayapal ...

, the first Indian-American woman elected to Congress. She succeeded 28-year incumbent and fellow Democrat

Jim McDermott James Adelbert McDermott (born December 28, 1936) is an American politician and psychiatrist who was the U.S. representative for from 1989 to 2017. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The 7th district includes most of Seattle, Vashon Is ...

. Part of southeastern Seattle is in the 9th congressional district, represented by Democrat

Adam Smith Adam Smith (baptised 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the field of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as the "father of economics"——— or ...

since 1997. The border between the two districts follows the Tukwila city limits around Boeing Field, Interstate 5, South Dearborn Street, 4th Avenue South, James Street, Madison Street, East Union Street, Martin Luther King Jr. Way, and East Yesler Way.

Education

Of the city's population over the age of 25, 53.8% (vs. a national average of 27.4%) hold a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

or higher, and 91.9% (vs. 84.5% nationally) have a high school diploma or

equivalent Equivalence or Equivalent may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Album-equivalent unit, a measurement unit in the music industry *Equivalence class (music) *'' Equivalent VIII'', or ''The Bricks'', a minimalist sculpture by Carl Andre *'' Equiva ...

. A 2008 United States Census Bureau survey showed that Seattle had the highest percentage of college and university graduates of any major U.S. city. The city was listed as the most literate of the country's 69 largest cities in 2005 and 2006, the second most literate in 2007 and the most literate in 2008 in studies conducted by

Central Connecticut State University Central Connecticut State University (Central Connecticut, CCSU, Central Connecticut State, or informally Central) is a public university in New Britain, Connecticut. Founded in 1849 as the State Normal School, CCSU is Connecticut's oldest publi ...

Seattle Public Schools Seattle Public Schools is the largest Public school (government funded), public school district in the state of Washington (state), Washington. The school district serves almost all of Seattle. Additionally it includes sections of Boulevard Par ...

is the school district for the vast majority of the city. The school district desegregated without a court order but still struggles to achieve racial balance in a somewhat ethnically divided city (the south part of town having more ethnic minorities than the north). In 2007, Seattle's racial tie-breaking system was struck down by the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

, but the ruling left the door open for desegregation formulae based on other indicators (e.g., income or socioeconomic class). A small portion of the city's Delridge neighborhood lies within the boundaries of the

Highline School District Highline Public Schools (HPS) is a public school district in King County, headquartered in Burien, Washington. As of October 2007, it served 17,331 students and had 997 teachers, and served the cities of Burien, much of Des Moines, Normandy ...

. The public school system is supplemented by a moderate number of private schools: Five of the private high schools are

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, one is

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

, and six are

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...

. Seattle is home to the

and its professional and continuing education unit, the University of Washington Continuum College. In 2017, '' U.S. News & World Report'' ranked the University of Washington eleventh in the world. The UW receives more federal research and development funding than any public institution. Over the last 10 years, it has also produced more

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an Independent agency of the U.S. government, independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to communities in partner countries around the world. It was established in Marc ...

volunteers than any other U.S. university. Seattle also has a number of smaller private universities, including

and

, the former a Jesuit Catholic institution, the latter a Free Methodist institution. The

Seattle Colleges District The Seattle Colleges District (previously Seattle Community Colleges District; also known simply as Seattle Colleges) is a group of public colleges in Seattle, Washington. It nowadays consists of three colleges— North Seattle College, Seattle ...

operates three colleges: North Seattle College,

Seattle Central College Seattle Central College is a public college in Seattle, Washington, United States. With North Seattle College and South Seattle College, it is one of the three colleges that comprise the Seattle Colleges District. The college has a substantial ...

, and

South Seattle College South Seattle College (SSC, formerly South Seattle Community College) is a public community college A community college is a type of undergraduate higher education institution, generally leading to an associate degree, certificate, or diplom ...

. Universities aimed at the working adult are the City University and

Antioch University Antioch University is a private university with multiple campuses in the United States and online programs. It is the continuation of Antioch College, which was founded in 1852. Antioch College's first president was politician, abolitionist, and ...

. Seminaries include

Western Seminary Western Seminary is an interdenominational Evangelical Christian seminary with campuses in Portland, Oregon and San Jose, California. Western Seminary also has online-only degrees and programs and offers cohorts at partner churches around the U. ...

and a number of arts colleges, such as

Cornish College of the Arts Cornish College of the Arts (CCA) was a Private college, private art school, art college in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1914 by music teacher Nellie Cornish. The college's main campus is in the Denny Triangle, Seattle, Denny Triangle ...

Pratt Fine Arts Center Pratt Fine Arts Center is a non-profit arts education and resource center in the Squire Park area of Seattle's Central District. The center employs 155 teaching artists and conducts more than 600 classes annually. Pratt was founded in 1976 by ...

. In 2001, ''Time'' magazine selected Seattle Central Community College as community college of the year, saying that the school "pushes diverse students to work together in small teams."

Media

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...

'' is the lone daily newspaper in the city and was founded in 1896; it is one of the few remaining family-owned major newspapers in the United States. The ''

Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. Th ...

'', known as the ''P-I'', published a daily newspaper from 1863 to March 17, 2009, before switching to a strictly online publication. Other daily newspapers in the city include the business publication ''

Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce The ''Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce'' is a daily (six days per week) newspaper based in Seattle, Washington specializing in business, construction, real estate, and legal news and public notices. History Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce ...

'' and the University of Washington's student-run newspaper '' The Daily''. The most prominent weeklies are the ''

Seattle Weekly The ''Seattle Weekly'' is an alternative biweekly distributed newspaper in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded by Darrell Oldham and David Brewster as ''The Weekly.'' Its first issue was published on March 31, 1976, and it becam ...

'' and '' The Stranger''; both consider themselves "alternative" papers. The weekly LGBT newspaper is the ''

Seattle Gay News The ''Seattle Gay News'' is a weekly newspaper aimed at the Seattle and Puget Sound area LGBT community in the U.S. state of Washington. As of 2023, the SGN is distributed to every library in the King County Library System, Seattle Public Libr ...

''. '' Real Change'' is a weekly street newspaper that is sold mainly by

homeless Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...

persons as an alternative to panhandling. There are also several ethnic newspapers, including '' The Facts'', ''

Northwest Asian Weekly The ''Northwest Asian Weekly'' is an Asian American newspaper based in Seattle, Washington's International District. It was founded in 1983 by Assunta Ng, publisher of the '' Seattle Chinese Post'', and published free weekly editions until Ja ...

'' and the ''

International Examiner The ''International Examiner'' is a free monthly Asian American newspaper and media nonprofit organization based in Seattle, Washington's historic Chinatown International District (CID). It was founded in 1974 by Gerald Yuasa and Lawrence Imam ...

''. Several Seattle neighborhoods had weekly publications, including the ''

Ballard News-Tribune The ''Ballard News-Tribune'' is a weekly newspaper serving the Ballard, Seattle, Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. It was founded in 1891 and has a circulation of 9,500. It is one of the Robinson Newspapers, a group ...

'', '' Capitol Hill Times'', and ''

West Seattle Herald The ''West Seattle Herald'' is a newspaper serving West Seattle, Seattle, Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific No ...

'', that were shut down in the early 21st century; hyperlocal neighborhood blogs have emerged as an alternative to these weeklies. Seattle is also well served by television and radio, with all major U.S. networks represented, along with at least five other English-language stations and two Spanish-language stations. Seattle cable viewers also receive

CBUT CBUT-DT (channel 2) is a television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, serving as the West Coast flagship of CBC Television. It is part of a twinstick with Ici Radio-Canada Télé station CBUFT-DT (channel 26). The two stations sh ...

2 (

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

) from

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, British Columbia.

Non-commercial A non-commercial (also spelled noncommercial) activity is an activity that is not carried out in the interest of Profit (economics), profit. The opposite is Commerce, commercial, something that primarily serves profit interests and is focused on bu ...

radio stations include

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

affiliates

KUOW-FM KUOW-FM (94.9 MHz) is a National Public Radio member station in Seattle, Washington. It is the largest of the three full-fledged NPR member stations in the Seattle and Tacoma media market, with two Tacoma-based stations, KNKX and KVTI being t ...

94.9 and

KNKX KNKX (88.5 MHz) is a public radio station licensed to Tacoma, Washington, United States. A member of National Public Radio (NPR), it airs a jazz and news format for the Seattle metropolitan area. The station is owned by Pacific Public Me ...

88.5 (Tacoma), as well as

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

station

KING-FM KING-FM (98.1 MHz; "Classical KING") is a non-commercial classical music radio station in Seattle, Washington. It is owned by Classic Radio, a nonprofit organization. The studios and offices are on Mercer St in Seattle. KING-FM holds periodi ...

98.1. Other non-commercial stations include

KEXP-FM KEXP-FM (90.3 FM) is a non-commercial radio station in Seattle, Washington, United States, specializing in indie music programmed by its disc jockeys. KEXP's studios are located at the Seattle Center, and the transmitter is in the city's Capi ...

90.3 (affiliated with the UW),

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial broadcasting, commercial and public broadcasting. Community broadcasting, Community stations serve geographic communities and communities o ...

KBCS-FM 91.3 (affiliated with

Bellevue College Bellevue College (BC) is a public college in Bellevue, Washington. Created in 1966, the school is the largest of the 34 institutions that make up the Washington Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) system and the third-largest institution ...

), and

high school radio High school radio are radio stations located at high schools and usually operated by its students with faculty supervision. The oldest extant high school AM radio station is AM 1450 KBPS in Portland, Oregon. Portland radio station KBPS, first li ...

KNHC-FM KNHC (89.5 FM) is a Class C1 high school radio station based in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's oldest, still remaining, dance music station. C89.5 offers a hybrid of current-based EDM product and Rhythmic Top 40 remixes, as well as ...

89.5, which broadcasts an

electronic dance music Electronic dance music (EDM), also referred to as dance music or club music, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and List of electronic dance music festivals, festivals. It is generally ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

, is owned by the public school system and operated by students of Nathan Hale High School. Many Seattle radio stations are available through

Internet radio Internet radio, also known as online radio, web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio and IP radio, is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not ...

, with KEXP in particular being a pioneer of Internet radio. Seattle also has numerous commercial radio stations. In a March 2012 report by the consumer research firm

Arbitron Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by mergin ...

, the top FM stations were

KRWM KRWM (106.9 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Bremerton, Washington, serving the Seattle/Puget Sound region. It is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting, and airs an adult contemporary radio format. The station switches to all- Christm ...

(

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

format),

KIRO-FM KIRO-FM (97.3 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Tacoma, Washington, and serving the Seattle-Tacoma radio market. It airs a news/talk radio format and is owned by Salt Lake City–based Bonneville International, a broadcasting c ...

(

news/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews ...

), and

KISW KISW (99.9 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a mainstream rock format in Seattle, Washington. It is owned by Audacy, Inc. and has studios in Downtown Seattle and a transmitter on Tiger Mountain in Issaquah. In addition to a standard analo ...

(

active rock Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge o ...

) while the top AM stations were KOMO (

all news All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to the discussion and broadcast of news. All-news radio is available in both local and syndicated forms, and is carried on both major US satellite radio networks. All-news stations can run the ...

KJR (AM) KJR (950 kHz) is an all-sports AM radio station owned by iHeartMedia in Seattle, Washington. KJR is the Puget Sound region's home of Fox Sports Radio and Infinity Sports Network, mostly carrying their national programming, while co-owned K ...

( all sports),

KIRO (AM) KIRO (710 Hertz, kHz "Seattle Sports") is a commercial radio, commercial AM broadcasting, AM radio station in Seattle, Seattle, Washington, owned by Salt Lake City–based Bonneville International. The station airs a sports radio radio format, f ...

(all sports).

Infrastructure

Health systems

The University of Washington is consistently ranked among the country's leading institutions in medical research, earning special merits for programs in neurology and neurosurgery. The university-run UW Medicine system encompasses several major local hospitals, including

Harborview Medical Center Harborview Medical Center is a public hospital located in the First Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is owned by King County and managed by UW Medicine. Overview Harborview Medical Center is the designated Disast ...

, the public county hospital and the only Level I trauma hospital for Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. Harborview and two other major hospitals—

Virginia Mason Medical Center Virginia Mason Medical Center is an integrated hospital, training and research facility located in Seattle, Washington, USA. It was the founding location, in 1920, of the private, non-profit Virginia Mason health organization; in January 2021, the ...

and

Swedish Medical Center Swedish Health Services (formerly Swedish Medical Center) is a nonprofit healthcare provider in the Seattle metropolitan area. It operates five hospital campuses (in the Seattle neighborhoods of First Hill, Cherry Hill and Ballard, and the ci ...

—are located on First Hill, which is nicknamed "Pill Hill" for its concentration of medical facilities. Located in the Laurelhurst neighborhood,

Seattle Children's Seattle Children's (previously Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center; previously Children's Orthopedic Hospital) is a children's hospital in the Laurelhurst neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. The hospital specializes ...

, formerly Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, is the pediatric referral center for Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. The

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, formerly known as the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and also known as Fred Hutch or The Hutch, is a cancer research institute established in 1975 in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. History ...

has a campus in the Eastlake neighborhood. The University District is home to the

University of Washington Medical Center The University of Washington Medical Center (UWMC) is a hospital in the University District of Seattle, Washington. It is one of the teaching hospitals affiliated with the University of Washington School of Medicine and is located in the Wa ...

which, along with Harborview, is operated by the University of Washington. Seattle is also served by a

Veterans Affairs Veterans' affairs is an area of public policy concerned with relations between a government and its communities of military veterans. Some jurisdictions have a designated government agency or department, a Department of Veterans' Affairs, Minist ...

hospital on Beacon Hill, a third campus of Swedish in Ballard, and

UW Medical Center - Northwest UW, U.W., ''Uw'', or uw may refer to: Universities Canada * University of Waterloo, Ontario * University of Windsor, Ontario * University of Winnipeg, Manitoba United States * University of Washington ** University of Washington Bothell ** Univer ...

near Northgate Station. Seattle has seen local developments of modern paramedic services with the establishment of Medic One in 1970. In 1974, a ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...

'' story on the success of the then four-year-old Medic One paramedic system called Seattle "the best place in the world to have a heart attack." The city also has several

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...

chains; these include Bartell Drugs, which was family-run in Seattle until its acquisition by

Rite Aid Rite Aid Corporation is an American drugstore chain based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1962 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, by Alex Grass under the name Thrift D Discount Center. Prior to its first bankruptcy in 2023, it was the th ...

in 2020. , Seattle lacks a 24-hour retail pharmacy due to the closure of locations across several chains.

Transportation

Link trains at University St station in 2010

The first streetcars appeared in 1889 and were instrumental in the creation of a relatively well-defined downtown and strong neighborhoods at the end of their lines. The advent of the automobile began the dismantling of rail in Seattle. Tacoma–Seattle railway service ended in 1929 and the Everett–Seattle service came to an end in 1939, replaced by automobiles running on the recently developed highway system. Rails on city streets were paved over or removed, and the opening of the Seattle trolleybus system brought the end of streetcars in Seattle in 1941. This left an extensive network of privately owned buses (later public) as the only mass transit within the city and throughout the region.

King County Metro King County Metro, officially the King County Metro Transit Department and often shortened to Metro, is the public transit authority of King County, Washington, which includes the city of Seattle. It is the eighth-largest transit bus agency in t ...

provides regular bus service in the city and county, and the

South Lake Union Streetcar The South Lake Union Streetcar, officially the South Lake Union Line, is a streetcar route in Seattle, Washington, United States, forming part of the Seattle Streetcar system. It travels and connects Downtown Seattle to the South Lake Union ...

line and the

First Hill Streetcar The First Hill Streetcar, officially the First Hill Line, is a streetcar route in Seattle, Washington, United States, forming part of the modern Seattle Streetcar system. It travels between several neighborhoods in central Seattle, including th ...

line. Seattle is one of the few cities in North America whose bus fleet includes electric trolleybuses.

Sound Transit Sound Transit (ST), officially the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, is a public transit agency serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It manages the Link light rail system in Se ...

provides an express bus service within the metropolitan area, two

Sounder commuter rail Sounder is a commuter rail system that serves the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. Managed by Sound Transit, it uses of tracks, primarily owned by operator BNSF Railway, and runs with equipment maintained by Amtra ...

lines between the suburbs and downtown, and its 1 Line

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

line between Northgate and Angle Lake.

Washington State Ferries Washington State Ferries (WSF) is a public ferry system in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It is a division of the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and operates 10 routes serving 20 terminals within Puget ...

, which manages the largest network of ferries in the United States and third-largest in the world, connects Seattle to Bainbridge and Vashon Islands in Puget Sound and to Bremerton and

Southworth Southworth may refer to: People * Southworth (surname) Places * Southworth, Ohio, an unincorporated community * Southworth, Washington – unincorporated community on Puget Sound in Kitsap County, Washington * Point Southworth – on Kitsap Penins ...

on the Kitsap Peninsula.

in Pioneer Square serves

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

intercity trains and Sounder commuter trains, and is located adjacent to the International District/Chinatown light rail station. According to the 2007

American Community Survey The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual demographics survey program conducted by the United States Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the United States census, decennial census ...

, 18.6% of Seattle residents used one of the three public transit systems that serve the city, giving it the highest transit ridership of all major cities without heavy or light rail prior to the completion of Sound Transit's 1 Line. The city has also been described by Bert Sperling as the fourth most walkable U.S. city and by

Walk Score Walk Score, a subsidiary of Redfin, provides walkability analysis and apartment search tools. Its flagship product is a large-scale, public access walkability index that assigns a numerical walkability score to any address in the United States, U ...

as the sixth most walkable of the fifty largest U.S. cities.

, locally known as Sea-Tac Airport and located just south in the neighboring city of SeaTac, is operated by the Port of Seattle and provides commercial air service to destinations throughout the world. Closer to downtown,

Boeing Field King County International Airport , commonly Boeing Field, is a public airport owned and operated by King County, Washington, King County, south of downtown Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. The airport is sometimes r ...

is used for general aviation, cargo flights, and testing/delivery of Boeing airliners. A secondary passenger airport,

Paine Field Seattle Paine Field International Airport — also known as Paine Field and Snohomish County Airport — is a commercial and general aviation airport serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. It is located in uni ...

, opened in 2019 and is located in Everett, north of Seattle. It is predominantly used by Boeing and their large assembly plant located nearby. The main mode of transportation, however, is the street system, which is laid out in a

cardinal direction The four cardinal directions or cardinal points are the four main compass directions: north (N), south (S), east (E), and west (W). The corresponding azimuths ( clockwise horizontal angle from north) are 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°. The ...

grid pattern In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at Angle#Types of angles, right angles to each other, forming a wikt:grid, grid. Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, fr ...

, except in the central business district where early city leaders Arthur Denny and

Carson Boren Carson Dobbins Boren (December 12, 1824 – August 19, 1912) was an early founder of Seattle, Washington (see Denny Party). His sister Mary Ann was married to Arthur Denny, and his sister Louisa to David Denny. Boren was the first King Count ...

insisted on orienting the plats relative to the shoreline rather than to true north. The city's topography, formed by the recession of glaciers, created north–south troughs that did not allow east–west streets to be continuous; only Madison Street runs uninterrupted from Elliott Bay to Lake Washington. Only two roads,

and State Route 99 (both limited-access highways) run uninterrupted through the city from north to south. From 1953 to 2019, State Route 99 ran through downtown Seattle on the

Alaskan Way Viaduct The Alaskan Way Viaduct ("the viaduct" for short) was an elevated freeway in Seattle, Washington, United States, that carried a section of Washington State Route 99, State Route 99 (SR 99). The double-decked freeway ran north–south along the ...

, an elevated freeway on the waterfront. However, due to damage sustained during the 2001 Nisqually earthquake the viaduct was replaced by a tunnel. The

Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel The State Route 99 tunnel, also known as the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel, is a bored highway tunnel in the city of Seattle, Washington, United States. The , double-decker tunnel carries a section of State Route 99 (SR 99) und ...

was originally scheduled to be completed in December 2015 at a cost of US$4.25 billion. The world's largest

tunnel boring machine A tunnel boring machine (TBM), also known as a "mole" or a "worm", is a machine used to excavate tunnels. TBMs are an alternative to drilling and blasting methods and "hand mining", allowing more rapid excavation through hard rock, wet or dry so ...

, named "

Bertha Bertha is a female Germanic name, from Old High German ''berhta'' meaning "bright one". It was usually a short form of Anglo Saxon names ''Beorhtgifu'' meaning "bright gift" or ''Beorhtwynn'' meaning "bright joy". The name occurs as a theonym, s ...

", was commissioned for the project, measuring in diameter. The tunnel's opening was delayed to February 2019 due to issues with the machine, which included a two-year halt in excavation. Seattle has the 8th-worst traffic congestion of all American cities, and ranks 10th among all North American cities according to

Inrix INRIX, Inc. is a privately held company headquartered in Kirkland, Washington, US. It provides location-based data and software-as-a-service analytics—such as real-time and historical traffic conditions, road safety, and parking availability� ...

. The city has started moving away from the automobile and toward mass transit. From 2004 to 2009, the annual number of unlinked public transportation trips increased by approximately 21%. In 2006, voters in King County passed the Transit Now proposition, which increased bus service hours on high ridership routes and paid for five

limited-stop In public transit, particularly bus, tram, or train transportation, a limited-stop (or sometimes referred to as semi-fast) service is a trip pattern that stops less frequently than a local service. Many limited-stop or semi-fast services are a co ...

bus lines called RapidRide. After rejecting a roads and transit measure in 2007, Seattle-area voters passed a transit only measure in 2008 to increase ST Express bus service, extend the

Link light rail Link light rail is a light rail system with some rapid transit characteristics that serves the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It is managed by Sound Transit in partnership with local transit pro ...

system, and expand and improve

service. A

line (now the 1 Line) from downtown heading south to Sea-Tac Airport began service in 2009, giving the city its first rapid transit line with intermediate stations within the city limits. The line was first extended north to the

in March 2016, followed by Northgate in October 2021, and

Lynnwood Lynnwood is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The city is part of the Seattle metropolitan area and is located north of Seattle and south of Everett, near the junction of Interstate 5 and Interstate 405. It is the four ...

in August 2024. A second line, the 2 Line opened in April 2024 between

Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. Bellevue or Belle Vue may refer to: Places Australia * Bellevue, Queensland * Bellevue, Western Australia * Bellevue Hill, New South Wales Canada * Bellevue, Alberta * Bellevue, Newfoundlan ...

and Redmond; it is planned to be extended into Seattle via the Interstate 90 floating bridge in late 2025. Voters in the Puget Sound region approved an additional tax increase, part of the

Sound Transit 3 Sound Transit 3, abbreviated as ST3, was a referendum, ballot measure during the November 2016 elections in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, proposing an expansion of the regional public transit system. The measure was proposed by Sound ...

package, in November 2016 to expand light rail to West Seattle and Ballard as well as Tacoma, Everett, and Issaquah.

Utilities

Water and electric power are municipal services, provided by

Seattle Public Utilities Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) is a public utility agency of the city of Seattle, Washington, which provides water, sewer, drainage and garbage services for 1.3 million people in King County, Washington. The agency was established in 1997, co ...

and

Seattle City Light Seattle City Light is the public utility providing electricity to Seattle, Washington, in the United States, and parts of its metropolitan area, including all of Shoreline, nearly all of Lake Forest Park, and parts of unincorporated King County, ...

, respectively. Private utility companies serving Seattle include

Puget Sound Energy Puget Sound Energy, Inc. (PSE) is an energy utility company based in the U.S. state of Washington that provides electrical power and natural gas to the Puget Sound region. The utility serves electricity to more than 1.2 million customers in I ...

, which has 150,000

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

customers in the city, and

Seattle Steam Company CenTrio, formerly known as the Seattle Steam Company, is a district heating public utility that provides steam (generated by burning natural gas, diesel oil, and recycled wood) to over 175 businesses in downtown Seattle and on First and Capito ...

, which has a

district heating District heating (also known as heat networks) is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location through a system of insulated pipes for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heater, space heating and w ...

system in Downtown Seattle powered by several steam plants. Curbside

solid waste Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the United States and rubbish in Britain, is a waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. "Garbage" can also refer specifically to food waste, ...

, recycling, and composting pickup is outsourced by Seattle Public Utilities to Waste Management, Inc and Recology. Non-garbage waste is processed by other companies; since 2015, curbside collection of food waste for composting in Seattle has been mandatory to offer to all households. Lumen Technologies (formerly CenturyLink), Astound Broadband (formerly Wave Broadband), and Comcast are the primary providers of telephone, cable television, and Internet service in the city. CenturyLink stopped providing cable television service in 2021. As of 2023, at least 88% of Seattle's electricity is produced using hydropower, with less than 40% of the hydroelectricity acquired via the Bonneville Power Administration. The remaining known electricity sources consist of wind power, nuclear power, and biogas; less than 2% comes from an unidentified source. Seattle Public Utilities manages two tap water supply systems on the Cedar River (Washington), Cedar River and Tolt River. These systems are fed by melted snowpack in the Cascade Mountains over the autumn and winter that fill reservoirs as they melt. The city's wastewater system includes of sewers that reach wastewater treatment, treatment plants that discharge into Puget Sound; a network of separate tunnels for stormwater serve other treatment facilities. Older areas of the city have a combined sewer system that dumps stormwater and untreated wastewater into Puget Sound during overflow events.

Crime

In 2023, Seattle had 5,000 violent crimes, and from 2013 to 2018 there was a slow increase in crimes, however it dipped in 2020, before spiking up again in 2021 and 2022. As of 2023 the city has a violent crime rate of 683 per 100,000 people, and 5,174 property crimes per 100,000 people. Overall crimes per capita in Seattle decreased slightly during the beginning of the 21st century. While the total number of crimes rose, the population of the city grew faster. For the data below, per-capita estimates yield the following: 6744 crimes per 100,000 people for the period of 2008-2009, 6725 crimes per 100,000 people for the period of 2010-2019, and 6325 crimes per 100,000 people for the period of 2020-2024. These percentages are overestimates due to the sample rate of the census: city crime statistics are updated yearly, but city population figures are only updated once per decade.

International relations

Seattle has the following sister city, sister cities: * Beersheba, Israel * Bergen, Norway * Cebu City, Philippines * Chongqing, China * Christchurch, New Zealand * Daejeon, South Korea * Galway, Ireland * Gdynia, Poland * Haiphong, Vietnam * Kaohsiung, Taiwan * Kobe, Japan * Limbe, Cameroon * Mombasa, Kenya * Nantes, France * Pécs, Hungary * Perugia, Italy * Reykjavík, Iceland * Sihanoukville, Cambodia * Surabaya, Indonesia * Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * *

External links

*
Historylink.org
history of Seattle and Washington

*[http://cdm15015.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15015coll4 Seattle Historic Photograph Collection from the Seattle Public Library]
Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History ProjectSeattle, a National Park Service ''Discover Our Shared Heritage'' Travel Itinerary
{{Portal bar, Cities, North America, Pacific Northwest, Washington (state), United States Seattle, 1853 establishments in Oregon Territory Cities in King County, Washington Cities in the Seattle metropolitan area Cities in Washington (state) County seats in Washington (state) Isthmuses of the United States Populated places established in 1853 Populated places on Puget Sound Port settlements in Washington (state) Washington (state) placenames of Native American origin

History

19th century

Parks and recreation

Government and politics

Education

Media

Infrastructure

Health systems

Transportation

Utilities

Crime

International relations

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links