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156-575: The Washington State Fair , formerly the Puyallup Fair , is the largest single attraction held annually in the U.S. state of Washington . It continually ranks in the top ten largest fairs in the United States and includes agricultural and pastoral displays and shows, amusement rides, and concert series. The Washington State Fair hosts two annual events: the 21-day Washington State Fair in September, and

312-725: A gross domestic product (GDP) of $ 517.8 billion in 2022, the eleventh-highest in the United States. In the same year, the Seattle area also had a GDP per capita of $ 128,316, the third-highest figure among large metropolitan areas in the United States, behind San Jose and San Francisco. As of November 2023 , the largest employment sector is professional and business services, with approximately 401,200 employees, followed by trade, transportation, and utilities (369,100), education and health services (318,400), and government (276,700). A total of 2,181,500 jobs are available in non-farm sectors in

468-616: A temperate rainforest . Weeks may pass without a clear day. The western slopes of the Cascade Range receive some of the heaviest annual snowfall (in some places more than 200 inches or 5,100 millimeters water equivalent) in the country. In the rain shadow area east of the Cascades, the annual precipitation is only 6 inches (150 mm). Precipitation then increases again eastward toward the Rocky Mountains (about 120 miles (190 km) east of

624-636: A 2022 circulation of 11 million items. The Sno-Isle Libraries system serves most of Snohomish and Island counties and has 23 locations that circulated 7.4 million items in 2022; Sno-Isle does not serve the city of Everett, which operates the two locations of the Everett Public Library . Pierce County has a county library system with 20 locations that circulated 4.8 million items in 2022 and separate, city-run libraries in Tacoma with eight locations and Puyallup with one location. In 2016,

780-480: A designated library district. These include library districts that cover most of a county—either through direct annexation or contracted by local governments—or a department of the city government. Some cities have opted out of having library systems after voters rejected the proposed property tax to fund services. The earliest public libraries in the region were established in the late 19th century by private organizations that were later absorbed into city governments;

936-518: A four-year term. By the 2021 session, almost all legislative districts in the region were represented solely by Democrats in the Senate and House, with the exception of exurban districts. According to a 2022 marketing survey by Nielsen , the Seattle metropolitan area is tied for the eighth highest percentage of adults who favored the Democratic Party, at nearly 55 percent—an 11-point increase from

1092-640: A large public market with more than 220 shops and restaurants, draws 10 million annual visitors and is among the most-visited tourist attractions in the world. Other major attractions in Seattle include the Space Needle , the Seattle Center Monorail , Seattle Great Wheel , the Amazon Spheres , the Seattle Underground Tour , and the historic Pioneer Square neighborhood. The city

1248-470: A large part of the top of the volcano. The eruption flattened the forest up to 20 km north of the volcano , killed 57 people, flooded the Columbia River and its tributaries with ash and mud, and blanketed large parts of Washington eastward and other surrounding states in ash, making day look like night. Washington is the northwesternmost state of the contiguous United States . It borders Idaho to

1404-631: A large region experiences strong rain shadow effects. Semi-arid conditions occur in much of Eastern Washington with the strongest rain shadow effects at the relatively low elevations of the central Columbia Plateau —especially the region just east of the Columbia River from about the Snake River to the Okanagan Highland . Thus, instead of rain forests, much of Eastern Washington is covered with dry grassland , shrub-steppe , and dunes . The average annual temperature ranges from 51 °F (11 °C) on

1560-425: A low-pressure cyclone system takes over in the north Pacific Ocean. The air spiraling inward in a counter-clockwise fashion causes Washington's prevailing winds to come from the southwest, and bring cool and overcast weather and a predictably wet season . The term " Pineapple Express " is used colloquially to describe atmospheric river events, where repeated storm systems are directed by this persistent cyclone from

1716-536: A majority of visitors in 2019 were from Western Washington and included a large number from within the metropolitan area. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the county's largest tourist attraction was the Future of Flight Aviation Center adjacent to Paine Field, which offered tours of the nearby Boeing Everett Factory and drew 300,000 annual visitors. Pierce County had 8.8 million visitors in 2021 and estimated that they spent

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1872-405: A married couple, 8.1% included an unmarried cohabiting couple, 19.7% had a single male with no spouse or partner, and 24.4% single female with no spouse or partner. Out of all households, 29.8% had people under the age of 18 and 25.3% had people 65 years or older. Approximately 18.3% of household residents were opposite-sex spouses, while 0.3% were same-sex spouses. According to a 2022 survey by

2028-658: A population of 420,663. The Seattle metropolitan area, successor to the metropolitan district, was expanded in 1949 to encompass all of King County but lose its portions in Kitsap and Snohomish counties. The local chamber of commerce and other leaders had lobbied for a definition that also included all of Kitsap, Pierce, and Snohomish counties in a manner similar to the Portland metropolitan area , which had been expanded to cover four counties in Oregon and southwestern Washington. The Bureau of

2184-455: A preliminary assessment of the risks and opportunities presented given the possibility of a rise in global temperatures and their effects on Washington state. Rainfall in Washington varies dramatically going from east to west. The Olympic Peninsula's western side receives as much as 160 inches (4,100 mm) of precipitation annually, making it the wettest area of the 48 conterminous states and

2340-466: A proposal to use the name "State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth", which would conflict with the current state of Washington. Residents of Washington (known as "Washingtonians") and the Pacific Northwest simply refer to the state as "Washington", and the nation's capital "Washington, D.C.", "the other Washington", or simply "D.C." The 9,300-year-old skeletal remains of Kennewick Man , one of

2496-683: A similar survey conducted in 2004. The area also decides most statewide elections due to their large population, which has contributed to an unbroken line of Democratic governors since 1984. Public K–12 education is managed by local school districts that are governed by elected boards and overseen by two of the state's nine regional educational service districts . The Puget Sound Educational Service District covers 35 school districts and 416,000 students in King and Pierce counties, along with Bainbridge Island in Kitsap County, and includes 40 percent of

2652-504: A state; the creation of Idaho Territory in 1863 established the final eastern border. A Washington state constitution was drafted and ratified in 1878, but it was never officially adopted. Although never approved by the United States Congress, the 1878 constitution is an important historical document that shows the political thinking of the time; it was used extensively during the drafting of Washington state's 1889 constitution,

2808-527: A three-man commission ruling in favor of the United States in 1872. The border established by the Oregon Treaty and finalized by the arbitration in 1872 remains the boundary between Washington and British Columbia . The growing population of Oregon Territory north of the Columbia River formally requested a new territory. As a result of the Monticello Convention , held in present-day Cowlitz County ,

2964-637: A total of $ 1.4 billion. Mount Rainier National Park , located mostly in the county, had 2.3 million visitors in 2022—primarily between July and September. The Seattle MSA comprises three counties, nine federally recognized tribes , and 77 municipalities classified as cities or towns , each with their own governments. These include 39 municipalities in King County, 23 in Pierce County, and 20 in Snohomish County; several cities also extend beyond

3120-589: A valuable community resource. They also host various seasonal festivals such as the Victorian Country Christmas, as well as races, concerts, car shows, and sporting expositions, including the International Sportsman's Exposition. The site employs 55 year-round staff members. Over 7,500 employees are hired each September during the Fair. The fair started out under the name "Puyallup Valley Fair", with

3276-463: A valuation of at least $ 1 billion. The region also has a large aerospace industry that is dominated by Boeing , historically the largest employer in Washington state with 60,244 workers as of 2022 . The company has major commercial jetliner assembly plants in Everett and Renton alongside testing facilities in Seattle and smaller component manufacturers in other areas. The Boeing Everett Factory

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3432-439: A varied range of bird species. This range includes raptors, shorebirds, woodland birds, grassland birds, ducks, and others. There have also been a large number of species introduced to Washington, dating back to the early 18th century, including horses and burros. The channel catfish , lamprey , and sturgeon are among the 400 known freshwater fishes . Along with the Cascades frog, there are several forms of snakes that define

3588-763: A week. Seattle's oldest daily newspaper, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer , ceased print publication in 2009 and became an online-only outlet. The Seattle area also has weekly newspapers in smaller cities, including several owned by Sound Publishing or independent companies; other hyperlocal publications, primarily in Seattle neighborhoods, have largely ceased publication in the early 21st century. Other newspapers include free weeklies The Stranger and Seattle Weekly , which both ceased regular print publication by 2020; trade and industry publications Puget Sound Business Journal and Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce ; and student newspaper The Daily of

3744-607: A wider labor market region known as the Seattle–Tacoma combined statistical area (CSA), which encompasses most of the Puget Sound region . The population of this wider region was 4,953,389 at the 2020 census and estimated to be 4,993,725 in 2023; the Puget Sound region is home to two-thirds of Washington's population. The Seattle CSA is the 14th largest in the United States and the 13th largest primary census statistical area in

3900-593: Is also home to three cruise ship terminals operated by the Port of Seattle that serve excursions through the Inside Passage to Alaska. An estimated 1.8 million passengers visited Seattle on 291 departures during the 2023 summer season with an estimated economic impact of $ 900 million. The region has several convention centers that are able to host large events, such as trade shows , fan conventions , corporate meetings, and conferences. The first portion of

4056-482: Is an extremely important business throughout much of Eastern Washington, as the soil is highly productive and irrigation , aided by dams along the Columbia River, is fairly widespread. The spread of population in Eastern Washington is dominated by access to water, especially rivers. The main cities are all located alongside rivers or lakes; most of them are named after the river or lake they adjoin. Farther east,

4212-453: Is home to several of the wealthiest people in the United States and the world by net worth. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos both held the title of world's richest person , as determined by Forbes , while living in the Eastside city of Medina . Another Eastside suburb, Sammamish , has a median household income of $ 201,370—the second-highest among cities in

4368-552: Is home to the head offices of truck manufacturer Paccar , telecom network T-Mobile US , and clothing retailer Eddie Bauer . Warehouse retailer Costco is headquartered in Issaquah and has more than a dozen locations in the Seattle area. The region has several large shopping centers that range from traditional enclosed malls like Alderwood Mall and Westfield Southcenter to newer outdoor designs such as University Village . While suburban areas have had few retail vacancies since

4524-490: Is noted for its technology industry , which developed in the late 20th century and grew significantly with the development of Microsoft and Amazon . The industry has 290,000 workers based in the Seattle area, ranking second nationally behind the San Francisco Bay Area , and comprises 13 percent of the regional workforce; from 2005 to 2017, Seattle was one of five metropolitan areas that had 90 percent of

4680-566: Is one of the tallest mountains in the United States. As defined by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Office of Management and Budget , the Seattle metropolitan area is officially the Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue, WA metropolitan statistical area (MSA) and consists of: Based on commuting patterns, the adjacent metropolitan areas of Olympia , Bremerton , and Mount Vernon , along with a few smaller satellite urban areas, are grouped together in

4836-498: Is sold by homeless and low-income vendors with an estimated annual circulation of 550,000 copies. Several digital-only publications emerged in the 2000s and 2010s to provide local news, including Crosscut.com , tech industry publication GeekWire , and hyperlocal outlets Capitol Hill Seattle Blog and West Seattle Blog . The Seattle metropolitan area has several local public library systems that are funded primarily by property taxes that are set by voter-approved levies within

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4992-561: Is the largest library in the region, with 50 branches and a total circulation of nearly 18.9 million physical and digital items as of 2022 . It was established as a rural library district in 1943 and absorbed most of the city-operated systems in King County, with the exception of the Seattle Public Library , by 2012. The independent Seattle system has 27 locations, including its Central Library in Downtown Seattle, and had

5148-405: Is the only U.S. state named after a president. Confusion between the state of Washington and the city of Washington, D.C., led to renaming proposals during the statehood process for Washington in 1889, including David Dudley Field II 's suggestion to name the new state "Tacoma"; these proposals failed to garner support. Washington, D.C.'s, own statehood movement in the 21st century has included

5304-482: Is the world's largest building by volume and is the assembly site of the 747 , 767 and 777 programs, including their variants, alongside most 787s . The company was headquartered in Seattle until its move to Chicago in 2001; in subsequent years, widebody production of the 787 was moved to Charleston, South Carolina . The Seattle region is also home to several startup electric aircraft and component manufacturers, including Eviation and MagniX , who emerged in

5460-876: The U.S. News & World Report , the top high schools in the metropolitan area are primarily in the Eastside region, along with specialized industry and technical schools in Tukwila and Lakewood; the highest-ranked school in Washington is the Tesla STEM High School in the Lake Washington School District. The smallest school district in the Seattle area is the Index School District , which has 19 students and no high school. The Seattle area has hundreds of registered private schools that serve over 50,000 students and offer alternative curriculums or religious education. The largest private schools in

5616-403: The 1900 census . The Seattle metropolitan district was expanded to encompass the entirety of Lake Washington in the 1930 census and also included Edmonds in Snohomish County, Des Moines in southern King County, and portions of eastern Bainbridge Island in Kitsap County. The district covered 209.9 square miles (544 km ), of which two-thirds was outside of Seattle proper, and counted

5772-499: The Blue Mountains and the eastern sides of the Cascades. Mammals native to the state include the bat , black bear , bobcat , cougar , coyote , deer , elk , gray wolf , hare , moose , mountain beaver , muskrat , opossum , pocket gopher , rabbit , raccoon , river otter , skunk , and tree squirrel . Because of the wide range of geography, the state of Washington is home to several different ecoregions, which allow for

5928-435: The Blue Mountains . The state of Washington has a temperate climate. The eastern half of Washington has a semi-arid to warm-summer mediterranean climate , while the western side of Washington as well as the coastal areas of the state have a cool oceanic climate or warm-summer mediterranean climate. Major factors determining Washington's climate include the large semi-permanent low pressure and high pressure systems of

6084-538: The COVID-19 pandemic , Downtown Seattle has had a slower recovery with a vacancy rate of nearly 14 percent as of late 2023. In the retail grocery sector, the most popular supermarket chains in the region are owned by Kroger ( Fred Meyer and QFC ) and the Albertsons Companies (Albertsons, Safeway ), alongside warehouse retailers like Costco. The Seattle area is a tourist destination, especially during

6240-532: The Canadian province of British Columbia to the north. Washington is part of a region known as the Pacific Northwest , a term which always refers to at least Washington and Oregon, and may or may not include some or all the following, depending on the user's intent: Idaho, western Montana , northern California , British Columbia, and Alaska . The high mountains of the Cascade Range run north-south, bisecting

6396-559: The Cascade Mountains westward, Western Washington has a mostly Mediterranean climate , with mild temperatures and wet winters, autumns and springs, and relatively dry summers. The Cascade Range has several volcanoes , which reach altitudes significantly higher than the rest of the mountains. From north to south, these major volcanoes are Mount Baker , Glacier Peak , Mount Rainier , Mount St. Helens , and Mount Adams . All are active volcanoes. Mount Rainier—the tallest mountain in

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6552-675: The Columbia District . Fur trapper James Sinclair , on orders from Sir George Simpson , Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, led some 200 settlers from the Red River Colony west in 1841 to settle on Hudson Bay Company farms near Fort Vancouver . The party crossed the Rockies into the Columbia Valley , near present-day Radium Hot Springs , British Columbia, then traveled south-west down

6708-784: The Continental Divide to the Pacific Ocean as part of the Anglo–American Convention of 1818 , which established the 49th parallel as the international boundary west from Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains . Resolution of the territorial and treaty issues west to the Pacific was deferred until a later time. In 1819, Spain ceded its rights north of the 42nd parallel to the United States. Negotiations with Great Britain over

6864-535: The Indian reservations that were established in the region. The reservations were created through treaties with the federal government that were not consistently honored and often combined several tribes together; they were also open to settlement by non-Indians. The Puget Sound region has approximately 83,705 U.S. Department of Defense personnel, including active duty members of the military and civilian workers at United States Armed Forces bases. Major facilities in

7020-528: The Kootenai River and Columbia River. Despite such efforts, Britain eventually ceded all claims to land south of the 49th parallel to the United States in the Oregon Treaty on June 15, 1846. In 1836, a group of missionaries, including Marcus Whitman , established several missions and Whitman's own settlement Waiilatpu, in what is now southeastern Washington state, near present-day Walla Walla County , in

7176-475: The Pew Research Center 's 2014 U.S. Religious Landscape Study, the Seattle metropolitan area's religious affiliation is as follows: The cost of living in the Seattle area ranks among the highest in the United States among urban areas, particularly for housing, services, and retail goods. In 2022, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that median household income for residents of the Seattle metropolitan area

7332-595: The San Juan Islands is heavily inhabited by killer , gray, and humpback whales. In Eastern Washington, the flora is vastly different. Tumbleweeds and sagebrush dominate the landscape throughout large parts of the countryside. Russian olives and other trees are common alongside riverbanks; however, apart from the riversides, large swaths of Eastern Washington have no naturally existing trees at all (though many trees have been planted and are irrigated by people, of course). A wider variety of flora can be found in both

7488-792: The Santiago , part of a two-ship flotilla with the Sonora . He claimed the coastal lands up to Prince William Sound for Spain as part of their claimed rights under the Treaty of Tordesillas , which they maintained made the Pacific a "Spanish lake" and all its shores part of the Spanish Empire. Soon thereafter, the smallpox epidemic of the 1770s devastated the Native American population. In 1778, British explorer Captain James Cook sighted Cape Flattery , at

7644-576: The Seattle Convention Center (formerly the Washington State Convention Center) was built over Interstate 5 and opened in 1988; it expanded to a second building in 2023 to meet growing demand for event space in Downtown Seattle. The convention center can hold simultaneous events and has over 1.5 million square feet (140,000 m ) of exhibition and meeting space. Its largest annual events include PAX West (formerly

7800-498: The Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue, WA metropolitan statistical area as the three most populous counties in the state : King , Pierce , and Snohomish . Seattle has the 15th largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the United States with a population of 4,018,762 as of the 2020 census , over half of Washington's total population. The area is considered part of the greater Puget Sound region , which largely overlaps with

7956-547: The State of Washington , is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington state to distinguish it from the national capital , both named after George Washington (the first U.S. president ). Washington borders the Pacific Ocean to the west, Oregon to the south, Idaho to the east, and shares an international border with the Canadian province of British Columbia to

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8112-463: The U.S. Congress passed legislation to create Washington Territory . It was signed into law by President Millard Fillmore on March 2, 1853. The boundary of Washington Territory initially extended farther east than the present state, including what is now the Idaho Panhandle and parts of western Montana, and picked up more land to the southeast that was left behind when Oregon was admitted as

8268-601: The United States Congress during the creation of Washington Territory in 1853; the territory was to be named "Columbia", for the Columbia River and the Columbia District , but Kentucky representative Richard H. Stanton found the name too similar to the District of Columbia (the national capital, itself containing the city of Washington), and proposed naming the new territory after President Washington. Washington

8424-507: The Wenatchee metropolitan area . As of 2021 , it is the 12th largest television market and 11th largest radio market in the United States by population. King County has the majority of the region's television and radio antenna towers , which are concentrated on Seattle's hills or on Cougar Mountain and Tiger Mountain in the Issaquah Alps . In addition to over-the-air television ,

8580-585: The "deep freeze" winters of 1883–1884, 1915–1916, 1949–1950, and 1955–1956, among others. During these events, Western Washington experienced up to 6 feet (1.8 m) of snow, sub-zero (−18 °C) temperatures, three months with snow on the ground, and lakes and rivers frozen over for weeks. Seattle's lowest officially recorded temperature is 0 °F (−18 °C) set on January 31, 1950, but low-altitude areas approximately three hours away from Seattle have recorded lows as cold as −48 °F (−44 °C). The Southern Oscillation greatly influences weather during

8736-532: The 2010s. The decade also saw the establishment of several space technology companies in the area, including Kent-based Blue Origin , Vulcan Aerospace , Kuiper Systems , and satellite offices for SpaceX ; the industry has 13,000 jobs in the Puget Sound region as of 2022 , a two-fold increase since 2018. The region is a major hub for international trade and handles most of Washington's exports, which totaled $ 78 billion in 2018, through three major seaports on Puget Sound . The Northwest Seaport Alliance

8892-448: The 2023–24 school year, a 9 percent decrease from its 2019 peak of 56,000 students. The district has 106 schools and over 6,000 staff members; most students attend their closest neighborhood schools, while option schools are able to enroll students from across the city. Other large districts with more than 20,000 enrolled students include Lake Washington , Tacoma , Kent , Northshore , Puyallup , and Federal Way . According to

9048-516: The Boeing Everett Factory. Other maritime industries in the area include shipbuilding and commercial fishing , particularly boat fleets based in Seattle that travel annually to the northern Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea near Alaska . The city has a major coffee retail industry that developed in the 1970s and 1980s and spawned several chains that remain headquartered in Seattle, including Starbucks and Tully's Coffee . Seattle had

9204-490: The Budget (now Office of Management and Budget) added Snohomish County to its definition of the Seattle metropolitan area in 1959. The definition had previously only encompassed King County; local leaders had sought to also include Pierce and Kitsap counties in a "Puget Sound metropolitan area". Snohomish County had protested its inclusion and had sought a separate metropolitan area designation centered on Everett , which did not meet

9360-701: The CMSA and expanded to cover Island and Mason counties. The Mount Vernon–Anacortes metropolitan area was created in 2003 to encompass Skagit County and added to the Seattle CSA in 2006; the CSA was extended further south to Lewis County through the addition of the Centralia micropolitan area in 2013. The Seattle metropolitan area covers 6,309 square miles (16,340 km ) of land and water in Western Washington divided between

9516-496: The Idaho border). The Olympic mountains and Cascades compound this climatic pattern by causing orographic lift of the air masses blown inland from the Pacific Ocean, resulting in the windward side of the mountains receiving high levels of precipitation and the leeward side receiving low levels. This occurs most dramatically around the Olympic Mountains and the Cascade Range. In both cases, the windward slopes facing southwest receive high precipitation and mild, cool temperatures. While

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9672-440: The Interior had a different subsistence-based culture based on hunting, food-gathering and some forms of agriculture, as well as a dependency on salmon from the Columbia and its tributaries. The area has been known to host megathrust earthquakes in the past, the last being the Cascadia earthquake of 1700 . The first recorded European landing on the Washington coast was by Spanish Captain Don Bruno de Heceta in 1775, on board

9828-424: The January 2023 survey; of them, 594 were in shelters and 691 were unsheltered. Approximately 1,500 students in the Everett School District , the county's largest school system, were identified as homeless in 2022. The county has 683 year-round shelter beds and increases capacity during inclement weather; the county government purchased two former motels in 2022 to provide an additional 130 rooms. The region had

9984-419: The Northwest Coast to explorers and traders from other nations, most notably Britain and Russia as well as the fledgling United States. American captain Robert Gray (for whom Grays Harbor County is named) then discovered the mouth of the Columbia River. He named the river after his ship, the Columbia . Beginning in 1792, Gray established trade in sea otter pelts. The Lewis and Clark Expedition entered

10140-429: The Oregon Trail, wandered north to settle in the Puget Sound area. Spanish and Russian claims to the region were ceded in the early 19th century through a series of treaties. The Spanish signed the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, and the Russians the Russo-American Treaty of 1824 and 1825 . The Oregon Question remained contested between the United Kingdom and the United States until the 1846 Oregon Treaty established

10296-416: The Pacific Ocean consisting of numerous islands, deep fjords and bays carved out by glaciers. The remainder of the state consists of deep temperate rainforests in the west; mountain ranges in the west, center, northeast, and far southeast; and a semi-arid basin region in the east, center, and south, given over to intensive agriculture. Washington is the second most populous state on the West Coast and in

10452-431: The Pacific coast to 40 °F (4 °C) in the northeast. The lowest temperature recorded in the state was −48 °F (−44 °C) in Winthrop and Mazama . The highest recorded temperature in the state was 120 °F (49 °C) at Hanford on June 29, 2021. Both records were set east of the Cascades. Western Washington is known for its mild climate, considerable fog, frequent cloud cover, long-lasting drizzles in

10608-453: The Penny Arcade Expo), Emerald City Comic Con , Sakura-Con , and the Northwest Flower and Garden Show , which each attract over 10,000 attendees. Smaller convention centers in the area include the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue, the Lynnwood Event Center , and the Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center . The areas outside of Seattle proper attract fewer tourists and draw largely from local and regional visitors. In Snohomish County,

10764-411: The Puget Sound lowlands are known for clouds and rain in the winter, the western slopes of the Cascades receive larger amounts of precipitation, often falling as snow at higher elevations. Mount Baker , near the state's northern border, is one of the snowiest places in the world. In 1999, it set the world record for snowfall in a single season—1,140 inches (95 ft; 29 m). East of the Cascades,

10920-408: The Puget Sound region, which includes a large population of retirees. As of the 2020 census , there were 4,018,762 people in the three counties that form the Seattle metropolitan area, which comprises 52 percent of Washington 's population. It is the 15th largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States and among the fastest-growing in the country. The overall population density

11076-524: The Puyallup" was retained and many local people continue to refer to the fair by its previous name. During World War II , the fair did not take place. The fairgrounds closed after the 1941 fair and were occupied by the army, which set up Camp Harmony , a temporary assembly center within the system of concentration camps for Japanese Americans . A total of 7,390 Japanese Americans from the Seattle-Tacoma area and Alaska were confined in converted horse stables and barracks constructed on adjacent parking lots,

11232-505: The Seattle Combined Statistical Area (CSA). The Seattle metropolitan area is home to a large tech industry and is the headquarters of several major companies, including Microsoft and Amazon . The area's geography is varied and includes the lowlands around Puget Sound and the Cascade Mountains ; the highest peak in the metropolitan area is Mount Rainier , which has a summit elevation of 14,411 feet (4,392 m) and

11388-458: The Seattle area by listenership are primarily music stations , including several owned by national network iHeart Radio , and talk stations with local ownership. The first radio broadcasters in Seattle emerged in 1922, including the still-operating KJR , and grew through the decade; several radio broadcasters later established their own television stations following the first local broadcast in Seattle by KING predecessor KRSC-TV in 1948. Among

11544-476: The Seattle metropolitan area; the unemployment rate was 3.5% in November 2022 and 4.0% in November 2023. The average weekly wage was $ 1,868 across the metropolitan area in mid-2023, compared to $ 1,332 nationally; the region has some of the highest hourly minimum wages in the United States, ranging from the state minimum of $ 16.28 to $ 19.97 in Seattle for large employers and $ 20.29 in Tukwila as of 2024 . Seattle

11700-516: The Seattle–Tacoma consolidated metropolitan statistical area (CMSA). The CMSA was expanded to include Bremerton and Olympia after the 1990 census and was the 12th largest in the country at the time. The Office of Management and Budget restructured its classification system in 2003 and created the Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue metropolitan statistical area to cover the tri-county region. A new Seattle–Tacoma–Olympia combined statistical area (CSA) replaced

11856-408: The U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 17 percent of adult residents in the Seattle metropolitan area identified as LGBTQ . The region has one of the highest percentages of same-sex couples in the United States at 1.3 percent of households in the metropolitan area. King County is the largest of the three counties in the metropolitan area with 2,269,675 people in 2020, or 56 percent of

12012-562: The U.S. national public broadcaster : KCTS in Seattle and KBTC in Tacoma. The region's largest Spanish-language television station, KUNS , lost its Univision affiliation in 2023 and was replaced by Bellingham -based KVOS , which did not produce local news content. National news television network MSNBC was launched jointly by Microsoft and NBC in 1996; its online news operations were based in Redmond until 2012. The largest radio stations in

12168-422: The United States. According to a 2024 study by Henley & Partners , the city of Seattle has an estimated 54,200 millionaires—ranking seventh in the United States by number of millionaires—and 11 billionaires. The Seattle area has a housing shortage that has contributed to affordability issues in the early 21st century, particularly due to demand outpacing construction of new units. The metropolitan area had

12324-509: The United States. This includes a high number of out-of-state adults who reside in the metropolitan area; according to a 2015 Brookings Institution study, 48% of out-of-state adults had a bachelor's degree or higher compared to 35% of in-state adults. The oldest and largest public university in the state is University of Washington (UW), which was founded in 1861 and has over 60,000 total students in nearly 500 programs at its three campuses. The 342-acre (138 ha) main campus in Seattle

12480-689: The University of Washington . The region also has publications in English and other languages for ethnic communities. These include Asian-American publications International Examiner , Northwest Asian Weekly , and the Seattle Chinese Post ; and the Seattle Medium and The Facts , both catered towards the Black community. Real Change , a weekly street newspaper , has been published since 1994 and

12636-464: The Western United States, after California . Mount Rainier , an active stratovolcano , is the state's highest elevation at 14,411 feet (4,392 meters), and is the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous U.S. Washington is a leading lumber producer, the largest producer of apples, hops, pears, blueberries, spearmint oil, and sweet cherries in the U.S., and ranks high in

12792-449: The area are Cedar Park Christian School and King's Schools , both Christian programs. Since a state referendum in 2012, charter schools have been approved to operate in the area using using public funding while remaining privately-run. These non-district schools are also overseen by the educational service district of their respective region; they are also allowed to participate in the same athletics competitions as public schools under

12948-717: The area include Joint Base Lewis–McChord in Pierce County, the largest military base on the West Coast with over 25,000 active duty soldiers; Naval Station Everett in Snohomish County; and Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Island County. The Kitsap Peninsula—part of the Seattle CSA—is home to Naval Base Kitsap , which includes the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton and Naval Submarine Base Bangor , site of

13104-523: The area; during severe weather events such as heat waves and cold snaps, local governments open additional shelter spaces, but these often reach capacity. In 2021, a total of $ 123 million was spent on homelessness services by local governments in King County, including cities and the regional authority. The regional authority's five-year plan, released in 2023, estimates that $ 8 billion in capital costs would be required to build and staff 18,205 new units of temporary and transitional housing to address

13260-480: The assessor, clerk, coroner and medical examiner, prosecuting attorney, and treasurer. These duties include organization of elections and voter registration, enforcement of land use regulations, management of vital records, property assessment, tax collection, public health, and building inspections. The counties also manage the criminal justice system, including the superior and district courts, public defenders , and jails. The Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC),

13416-503: The border between British North America and the United States along the 49th parallel until the Strait of Georgia . Vague wording in the treaty left the ownership of the San Juan Islands in doubt; during the so-called Pig War , both nations agreed to a joint military occupation of the islands. Kaiser Wilhelm I of the German Empire was selected as an arbitrator to end the dispute, with

13572-571: The borders of a single county. Approximately 71 percent of Puget Sound region residents live in an incorporated city or town; the rest are in unincorporated areas under the direct jurisdiction of counties, which act as the local government. These developed unincorporated areas generally lie within the urban growth areas for existing cities that could annex them or in county-designated areas that would allow communities to vote for incorporation . The incorporated city and town governments vary between mayor–council and council–manager systems,

13728-518: The climate becomes less arid, with annual rainfall increasing as one goes east to 21.2 inches (540 mm) in Pullman, near the Washington–Idaho border. The Okanogan Highlands and the rugged Kettle River Range and Selkirk Mountains cover much of the state's northeastern quadrant. The Palouse southeast region of Washington was grassland that has been mostly converted into farmland, and extends to

13884-680: The cold season. During the El Niño phase, the jet stream enters the U.S. farther south through California, therefore late fall and winter are drier than normal with less snowpack. The La Niña phase reinforces the jet stream through the Pacific Northwest, causing Washington to have more rain and snow than average. In 2006, the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington published The Impacts of Climate change in Washington's Economy ,

14040-693: The contiguous 48 states. Western Washington also is home of the Olympic Mountains , far west on the Olympic Peninsula , which support dense forests of conifers and areas of temperate rainforest . These deep forests, such as the Hoh Rainforest , are among the only rainforests in the continental United States. While Western Washington does not always experience a high amount of rainfall as measured in total inches of rain per year, it does consistently have more rainy days per year than most other places in

14196-524: The country. Eastern Washington —the part of the state east of the Cascades—has a relatively dry climate, in distinct contrast to the west side. It includes large areas of semiarid steppe and a few truly arid deserts in the rain shadow of the Cascades; the Hanford reservation receives an average annual precipitation of 6 to 7 inches (150 to 180 mm). Despite the limited amount of rainfall, agriculture

14352-421: The country. The additional metropolitan and micropolitan areas included are: The Census Bureau adopted metropolitan districts in the 1910 census to create a standard definition for urban areas with industrial activity around a central city. At the time, Seattle had the 22nd largest metropolitan district population at 239,269 people, a 195.8 percent increase from the population of the equivalent area in

14508-527: The designated metropolitan planning organization for the Seattle MSA and Kitsap County, has voluntary membership from 82 municipalities, four tribes, four public ports, and six public transit operators. It maintains a long-range plan for population growth, economic development, and regional transportation that is overseen by an executive board and general assembly of all members. The organization also distributes state and federal funding for projects within

14664-530: The east, bounded mostly by the meridian running north from the confluence of the Snake River and Clearwater River (about 117°02'23" west), except for the southernmost section where the border follows the Snake River. Oregon is to the south, with the Columbia River forming the western part and the 46th parallel forming the eastern part of the Oregon–Washington border. During Washington's partition from Oregon,

14820-522: The entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca , but Cook did not realize the strait existed. It was not discovered until Charles William Barkley , captain of the Imperial Eagle , sighted it in 1787. The straits were further explored by Spanish explorers Manuel Quimper in 1790 and Francisco de Eliza in 1791, and British explorer George Vancouver in 1792. The British–Spanish Nootka Convention of 1790 ended Spanish claims of exclusivity and opened

14976-520: The establishment of KNKX under independent ownership. The region has three major newspapers based in the largest cities of each county: The Seattle Times , the most-circulated newspaper in the Pacific Northwest, is a daily newspaper based in Seattle and had over 75,000 subscribers in 2022; The News Tribune in Tacoma has approximately 54,000 subscribers and switched to a three-day publication schedule in 2024; and The Daily Herald in Everett has 33,500 subscribers as of 2022 and prints six editions

15132-414: The first event taking place October 4–6, 1900. In 1913, it was renamed "The Western Washington Fair", but remained primarily known as the "Puyallup Fair" until the early 1980s. In 2006, the name was changed again to "The Puyallup Fair", and the venue became known as "The Puyallup Fair and Events Center." In 2013 the fair received its current name, the "Washington State Fair"; however, the marketing tagline "Do

15288-589: The first was in Steilacoom in 1858 and was followed by a Seattle organization in 1868. Several city libraries and local branches were constructed across the metropolitan area with grants from industrialist Andrew Carnegie beginning in 1901. In addition to public libraries, the region also has informal public bookcases (part of the Little Free Library movement) and neighborhood tool libraries that lend tools and materials. The King County Library System

15444-467: The four-county area. Other inter-county organizations include special districts and regional authorities for conservation, transit, libraries, and firefighting ; as of 2007 , there are over 220 special purpose districts in the Seattle metropolitan area. Tax rates are set by local governments and can vary due to contributions to special districts; the combined sales tax ranges from 8.1% in parts of Pierce County to 10.6% in several Snohomish County cities,

15600-448: The four-day two weekend Washington State Spring Fair in April. Situated in the city of Puyallup , 35 miles (56 km) south of Seattle and 10 miles (16 km) east of Tacoma near Mount Rainier , the fairgrounds cover an area of 160 acres (0.65 km) with buildings and land valued at more than $ 54 million. The facilities are available for rent throughout the year, making the grounds

15756-501: The highest rate in the state. The Seattle MSA is part of seven congressional districts (the 1st , 2nd , 6th , 7th , 8th , 9th , and 10th ) that each elect a member of the United States House of Representatives . The boundaries are redrawn every 10 years by the state's independent redistricting commission based on the results of the decennial census. The 8th district is the only one to span all three counties, taking

15912-592: The homelessness crisis. The January 2023 point-in-time survey conducted in Pierce County identified 2,148 people who were experiencing homelessness, of whom 59 percent were in shelters and 21 percent were unsheltered—either outdoors or in vehicles. The city of Tacoma has 1,225 shelter beds and 137 permanent housing units as of 2022 ; the city government plans to temporarily increase shelter capacity while transitioning to more permanent and long-term housing for homeless people. In Snohomish County, 1,285 homeless individuals in 1,028 households were identified in

16068-408: The late 2000s, the area has also become home to satellite offices for Silicon Valley companies such as Google , Meta , and Salesforce . Seattle has historically had few venture capital firms to invest in startups until the 2010s with the advent of new companies founded by alumni of older tech companies in the area; in the early 2020s, several Seattle-area startups were labeled unicorns with

16224-592: The latter using a council-appointed city manager to handle administration. All three counties have a home rule charter and are led by an elected county executive and a county council with members representing geographic districts. The elections for the county executive and council, along with other major offices, are held in even-numbered years for Pierce County and odd-numbered years in King and Snohomish counties. The county governments are responsible for various duties for all residents that are generally delegated to other elected and appointed officials, including

16380-658: The management of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association . The Seattle area has several universities and colleges that provide post-secondary education and are run by public or private institutions. According to the National Center for Education Statistics , approximately 45 percent of people in the Seattle–Tacoma–Olympia combined statistical area in 2019 had a bachelor's degree or higher—the tenth-highest rate in

16536-473: The manufacture of warships. Seattle was the point of departure for many soldiers in the Pacific, several of whom were quartered at Fort Lawton, which later became Discovery Park . In Eastern Washington, the Hanford Works atomic energy plant was opened in 1943 and played a major role in the construction of atomic bombs . After the end of World War II, and with the beginning of the civil rights movement ,

16692-581: The median price for a single-family home was $ 722,000 and the median rent for a one-bedroom unit is $ 1,505 across the metropolitan area. In King County, an estimated 309,000 new units are needed by 2044 to handle anticipated growth. As of the 2020 census, the Seattle metropolitan area had 1,650,246 total housing units, of which 94.8% were occupied. Of the 85,814 vacant units, 41.1% were for rent, 4.4% were rented but not occupied, 10.1% were for sale, 5.1% had been sold but not yet occupied, and 16.9% were designated for seasonal or recreational use. King County has

16848-429: The most popular modern stations is KEXP-FM , a non-profit music station that has a worldwide following due to its early use of internet broadcasting. The Seattle area has two NPR -affiliated public radio stations: KUOW-FM , founded at the University of Washington in 1952; and KNKX-FM , founded at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma as KPLU. An attempted takeover of KPLU by KUOW in 2016 resulted in public outcry and

17004-547: The most prominent reptiles and amphibians. Coastal bays and islands are often inhabited by plentiful amounts of shellfish and whales. There are five species of salmon that ascend the Western Washington area, from streams to spawn. Seattle metropolitan area The Seattle metropolitan area is an urban conglomeration in the U.S. state of Washington that comprises Seattle , its surrounding satellites and suburbs. The United States Census Bureau defines

17160-469: The new technology jobs created in the United States. Amazon is the largest private employer in the region, having grown from fewer than 5,000 local employees in 2009 to approximately 60,000 in 2020; Microsoft, the second-largest tech employer in the region with 57,000 employees as of 2021 , has several subsidiary video game studios in the region. The Eastside is also home to game developers and distributors Valve , Bungie , and Nintendo of America . Since

17316-564: The next few decades failed to settle upon a compromise boundary and the Oregon boundary dispute was highly contested between Britain and the United States. Disputed joint occupancy by Britain and the U.S. lasted for several decades. With American settlers pouring into Oregon Country , Hudson's Bay Company , which had previously discouraged settlement because it conflicted with the fur trade, reversed its position in an attempt to maintain British control of

17472-459: The north Pacific Ocean, the continental air masses of North America, and the Olympic and Cascade mountains. In the spring and summer, a high-pressure anticyclone system dominates the north Pacific Ocean, causing air to spiral out in a clockwise fashion. For Washington, this means prevailing winds from the northwest bring relatively cool air and a predictably dry season . In the autumn and winter,

17628-469: The north. Olympia is the state capital , and the most populous city is Seattle . Washington is the 18th-largest state , with an area of 71,362 square miles (184,830 km ), and the 13th-most populous state, with more than 7.8 million people. The majority of Washington's residents live in the Seattle metropolitan area , the center of transportation, business, and industry on Puget Sound , an inlet of

17784-433: The number of people seeking services and estimated that 53,532 people in the county had been homeless at some point in 2022. According to a survey collected by service providers for the county government, 68.5 percent of respondents said they last had stable housing in King County and 10.8 percent had lived elsewhere in the state. Approximately 57 percent of the homeless population counted by HUD in King County

17940-522: The oldest and most complete human remains found in North America, were discovered in Washington in the 1990s. The region has been home to many established tribes of indigenous peoples for thousands of years. They are notable for their ornately carved welcome figures, canoes, long houses and masks. Prominent among their industries were salmon fishing and, notably among the Makah , whale hunting. The peoples of

18096-527: The one and only official Constitution of the State of Washington. Washington became the 42nd state of the United States on November 11, 1889. Early prominent industries in the new state included agriculture and lumber. In Eastern Washington, the Yakima River Valley became known for its apple orchards, while the growth of wheat using dry farming techniques became particularly productive. Heavy rainfall to

18252-500: The original plan for the border followed the Columbia River east until the confluence with the Snake, and then would have followed the Snake River east; this was changed to keep Walla Walla 's fertile farmland in Washington. To the west of Washington lies the Pacific Ocean. Its northern border lies mostly along the 49th parallel , and then via marine boundaries through the Strait of Georgia , Haro Strait , and Strait of Juan de Fuca , with

18408-485: The population of the Seattle area. The Seattle metropolitan area has one of the largest populations of people in the United States who identify as nonreligious. A 2024 Household Pulse Survey from the United States Census Bureau estimated that 64 percent of adults in the area do not attend religious services more than once a year, the highest percentage among large U.S. metropolitan areas. According to

18564-419: The population threshold of 50,000 residents. In the 1950 census, a separate metropolitan area for Tacoma was defined that encompassed all of Pierce County. Kitsap County remained part of no metropolitan area despite its connections to both Seattle and Tacoma. The Office of Management and Budget included the area in the Seattle–Tacoma standard consolidated statistical area in 1981; it was replaced in 1983 by

18720-434: The population. From 2010 to 2020, the non-Hispanic White population of the Seattle metropolitan area declined from 68 percent to 58 percent—the largest decline in the U.S. The region also has a large Asian American population that was among the fastest-growing in the country between 2010 and 2020. There were 1,564,432 total households in the metropolitan area at the time of the 2020 census, of which 47.8% included

18876-533: The production of apricots, asparagus, dry edible peas, grapes, lentils, peppermint oil, and potatoes. Livestock, livestock products, and commercial fishing—particularly of salmon, halibut, and bottomfish —are also significant contributors to the state's economy. Washington ranks second only to California in wine production. Manufacturing industries in Washington include aircraft, missiles, shipbuilding, and other transportation equipment, food processing, metals, and metal products, chemicals, and machinery. The state

19032-521: The production of electricity. This culminated in 1941 with the completion of the Grand Coulee Dam , the largest concrete structure in the United States and the largest dam in the world at its construction. During World War II, the state became a focus for war industries. While the Boeing Company produced many heavy bombers , ports in Seattle, Bremerton , Vancouver , and Tacoma were available for

19188-473: The racing track and under the grandstand. In September 1942, the Japanese Americans were sent to other locations and the camp was torn down. The fairgrounds were briefly occupied by the U.S. Army 943rd Signal Service Battalion until they were transferred to Fort Lewis, then closed until 1946, when the fair set an attendance record of 100,000 people on opening day. The cancellation of the Fair's 2020 season

19344-429: The region is also served by cable and satellite providers, the largest of which is Comcast Xfinity and Wave Broadband . All major national television networks have affiliates in the region who also produce local news broadcasts and other programming; these include KOMO 4 ( ABC ), KING 5 ( NBC ), KIRO 7 ( CBS ), and KCPQ 13 ( Fox ). The Seattle area has two non-profit stations that are members of PBS ,

19500-460: The region's lowlands. To the west of the metropolitan area is Puget Sound , which forms the second-largest saltwater estuary in the United States and is part of the Salish Sea . The Seattle metropolitan area is home to nine federally recognized tribes that belong to the indigenous Coast Salish peoples: The tribes have sovereign governments that have authority over their enrolled members and

19656-522: The rest of the country, and for a time, it possessed a large shipbuilding industry. The region around eastern Puget Sound developed heavy industry during the period including World War I and World War II , and the Boeing company became an established icon in the area. During the Great Depression , a series of hydroelectric dams were constructed along the Columbia River as part of a project to increase

19812-470: The rural eastern portions and including areas east of the Cascade Mountains. According to the 2022 Cook Partisan Voting Index , six of the congressional districts lean towards Democratic candidates while the 8th district is even between both major parties. In the state legislature , the metropolitan area is part of 28 districts that each elect two House members to a two-year term and one senator to

19968-513: The same time many white patients recovered, they held "medicine man" Marcus Whitman personally responsible, and executed Whitman and twelve other white settlers. This was called the Whitman massacre in 1847. This event triggered the Cayuse War between settlers and Indians. Fort Nisqually , a farm and trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company and the first European settlement in the Puget Sound area,

20124-478: The seventh highest number of new units built among large cities in 2016, of which 63 percent were in multifamily buildings . The state legislature passed a new housing law in 2023 that allows for medium-density units in areas of all cities that supersede local zoning regulations; the new law could allow for 75,000 to 150,000 new units in the region, but exempts certain pre-existing homeowner associations and other contract-based communities. As of April 2023 ,

20280-788: The state is Bellevue College , which has nearly 9,000 full-time students; other colleges with more than 5,000 enrolled students include Pierce College , Green River College , and Highline College . The three community colleges in Seattle proper form the Seattle Colleges District , which has over 12,000 total students as of 2021 . The area also has several private four-year and two-year institutions that focus on religious or liberal arts programs. These include Seattle University , Seattle Pacific University , Pacific Lutheran University , and University of Puget Sound . The Seattle–Tacoma Designated Market Area , as defined by Nielsen Media Research , includes most of Western Washington and

20436-497: The state on October 10, 1805. Explorer David Thompson , on his voyage down the Columbia River, camped at the confluence with the Snake River on July 9, 1811, and erected a pole and a notice claiming the territory for Great Britain and stating the intention of the North West Company to build a trading post at the site. Britain and the United States agreed to what has since been described as "joint occupancy" of lands west of

20592-457: The state's growing Black or African American population's wages were 53% above the national average. The early diversification of Washington through the Great Migration led to successful efforts at reducing discrimination in the workplace. In 1950, Seattle's first black representative for the state's legislature was elected. At the 1970 U.S. census , the black population grew to 7.13% of

20748-485: The state's land area, mostly west of the northern Cascades. Approximately two-thirds of Washington's forested area is publicly owned, including 64 percent of federal land. Common trees and plants in the region are camassia , Douglas fir, hemlock, penstemon , ponderosa pine, western red cedar , and many species of ferns. The state's various areas of wilderness offer sanctuary, with substantially large populations of shorebirds and marine mammals. The Pacific shore surrounding

20904-450: The state's student population. The Northwest Educational Service District encompasses 35 school districts in northwestern Washington, including all 14 in Snohomish County. The public school districts are primarily funded by allocations from the state government and local property tax levies that are approved by voters. The largest school district in the metropolitan area is Seattle Public Schools , which has 51,000 students enrolled for

21060-407: The state. In addition to Western Washington and Eastern Washington , residents call the two parts of the state the "Westside" and the "Eastside", "Wet side" and "Dry side", or "Timberland" and "Wheatland", the latter pair more commonly in the names of region-specific businesses and institutions. These terms reflect the geography, climate, and industry of the land on both sides of the Cascades. From

21216-505: The state— is 50 miles (80 km) south of the city of Seattle, from which it is prominently visible. The U.S. Geological Survey considers 14,411-foot-tall (4,392 m) Mount Rainier the most dangerous volcano in the Cascade Range, due to its proximity to the Seattle metropolitan area , and most dangerous in the continental U.S. according to the Decade Volcanoes list. It is also covered with more glacial ice than any other peak in

21372-419: The summer months, for domestic and international visitors. The metropolitan area's tourism industry employed 209,000 residents in early 2020, later reduced to 181,000 by 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, an estimated 33.9 million visitors in Seattle and King County spent $ 7.4 billion; the region had reached a peak of 41.9 million visitors in 2019. Pike Place Market in Downtown Seattle,

21528-622: The territory of both the Cayuse and the Nez Perce Indian tribes. Whitman's settlement would in 1843 help the Oregon Trail , the overland emigration route to the west, get established for thousands of emigrants in the following decades. Whitman provided medical care for the Native Americans, but when Indian patients—lacking immunity to new, "European" diseases—died in striking numbers, while at

21684-484: The third largest population of homeless or unsheltered people in the United States according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The agency's January 2023 report, based on the point-in-time count system, estimates 14,149 people in the county have experienced homelessness; the King County Regional Homelessness Authority adopted a different methodology based on

21840-449: The third-largest arsenal of nuclear weapons in the world with more than 1,100 warheads for submarines. The region also has several major companies that serve as defense contractors for the U.S. military, comprising most of Washington's $ 6.9 billion awarded in fiscal year 2022. The largest contractors in the Seattle area include Boeing, PacMed , and Microsoft. The Veterans Health Administration has 110,000 enrolled patients in

21996-400: The third-most coffee shops per capita in 2019 among U.S. cities, including independent shops and other roasters. The city proper serves as the headquarters for other major companies in various industries, including online travel agency Expedia and wood producer Weyerhaeuser . National retailers REI and Nordstrom were also founded in Seattle and remain headquartered in the area. Bellevue

22152-503: The three counties; King County is the largest county at over 2,115 square miles (5,480 km ), followed by Snohomish and Pierce counties. The region includes portions of the Cascade Range and several active volcanoes, including Mount Rainier and Glacier Peak , which can generate lahars that reach populated areas. The summit of Mount Rainier is the tallest point in Washington at 14,411 feet (4,392 m) above mean sea level ; it has 26  glaciers that are visible from much of

22308-469: The total population. In 1970, the state was one of only four U.S. states to have been providing legal abortions before the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade which loosened abortion laws nationwide. On May 18, 1980, following a period of heavy tremors and small eruptions, the north face of Mount St. Helens slid off in the largest landslide in recorded history before erupting violently , destroying

22464-415: The tropical Pacific regions a great distance into the Pacific Northwest. Western Washington is very cloudy during much of fall, winter, and early spring. Seattle averages the least sunshine hours of any major city in the United States. Despite Western Washington's marine climate similar to many coastal cities of Europe, there are exceptions such as the "Big Snow" events of 1880, 1881, 1893, and 1916, and

22620-487: The west of the Cascade Range produced dense forests, and the ports along Puget Sound prospered from the manufacturing and shipping of lumber products, particularly the Douglas fir . Other industries that developed in the state included fishing, salmon canning and mining. For a long period, Tacoma had large smelters where gold, silver, copper, and lead ores were treated. Seattle was the primary port for trade with Alaska and

22776-771: The winter and warm, temperate summers. The eastern region, which does not benefit from the general moderating effect of the Pacific Ocean, occasionally experiences extreme climate. Arctic cold fronts in the winter and heat waves in the summer are not uncommon. In the Western region, temperatures have reached as high as 118 °F (48 °C) in Maple Valley during the June 2021 heat wave , and as low as −6 °F (−21 °C) in Longview , and even -8 F (-22 C) in Sammamish . Forests cover about half

22932-417: Was $ 101,700, an 8.2 percent increase from 2019. It is the fourth-highest figure for any metropolitan area in the United States, behind San Jose , San Francisco , and Washington, D.C. The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimated that the per-capita income of a Seattle metropolitan area resident was $ 92,113 in 2022; the previous year, the region ranked tenth in the U.S. for per-capita income. The area

23088-438: Was 685 inhabitants per square mile (264.5/km ). The population was 49.9% male and 50.1% female with a median age of 37.2 years old. The racial makeup of the metropolitan area was 60.1% White , 15.4% Asian , 6.1% Black , 1.1% Native American or Alaska Native , 1.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander , 11.0% from two or more races, and 5.3% from other races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race formed 11.2% of

23244-412: Was among the first states to introduce same-sex marriage , and was one of only four states to have provided legal abortions on request before Roe v. Wade in 1973. Washington voters also approved a 2008 referendum on the legalization of physician-assisted suicide , making it one of 10 states to have legalized the practice. Washington was named after President George Washington by an act of

23400-456: Was announced on July 8, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic . It was the first edition of the Fair to be cancelled since World War II. The fair returned in 2021 with masking requirements and limited capacity, drawing 816,000 total attendees—a 20 percent decrease. Attendance has grown significantly since the first fair in 1900; today the event draws more than one million people each year. Washington (state) Washington , officially

23556-505: Was classified as unsheltered, either living in vehicles, encampments in public spaces, or other places. The number of unsheltered individuals increased significantly in the late 2010s, leading to clearing of encampments and other structures by local governments. The county has 5,115 emergency shelter beds and tiny house villages, of which 67 percent are in the city of Seattle. Additional shelters, parking lots, and encampment sites are operated by charity organizations and churches in

23712-508: Was established in 1895 after moving from Downtown Seattle ; it was joined in 1990 by branch institutions in Bothell and Tacoma that later built permanent campuses in the late 1990s and early 2000s. UW is also a major research university with an annual budget of $ 10.4 billion and one of the largest employers in the metropolitan area. The state's second-largest institution, Washington State University , has an Everett branch campus that

23868-458: Was established in 2011 after plans for a UW branch campus were shelved amid the Great Recession . The area has 17 community colleges and technical colleges that offer two-year degrees and other programs, including transfers to local four-year universities. Each college is assigned a specific district that also conforms to county boundaries. As of 2023 , the largest community college in

24024-643: Was formed from the western part of the Washington Territory , which was ceded by the British Empire in the Oregon Treaty of 1846. It was admitted to the Union as the 42nd state in 1889. One of the wealthiest and most socially liberal states in the country, Washington consistently ranks among the top states for highest life expectancy and employment rates. It was one of the first states (alongside Colorado ) to legalize medicinal and recreational cannabis ,

24180-502: Was formed in 2015 to enable cooperation between the Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma , rival public ports situated 32 miles (51 km) apart. The two ports combine to form the seventh-largest container port in the United States and has the second-largest concentration of warehouse space on the West Coast. The independent Port of Everett is a smaller port but handles exports of a similar value to Seattle and Tacoma due to its proximity to

24336-483: Was founded in 1833. Black pioneer George Washington Bush and his Caucasian wife, Isabella James Bush, from Missouri and Tennessee , respectively, led four white families into the territory and founded New Market, now Tumwater , in 1846. They settled in Washington to avoid Oregon 's black exclusion law , which prohibited African Americans from entering the territory while simultaneously prohibiting slavery . After them, many more settlers, migrating overland along

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